The debate on the third reading, which was not forced
to a division, was a lively debate; the landlords opposing it because it was too much of a tenants' Bill, and Mr. Davitt opposing it because it was too much of a landlords' Bill. Mr. Dillon and his followers voted for it, but in their speeches did all they could to run it down, while the Parnellites and Healyites did all in their power to support it. Colonel Saunderson said that when he saw Liberal Unionists and Radicals uniting to make light of the property of Irish land- lords, he was reminded of Hood's lines,—not Hood's, Colonel Saunderson, but Noel's :— " Rattle his bones over the stones He is only a landlord whom nobody owns."
Mr. Balfour made a very able speech, showing that in substance the Bill was the Bill they had brought in, and that they had not accepted any large and far-reaching amend- ments from the Nationalist side of the House ; and then Sir William Harcourt made one of his most amusing speeches, rallying the landlords on their profession of surprise that the Conservatives had not stood by them, and asserting that during this century the whole strategy of the Conservatives had consisted in doing, when they themselves were in power, wba" they had reproached the Liberals for doing when the 4iberals were in power. Looking at Mr. Lecky, Sir William Harcourt said, "I see sitting on the benches opposite, with an tir, if he will forgive me for saying so, of pensive melancholy, ;he modern Gibbon who has composed the earlier chapters d the Decline and Fall of the English Garrison. He has hitherto observed the transactions of the English Parlia- nent from a distance, and we have all read with interest and natruction his luminous pages. But I look forward with aiterest to his future chapter on Unionist legislation in Ireland, which I have no doubt he is now revolving in his mind." In the end, Mr. Smith-Barry's amendment to read the Bill a third time that day three months was rejected without a division, and the Bill was sent up to the Lords, and read a first time. The second reading will be debated on Monday.
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