26 MARCH 1881, Page 2

On going into Committee of Supply on Monday night, Mr.

O'Donnell brought on the question of Privilege, which he waived last week, concerning the suspension which he suffered. on Tuesday, March 8th, and which ho contended was unjust, since, on the point of order which he endeavouredto bring before the Chair he was not disregarding the authority of the Chair- man of Committees, as was imputed to him, but rather try- ing to draw his attention to a wholly new point,—namely, that whatever fault Mr. Finigan might have committed in accusing the House of "beastly bellowing," he had really some excuse for it, in the intolerable interruptions from which he had suffered. Mr. O'Donnell's speech was extremely moderate. lie withdrew all imputation of unfairness on Mr, Playfair, and attributed the error made to the misunderstanding naturally caused by the prevalent confusion ; but he asked that the vote of suspension should, if possible, be cancelled. Mr. Playfair was as moderate as Mr. O'Donnell, expressed himself quite satisfied that Mr. O'Donnell had not intended to insist on a point of order already decided, but rather to bring forward a new and quite legitimate point ; but he showed that this was not done in the way best calculated to convoy the proper impression to his mind, and that what he himself had done had been done on the best evidence on which, under the circumstances, he could have acted. And this was the view of the case taken by the Lenders on both sides, and by the House in general. It was agreed on all sides that Mr. Playfair had acted as any firm Chairman would, under the circumstances, have thought it right to act, though Mr. O'Donnell's real situation had certainly been misunderstood. The course agreed upon was to let Mr. O'Donnell withdraw his motion, which would have implied, at least, error on the part of Mr. Playfair,—whereas the real error was not there,—and to find some other opportunity of cancelling the " suspension " into which Mr. O'Donnell's desire to find excuses for Mr. Finigan, and to stop the noisy demonstrations against Irish Members, had betrayed him. For once an Irish question was discussed with perfect good-temper on all sides, and ended in substantial unanimity. May it but be an omen of the course of Irish politics during the remainder of the Session.