When the vote of credit for the Civil Service came
on, Mr. Balfour, who had left the House at 4 o'clock in the early morn- ing of Tuesday, was not present to reply to the Irish catechisms on the subject of the Constabulary, and nothing would induce the Irieh Members to pass the vote till he reappeared, a little before 11 o'clock. During the interval, Mr. Labonchere, Mr. Dillon, Mr. Sexton, Dr. Tanner, Mr. Conybeare, Colonel Nolan, Mr. Cossham, Mr. Wallace, Mr. Kenny, Mr. T. P. O'Connor, Mr. Chance, with some aid from Mr. Illingworth and Mr. Picton, kept up the ball. When Mr. Balfour at last returned to the House, he stated that the Government, on the whole, regarded the Report of the Commission on the Belfast Riots as deter- mining the main lines on which they would be likely to proceed; and then Mr. Sexton, who dreaded a second application of the Closure, wisely drew off his forces, to the great disgust apparently of Mr. Dillon ; and the vote of credit for the Civil Service was passed by 255 against 80.
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