On Tuesday afternoon the debate was renewed by Lord Randolph
Churchill, who, as it was known beforehand that he would do, withdrew his opposition to the inclusion of Ireland in the Bill, praised the Government for their statesmanship in in- cluding Ireland, and declared that there was far less difference between the mud cabin of Ireland and the cottage of the English agricultural labourer, than there was between his own " humble dwelling " and that of the right honourable gentleman the Member for Westminster (Mr. W. H. Smith). This speech, which was received with black looks and in dead silence by the Conservatives, was at once replied to by Lord Claud Hamilton, who appeared to think that Mr. Parnell is eager for the house- hold franchise in Ireland in order to re-establish his tottering power,—an impression quite at variance with the facts,—and who urged his brother-Members "to pause before they followed the infatuated man who had led them into disgrace abroad and anarchy at home." Mr. Staveley Hill, however, from the Con- servative Benches, followed the lead of Lord Randolph Churchill, and, in spite of a long speech from Lord George Hamilton on the same side as Lord Claud's, the division showed only 137 votes for Mr. Brodrick's motion, and 332 against it; majority for the Government, 195,—a handful of Conservatives voting for the Government, and a large number apparently staying away.
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