The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1886-06-30
A PARLIAMENTARY SCENE.
The House of Commons on the
Last Night of the Home
Rule Debate.

LONDON, June ;.
4 stranger arriving Yesterday at foul
O'Clock in the House would have thought
it q Joke had any n told him that the
occasion was one of unparalleled excite.
mcnt and interest. There was the Speak.
or. ROBBED and wigeed a. usual, in the
chair, the clerks were at the table, bust
mes was proceeding, but on the bcnche,
Of the House not twenty members were
to be seen. He might have remarked
that the strangers gallery and Speakers
gallery were crowded, but that Is not I'M
common on an ordinary night. Ifhe bad
known that ere this sitting was ended
the House Of Commons was TO SAY Ave
Of the century-to give or TO deny Home
Rule 10 lreland-he would have said that
if the English take their pleasures sadly
they perform grave business in the most
light-lleartcd way. There was, in fact,
hut q single indication inside the House
OF the gravity of the occasion, but that
one though easily overlooked WAS deci-
sive. Ia the little frame at the back of
each seat WAS e members card. The card
signilied that It's owner had come down
10 the House before prayers. been pres
eni, actually or constructivcly. al that
ceremony, deposited his hat and 81 81
cured the seat (which The card retained
for him. And no; one of tive little frames
was empty. except behind seats reserved
for Ministers or great persons. The Oh
long bits Of white card which gave the
green benches the look of a curiou~iy-
constructed chcssboarl signiiicd that
presently the House would hc thronsed
60 it, utmost capacity.
For a moment it j. private bill business
that is going on, and thc owners Of all
these cards are in the iohhy, the library,
the smoking room, or squirting DANES on
the terrace. The Speaker transacts this
routine business in q husines--like way,
ready. decisive. unfaitering. But hc viii
be- seen at his best later i'm thc evening,
when amid interruptions thai beset ord-
tor ofterora,or, Mr.. Sreakc, Peel entorccs
order and restores the dignity Of debate
bv what can only Doe described a. the
dignity of his own presence. When he
has to call an offending member or a III
otous party To order, his voice rings out
with military sharpness, and the Irish
men themselves are not long in paving
heed to his authority. But for the pres
ent he is doing the ordinary duty Of the
presiding officer of what Englishmen are
fond Of calling the greatest Parliamentary
assembly in the world. The word which
best describes him is %Grbanity.
A. question time comes on the Hons,
slowly fills. The front Opposition bench
has long been crowded before Ministers
begin to arrive. The Irish quarter j,
densely populated while yet the Liberal
and Tory domains are like a Western
settlement. 1t Is a belief among the old.
or members that the Parncllites neyei
leave the House certain il is that they
are never absent or theirrmkS thin whcr
work Is Ia be done. The discipline Is tn,
admiration and the despair Of Liberia
and Tory Whips alike. If Mr.. Parnel
himself is not very punctual in attend
ance. he is the cause of punctuality in
the Parnellite phalanN. The martinc'
colonel ola fighting regiment Is not mor'
punctual at roll cali than the champion
of Irish liberty. Familiar faces begin 1,
light up both sides Of the House, bu
they are allowed to come without mucl
audible welcome. The Tories have n,
greeting for their leader, Sir Michae
Hicks-Beach, nor for his leader, Lord Ran
dolph Churchill. But it was noticed tina
Lord Randolph WAS the bearer Of a mon
stcr petition. 1t was assumed that tn,
petition WIS against home Rule, and tn.
Tories saluted the great roll of paper witt
the usual but not always apt cry %
Hear. hear" Then came a laugh whel
Lord Randolph in his best House O
Commons manner announced that hi
petition was from 10000 OF the Lord
bay Rest Association, who object 10 tn,
opening Of museums on SUNDAYS.
The first real cheer was at q quarter t
five, for Mr.. Goshen, who is 10 rcsum,
the debate. Mr.. Gladstone's arrival
minute or two later was the signal for N
outbreak that started from the Pirncllit,
benches, was caught mp 10y the Minister
ialists opposite. ami presently seemed L
kindle even In Tory breasts a spark q
enthusiasm for their great adversary. Tn
acoustic propertics Of the House are pc
c%uliar, and il is moi always easy to 81
where the cheers come from or wher
they end. Time WAS when tine matte
WAS simple. Tories IN onc side, Liberal
on the uther. and few mistakes made b
either. Bat the House has become
House OF groups on Mr.. Speakers lel
Tories above the smgway, Parnellites u,
low; while on The right are huddled {,
gether Ministerialists, HaIfingtonian
Chambcrlainiies. Radicals, Waverers, i
incxtricable confusion.
Mr.. Gladstone has under his arm a ~
dispatch box, which presently l. found
contain the oopious notes of his speed
and in his hand that jar Of yellow-an
no doubt judicious mixture which
irreye7cn;ly known in the House a. Ia
pomatum pot. \ white roe in the Nh
tonboic of his black frock coat Tool
hardly whittier than his face, on Viii,
falls the strange light that enters Il
chamber from the stained windows clio
To the carved oaken cornice. The cher
zeal composition Of these ghastly IA,
whatever il msy be, produces upon Il
human c-ountenance an effect like electl
Illumination. Complications strcaked vi
sharp shadows are 10 he seen all over Il
HouSc. BY and by 4 soft yellow radian
streams through the glass pancIling
the ceiling, puts out the deepening du
of the afternoon, and restores to most
these faces a more cheerful look. Il
nothing fr1m the outside can warm Il
pallor Of Mr.. G~ladstone's countenan,
though more Than once you viii see
the debate goes on i flush Of angry C.
mine come into his cheeks.
He advances swiftly along the narr,
lane between the clerks table and 4
bench whence stretch out the innumbt
able legs of his colleagues, who seem
compose a centipede Cabinet. The Graz
Old Mans step. if less elastic than