Mr. Stansfeld devoted his speech chiefly to an eloquent de-
fence of the policy of including Ireland in the Bill. "If nine- tenths, or even ninety-nine hundredths," he said, "of the popu- lation of Ireland were Parnellite, practical statesmen, knowing the strength of the representative principle, ought not merely. to consent, but even to desire, that they should be represented in that House. He firmly believed that the policy of equality between Ireland and England constituted the only chance in the future of harmonising the two countries." Finally, Mr. Marriott poured out the vials of his very weak vitriol on Mr.. Chamberlain. He did not contribute a single iota to the ques- tion at issue, but seemed 'unable to forgive Mr. Chamberlain for having been the involuntary occasion,—he was surely no more,. —of Mr. Marriott's discovery that he had never been really a Liberal, though he had mistaken himself for a member of the- popular party. "Like a certain class of mad doctors, who always took care that their patients were placed in strait waist- coats before visiting them, the right honourable gentleman. never faced the people boldly. He only addressed them when they had been fitted with the strait waistcoat prepared for them at Birmingham" by Mr. Schnadhorst. That was the core of Mr. Marriott's contribution to a debate on the Franchise Bill.
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