In the remainder of the debate, Mr. Disraeli made a
success- ful maiden speech, cast very much in the mould of his uncle's rhetoric, of which the happiest point was that, as regards the retention of the Irish Members, Mr. Gladstone's policy ha& been one of "Age at the prow, and eighty Irish Members at the helm." Perhaps the most important of all Wednesday's speeches was Mr. John Redmond's, who repudiated the Bill most peremptorily as a satisfaction of the Irish demand, and accepted it only as a mere instalment. The finance of the Bill was, he said, grossly unjust to Ireland. Its limitations on the Irish Parliament's power to deal with the land and the collection, of the revenue were utterly inconsistent with the spirit of Home-rule; so that, in short, Mr. Redmond and his Parnellite- followers only accepted the quarter-loaf as sufficient to feed them while they struggled vehemently for the three-quarters which were still withheld.
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