NEWS OF THE WEEK.
ON Monday the Home Rule Bill passed its final stage in the House of Commons, and was read for the first time in the Lords. A group of cheering Nationalists accompanied the Bill through the corridors. Both Houses then adjourned for the Whitsuntide Recess. The proceedings in the Commons were not accompanied by any of the passionate scenes of the previous Thursday. At the beginning the Speaker made a personal explanation as to the part he took in the events of that day, and particularly us to his encounter with Mr. Bonar Law. With characteristic generosity, he admitted frankly that, in asking Mr. Bonar Law whether the disorder on the Unionist benches was carried on with his consent, be had been betrayed into an expression which he ought not to have used. He felt sure be could always look to the respon- sible leaders of the parties to support the Chair in conducting their debates with the decorum the country expected of them.
Bonar Law at once expressed his gratitude to the Speaker for his generous statement. It is indeed a great matter to have a Speaker who is strong enough to Say " I was wrong," without the reservations that turn an apology into a fresh aggravation. What the House of Commons has owed to the Speaker in the past stormy months cannot possibly be calculated.
