The Sun.
London, England, 1870-07-19 00:00:00

FRIDAY MORNING IN THE COMMONS.

The most amusing accounts have been published
respecting the fourteen divisions on the Education
Bill, which took place in the early hours of Friday
morning. According to the Glasgow herald, the
most perfect good humour seemed to have prevailed on
both sides. In fact the House was in quite a merry mood,
and caught at every incident which afforded room for
laughter. When Mr. Torrens, of Cambridge, moved that
the gas be turned out as daylight had appeared,
the effect produced in the shape of cachina,-
tion was such as gentlemen of fifteen years' expe-
rience in the House declare they never before
saw equalled. When Mr. Dodson gave the order,
and when the gas was screwed off, and its garishness was
replaced by a stream of the early morning light, the
laughter was renewed. After a pause in the merriment
two sparrows flew in at the open casement, and fluttered
about in a squeaking, undecided way, which created
another outburst. An eighth or tenth roar was occasioned
by an Irishman, a Mr. Vance, who moved that the
House should adjourn in order that the Dublin Free-
men Disfranchisement Bill should be at once prodeeded
with. Another humorous incident was incidentally.occa-
sioned by a remark of Mr. Gladstone's referring to the
absence of the Conservative leaders. He asked, in suc-
cession, where the member for Buckinghamshire was,
where the member for Oxford University was, and
where the member for Cambridge was, 'meaning to
imply that they bad left because they did not approve
of the conduct of • their followers. Strangely enough,
Mr. Ayrton happened at the time to be sitting
in Mr. Disraeli's seat, whereupon Colonel Barttelot
jumped up and said that, rather than accept the First
Commissioner of Works, as his leader, he would bid them
all good night, and so, taking his hat, he walked straight-
way out of the house, followed by a peal of laughter.
Gradually, but surely, the ranks of the opponents of the
Ballot thinned as the fight was prolonged, until there
were only nineteen left. An hon. gentleman, taking note
of the fact, caused a twelfth outburst of laughter by sug-
gesting that the nineteen should pair with nineteen
Liberals, and that the thirty-eight should then
walk home to their beds, and leave the re-
maining Ministerialists to settle the matter
themselves. Finally, the obdurate spirit of the Opposi-
tion was fairly broken ; the ballot proposition was
assented to, and the bill-passed through committee amidst
cheers which can only be described as tremendous. It is
worthy of record that there was not a single Conserva-
tive member in the House when this stage was reached.
At the end a new dilemma presented itself.
Late hours and hard work had made the Speaker ill,
and Mr. Dodson could not leave the chair to
report the bill, because that • right honourable
gentleman was in , his bed. Mr. Dodson was
.consequently compelled, on the motion of the Chief Clerk
to receive his own report, and so the matter ended at
seventeen minutes past five o'clock. There was a crowd
of workmen in Parliament-street proceeding to their
morning's work when Mr. Gladstone walked homewards,
accompanied by Mr. Forster and Mr. Lowe. They
had been told that the Ballot Bill had been passed, and
the Premier received from them quite an ovation. The
nineteen Opposition members who took part in the last
division were all Conservatives except Mr. Whalley, but
there was not one of any political importance.

In view of the approaching continental struggle,
we understand that the proprietors of the Graphic have
despatched artists and corresdondents to Paris, to Berlin,
and to the Rhenish Provinces.

At the Durham Assizes on Saturday James Gavin
Cunningham, timber merchant, pleaded guilty to uttering
for acceptances for bills of exchange for £212 9s. 2d.,
£295 6s. 2d., and £372 6s. 2d. at Sunderland. The counsel
for the prisoner stated that the prisoner did not commit
the offences to provide himself with money, but to meet
some pressing business engagements; and had the of-
fences not been discovered, he rio doubt would have been
able to meet the bills when they became due. Since his
imprisonment the prisoner had beMome bankrupt, but his
estate was large, and a good dividend would be paid. He
was sentenced to five years' penal servitude, his lordship
remarking that All forgeries were committed more or less
under pressing business engagements.