invented—from paralysis, and he will be frankly supported The qualities
demanded of the Speaker in the final by all that is sound. in the opinion of the three countries. He scene, that of Thursday evening, so unprecedented and.. discerned the precise moment when the liberty of debate had so momentous, were of a lower order, for he had no new become licence, when the freedom of Parliament was at last precedent to establish, and was instructed by the House, at stake, and when representatives and people had fully opened instead of instructing it ; but the demand upon his nerve their eyes to those facts; and then he intervened with a decisive and energy was extreme, and was most fully met. There is,, dignity and effect which placed him in a moment in the we believe, in our whole history, no instance of the Speaker's small list of the historic Speakers. No reasonable man ruling being considered lees than final ; certainly none of its- can doubt that on Wednesday morning the hour had arrived being contested by an organised e'ineute of Members before it when the House of Commons must assert its inherent had been obeyed. Such an incident, however, occurred on prerogative, or confess that it was unable to transact Thursday. The Leaguers, furious with their unexpected, the most urgent business, and that nothing but revolu- defeat, had decided in the afternoon that, in the event of the tion could make the wheels move on. A small Irish Speaker persisting in regarding his decision of Wednesday as- party, never a third of the representatives of their own legal, the Irish Members would refuse to take part in divisions, kingdom, and less than a twentieth of the united body of the " leaving it to the Speaker to proceed to any extremities he- Commons, had decided to look them, and had found the secret chose to enforce his unauthorised conduct." This was, in fact, a of effectively doing it. The business for which Parliament resolution to defy the Speaker's authority within the House, and had been summoned before its time had already been delayed a on Thursday the Members concerned—not" the Irish Members," whole month, and was no nearer its commencement. The re- but a third of them—maddened by the arrest of Mr. Michael sponsible Minister for Ireland, supported by the leaders of Davitt, the reputed soul of the League, acted on their decision. both parties, and by at least four-fifths of the repre- Mr. Dillon first refused to obey an order of the Chair, and sentatives, had been unable even to bring in a Bill which persisted in speaking after the Speaker had declined to hear him,. he declared essential to the safety of the realm, and which and was suspended, the Leaguers, in their surprise, voting on the Junta who disliked it—reasonably disliked it, as we this division. Immediately after, although the Speaker had have always admitted—professed to be eagerly desirous to adjudged that possession of the floor was with Mr. Gladstone,. discuss. In delaying it by debates on the general policy of Mr. Parnell insisted on making a motion ; and when his the Government and on the introduction of the Bill, all the suspension was proposed, the Leaguers declined to divide. resources of legitimate debate had been exhausted, until, at They defied the Speaker to do his worst, and persisted irr last, the Leaguers were fain to talk openly against time. the defiance through two divisions. There was nothing Wretched speakers as some of them are, they are not capable, for it but to yield,—that is, to allow the Chair to be de- when honestly arguing, of descending to mere nonsense. They rided, and Parliament to sink into contempt, or to resort would not themselves assert that they poured out the drivel to wholesale suspensions. The emergency was great, for which went on in endless flow through Monday night, and all wholesale suspensions, though lawful under the Orders, have Tuesday, and all Tuesday night, for forty-one continuous hours, never been practised, and the " scene," through the wild with any hope of convincing, or persuading, or affect- excitement of the Leaguers, might easily have become a vio- ing any human being, or deny that they proposed to lent one ; but, the Speaker again was equal to the occasion. let it flow on till the limit of human endurance had He had quietly filled the lobbies with policemen, he had die- been reached, with the object of preventing a Parliamentary tinctly warned the offenders, and at last, on Mr. Gladstone's decision. And it is obvious to all men of sense or experience motion, he declared them suspended from service for the sit- that to such a course the existing rules of the House offered ting. When they insisted, French fashion, on nominal force
It was time for the Speaker to intervene, and he intervened ing that he had just accepted a responsibility such as no Speaker . in the only effectual way, by declaring the debate at hitherto has ever borne, for he must have agreed beforehand an end. Whether he was within his technical right, or to bear the crushing weight thrown upon him by Mr. Glad-
TOPICS OF THE DAY If it has any right at all, if only the right of self-defence, it is . to burst such bonds, and that they were burst is cause of deep
satisfaction to every Englishman who reverences Parliament, and every Irishman with head enough left to see that even if THE REVOLT OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. Ireland were independent, the character of the British Parlia-
