On Thursday, Mr. Gladstone moved that the Twelve o'clock Rule
should be suspended both on Thursday and Friday night, and declared that if the debate on the Address was not finished on Friday, it would be necessary to have recourse to a Saturday sitting, in order to secure the introduction of the Rome-rule Bill on Monday. The intentions of the Govern- ment as to the general course of the business were shown by Mr. Gladstone's recognition of the fact that there was " a very keen and repeated and not unjust demand by a number of Members opposite (sic), that when the first reading of the Bill for Ireland was obtained, the Government should pro- ceed to give evidence of their sincerity with regard to other measures." That is, indeed, a counsel of despair. If the Governmtent believed in the possibility of carrying their Home-rule Bill, they would not be promising to hang it up even before they had produced it.
