The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-09-09
HELD ODD POSITION.
He Was -Time-I1iIIer OmciaIIy for
Parliament.

Parliament.
One of those peculiar characters whom
England creates in some of the phases
of her government has just died in the
shape of an eX-member of parliament,
whose anomalous and curious position in
the party life of his country is thus de-
scribed by T. p. O'Connor:
Those We're the days when the house of
commons sat most nights till or 3
o'clock in the morning, and when, there
fore, there We're no closure rules and
none of the rules which now so seriously
hamper the wild freedom of the obstruc-
tives. There was a huge Liberal major
ity, and the Opposition was lazy and de-
pressed and abSent-minded. There was
no knowing what a triumphant energetic
Liberal majority consumed by the desire
to reform the whole world, might not try
to do in such circumstances; at what
break-neck pace they might strive to
push through legislation on all kinds OF
subjects and destroying or prejudicing all
sorts and conditions of sacred and vested
interests.
This was the situation that created Mr..
Warrior. He was a singular instance of
what a single man can accomplish, or,
rather, can prevent. He was in his place
night and day. Piously and wiz edify-
ing air, he took his seat every afternoon
when the chaplain read the prayers, and
he never left the house for one moment,
except when the speaker went out to have
his cflop al o'clock, and then Mr.. War
ton rushed through an equally rapid
meal, and was back in his place, too.
Then, again, for he was very scrupu-
lous in the performance of parliamentary
ceremonials, Mr. Warrior bowed pro-
foundry to the speaker as he entered the
house, and very often Mr. Warrior and
the speaker between them constituted the
whole house, Mr.. Warton being the only
orator and the speaker the only listener
Nobody else ever listened to a single
word that MIR. Warrior uttered: and Mr.
Warrior did not care whether they lis
tened or not. His business was to kill
time, and whether he did so by speaking
nonsense or sense, by uttering what was
irrelevant or relevant, neither concerned
him nor anybody else There was no
closure, ard therefore he could not be
stopped by that method. Nor was there
any rule against irre1evance or tedious
repetition; and therefore he could not be
stopped under that rule; ir fact except
by coup etat, or suspension. or ex-
pulsion, there WAS no reason why any
and every member could not go on for
ever.
And Mr.. Warton managed to remain on
his legs for half an hour or an hour at a
time, mumbling something, and CONSUME
ing valuable time, and by SO doing In
terrupting the mighty Liberay Jugger-
maui, and stopping practically all lsgisla-
ton except when the government brought.
in some great measure which NOBODY
could stop. At midnight Mr.. Warrior We s
again in evidence. Under the rules of the
house, nobody can carry forward a meas
ure after midnight If a single member
object; and Mr. Warton objected -
every measure, and SO killed scores OF
bills. Then he used constantly TO move
a count at that tonr when every body Is
dining ana the house has its life hanging
on a thread; ard often in this way he
upset the plans of ministers and cf am
bilious private members.
curious, weird looking creature,
this And 50 it came to pass that this
single man, without any ability what
ever without any position-mere flotsam
and jetsam of parliamentary and profess
siorals life-was able to be more potent