New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-02-14

/ nAah AIOo was OIo VI TUG WDlUA Wuo
had been up all night and was just starting for home
to snatch few hours rest "I don't know whether
1t Is good night or good morning." remarked he,
but 1t Is still Mondays sitting and is likely to be
till tomorrow; and nobody knows how much
longer" On this point there was a general agree
ment. The Government and Opposition were work.
ing together there was not the smallest notion Of
giving way; and the only question was how long
the Irish could hold out or how far the patience
Of the House would allow their obstruction to be
carried. Going up to the gallery found seat with
little difficulty and looked down such House
as has not often been seen, in this or any othe,
generation.
The sitting had now lasted rather more than
twenty hours without intermisson. The Speaker
had quilted the chair at in the morning. and Dr.
Lyon Playfair. the Deputy Speaker, had since 90
cupied it-not much to tho satisfaction Of the
House. Less than hundred members were present.
Of whom twenty were Irish, who sat and sprawled
In the Irish quarter of the House; while as many
Conservatives and twice as many Liberals sat and
sprawled in their own domains. At no time is 10
thought necessary to parliamentary decorum to eli
bolt upright and now less than ever. may say;
however. that the British legislator draws line
which he never passes he never puts his feet on
the desk in front of him. One for this is that
he bas no desk in front Of him. But
he does not put his feet on the back OF
the bench behind which he sits. II he sits on
front bench he feels himself at liberty to extend bis
legs far into the open space before him. And !
think that If DR.. Oliver Wendell Holmes would
come over here and study the attitudes Of the dis.
tinguIshed occupants of the Treasury bench. he
would revise his well-known dictum that the
American is the ouly man who knows what to do
with the small of his back. More than one member
Of the Government hsbitually sits on his. man
may do almost anything but stand on his head on
lie at full length With all this license certain ar
Of dignity Is, In ordinary times, pretty carefully
preserved, and Is not quite gone even now. In tho
library and lobbies, the tea-ro0m and smoking
room large forces Of members are kept in
by the whips, and will pour in as soon as
division is called. The Treasury Bench, in which
members of the Government are supposed to SIT, has
now exactly three tenants-the Solicitor-Genera
for Ireland, the Under-Secretsry tor the Home De-
partment and the Lord Advocate for Scotland. The
whole place has Rhasty and unnatural look due
in part to the quality of the light. Long past noon
though it be, the gas is burning and with tho food
Of yellow light that streams through tue glass cell.
February sky The air il slcky. In theory the Dir IN
the House OF Commons is salwayspure, being pumped
In and out by some extremely sclentlnc process.
In fact it s at this moment thick and nasty and an
hour or two of it will give yOu an extremely nne
headache. Human beings have got the better OK
6CleQtlIc machinery, anu pump III kieht uOai uo'o
carbonic acid than the engine IN the cellar % can
pump out. The floor, the benches, the clerks table,
the asles, Uttered with torn papers yellow tele
graph envelopes volumes of Hansari and disor-
derly masses Of blue bOoks-the latter most aound-
ant IN the Irish quarter. and which they nave
furnished the material for so many a1e ,ti Goe
has visiby affected DIR. Playfair. who SITS corner
wise i'm the Speakers canOpied chair, which is three
sizes too big for hun, and who Is at ease nether I'D
body nor mind.
THE IRISH CoMBATANTs.
One of the Sullivans or VSullivans was on bis legs
when went il. When he sat down another OSul-
ivan or it may have been Mr.. ODonnell, or perhaps
Mr. FinniRan. or probably MIR. VShaughnessy. rose
TO continue the performance. 10 reahy matters
nothing what name you give particular speaker.
The Irish members have, suppose in private life
and IN the domestic relations each his own indvdu-
ality, and distressing results would ensue from any
confusion In their personal identity at their own
country-houses or barrooms or fresides. But with
the exception of three four they hardly to be-
Disseminated in public. One star dffereth not from
another star in glory. One speech dfereth not from
another speech in prox dulness Lord Tburlows
prediction that machine would some day be in
vented for drawing bills-n-eQuty has come to pass.
with q slight difference. None Of Mr. Parnelrs ma
chimes could draw blls.ln-equity. All OF them can
spin out in mechanical way sequences OF words
having little connection with each other and less
with the nominal subject Of discussion. They vio-
late the laws of grammar and laws of debate with
equal complacency. The method is always the
same. When you have sat through half an hour OF
obstruction you will have saturated your mind with
the overflow of Irish wisdom The next half hour will
be the same and the noxt, and the next. The same.
mean so far as the system and. for the most part
tie speaking are concerned. Now and then comes al
interesting sometimes an exciting, episode. But
NJ and tha faclica of Mr. Par
neil remain substantially the same at the end Of
these TWEEN y-four hours as at the beginning. The
question really before the House is ON DIR. Lysara
amendment to Mr. FOrster's motion. The question
technically before the House Is motion for ad-
iournment, which the wisdom of our ancestors un-
luckily made debatable question When motion
for adjournment is made each member may speak on
it, As there are forty Irish obstructlonsts there may
be forty speeches on each motion, and forty
separate motions may be made. The efficacy
of this system therefore would not be
comepleely exhausted till 1.600 speeches lad been
made: and there are not few of the Irish who have
proved themselves capable of speaking two hours on
such motion. Formerly they discussed the main
ouestion on pretext of debating the adjournment.
Lattery the Speaker has tred to stop this and to-day
man Is pulled up # he wanders too far from his
subject and informed that the only question before
the House is whether this House do adjourn Tho
same speeches are made over and over again, varied
by oubursts of rudeness of coarse abnse. OF dreot
imuertuence to the Speaker OF other members oftha
House; with wran0Ies and many other sorts p;f OK
disrenut able license. Perhaps Mr. Biggar
rearhed the Climax when he called Mr.
MiIbsnk b. fool Mr.. Healy deserves mention
also. and Mr.. MCOan, and-but there is nothing ia
he got by going through such catalogue. Sntftce
II 10 saw that the manners and language
of the Irish too often those of coster.
,nongers aud street ruflans. The more dull-witted
and c clumsy of the Obstructiorists are now soon,
silenced. they have not ingenuity enough to con-
meet their talk with the question: and after three OF
fonr calls to order sit down. They dare not risk
Leine named and suspended. for cOntumacy would
soon reduce their numbers below the working
point. II,