The Irish standard., 1912-02-24

promenade, and almost fractured his
skull
Another member of the Irish party
DR.. Kelvin Izod O'Doherty-who had
been an Irish rebel in 1848 and had re-
turned all the way from Queensland
to take a part in the fight once more.
attended to the wounded man; and
he was bound up in bandages, with
his poor face smashed in. And such
was the pluck of the little man that
he refused all advice to go home to
bed, and waited for the speech and sat
through the night.
When the time came for the OPEN
ing of the sitting, it was discovered
by those who had neglected to come
earlier that there was not :. seat to be
had in the house. Not only was every
seat on the floor occupied, but also
every seat in the galleries.
1t was then that daring and en-
tirely unprecedented idea occurred to
Alderman Fowler-a good-old Quak-
tleman. He rushed out, sot hold Of n
chair in one of the apartments Of the
house, came back with it triumphantly
and seated himself upon it on the floor
in the space between the benches.
His example was followed by others,
and soon there was row upon row of
seats; and when Gladstone according
ly arose he was like man in the
midst of crowded platform; there
were faces all around and in front of
him; it was wonder that he was not
disturbed and unnerved by SO re-
smarkable a spectacle.
A. The arrival of Gladstone at perhaps
the most dramatic moment in his ca
reer was marked. of course, by sew
eral interesting incidents. He drove
down with Mrs. Gladstone from Down.
ing street In an open carriage. All
along the short distance he met
mixed reception.
He had plenty of friends who cheer
ed enthusiastically, but there was also
a strong minority Of opponents who
booed as vigorously. With his leonine
face set and that look of grim deter
mination which his face could assume
In moments of peril Ind public hos
fifty, he looked like some splendid
image of granite.
Incident Marks Arrival.
His arrival in the house was mark
ed by an equally remarkable incident.
The liberal party was still united and
fresh from it's recent splendid victory
at the polls. Mr.. Chamberlain and Sir
George Trevelyan still sat on the treas
ury bench, and there was little sign
OF the terrible split that was to rend
the party in twain and surrender Of
flee to the tories for nearly twenty
years without a break.
The whole liberal party-with few
exceptions, Of which more presently
rose to their feet when the old man
entered. The whole Irish party also
rose to it's feet. The tories, of course,
remained seated; but there was no
outburst of the violent and vulgar in
terruptions which disgraced the last
session of parliament when Mr.. AS
quith was howled down by the tory
hooligans
But as / have already said, there
were exceptions among the liberals to
this universal uprising on the liberal
and Irish benches.
The fate Of the bill was sealed when
the letter OF John Bright at a meet
ing in one of the committee rooms of
the house was read that letter has
never been published; and I have al
ways heard that Bright signfied some
surprise at it's having had the effect
of resolution to oppose the bill. He
was seen at the Reform club imme-
diately after-I believe-by one of his
sons, the late William Leather Bright,
who was himself strong Home Ruler
and was playfully reproached for the
work he had done; and seemed sur
prised and even little shocked that
this letter had led to such results.
At last the night of the division
came; the bill as is known was de-
feated by a majority Of thirty. The
atellers for the opponents of the bill
we're Mr.. Brand, son of previous
speaker, and Mr.. Caine. and at once
that instructive readiness for a nick
name which the House of Commons
has so often displayed in moments of
excitement there was shout of "the
brand of Caine" Then there was in
tense excitement; shared in the ex-
scitement, got up and called for three
cheers for "the grand old man; there