prerogative, or confess that it was unable to transact Thursday. The Leaguers, furious with their unexpected, the most urgent business, and that nothing but revolu- defeat, had decided in the afternoon that, in the event of the tion could make the wheels move on. A small Irish Speaker persisting in regarding his decision of Wednesday as- party, never a third of the representatives of their own legal, the Irish Members would refuse to take part in divisions, kingdom, and less than a twentieth of the united body of the " leaving it to the Speaker to proceed to any extremities he- Commons, had decided to look them, and had found the secret chose to enforce his unauthorised conduct." This was, in fact, a of effectively doing it. The business for which Parliament resolution to defy the Speaker's authority within the House, and had been summoned before its time had already been delayed a on Thursday the Members concerned—not" the Irish Members," whole month, and was no nearer its commencement. The re- but a third of them—maddened by the arrest of Mr. Michael sponsible Minister for Ireland, supported by the leaders of Davitt, the reputed soul of the League, acted on their decision. both parties, and by at least four-fifths of the repre- Mr. Dillon first refused to obey an order of the Chair, and sentatives, had been unable even to bring in a Bill which persisted in speaking after the Speaker had declined to hear him,. he declared essential to the safety of the realm, and which and was suspended, the Leaguers, in their surprise, voting on the Junta who disliked it—reasonably disliked it, as we this division. Immediately after, although the Speaker had have always admitted—professed to be eagerly desirous to adjudged that possession of the floor was with Mr. Gladstone,. discuss. In delaying it by debates on the general policy of Mr. Parnell insisted on making a motion ; and when his the Government and on the introduction of the Bill, all the suspension was proposed, the Leaguers declined to divide. resources of legitimate debate had been exhausted, until, at They defied the Speaker to do his worst, and persisted irr last, the Leaguers were fain to talk openly against time. the defiance through two divisions. There was nothing Wretched speakers as some of them are, they are not capable, for it but to yield,—that is, to allow the Chair to be de- when honestly arguing, of descending to mere nonsense. They rided, and Parliament to sink into contempt, or to resort would not themselves assert that they poured out the drivel to wholesale suspensions. The emergency was great, for which went on in endless flow through Monday night, and all wholesale suspensions, though lawful under the Orders, have Tuesday, and all Tuesday night, for forty-one continuous hours, never been practised, and the " scene," through the wild with any hope of convincing, or persuading, or affect- excitement of the Leaguers, might easily have become a vio- ing any human being, or deny that they proposed to lent one ; but, the Speaker again was equal to the occasion. let it flow on till the limit of human endurance had He had quietly filled the lobbies with policemen, he had die- been reached, with the object of preventing a Parliamentary tinctly warned the offenders, and at last, on Mr. Gladstone's decision. And it is obvious to all men of sense or experience motion, he declared them suspended from service for the sit- that to such a course the existing rules of the House offered ting. When they insisted, French fashion, on nominal force
no barrier. There could be no limit to the talk under the being applied—a demand they had no right to make, for this rules of the House, except physical exhaustion, and the party, Order at least was technically beyond challenge—he ordered it minute as it was, was just sufficiently numerous, with the help to be applied, and sent them forth in custody, without a word of the Protestant respect for Sunday, to make total exhaustion which would not have beseemed the greatest Judge, and then— improbable or unattainable. There are but 144. hours in the turned to the business of the night as if nothing had occurred. week, and that is only four hours a day for each Obstructive. And he did this calmly, resolutely, and judicially, though know-
whether there is a precedent for his action—we believe stone's form of the cloture, and must, if human, be afraid of
there is one, though a bad one—or whether he re- wielding the whole powers of the House for arranging and lied only on the prescriptive right of his office to facilitating business which excites such hot antipathies. pass decisions without challenge, save in the form of votes, The emergency. in fact, had become great, almost revolu- matters little. He himself, in his most calm and dignified tionary ; and Mr. Brand, believed hitherto, at least out- address, pronounced his own action "new and exceptional," side the House, to be an ordinary Speaker, rose at once and justified only by his paramount duty to the House, and to the high level of the situation, and displayed all the his statement is final. What is certain is, that the House, qualities and powers demanded from a great gentleman, by the Constitution, by prescription, and by positive law, has a great Judge, and a great constitutional statesman. The a right to act as well as debate in freedom ; that in securing House may well be proud to have a man at its heal without such freedom, it is its own judge ; and that its judgment, as whose aid and guidance it might have floundered for weeks in tested by any conceivable test, is with the Speaker. The a morass of forms, or have extricated itself only by degrading English House of Commons, deep as is its respect for violence. It is due to Mr. Brand that a carefully-laid and ex- forms and precedents, is not yet so bound in the withes of ceedingly able plot for permanently lowering the character and its own formulas that any party, however small, or however authority of the House of Commons, has ende I in a distinct unreasoning, can cut its tendons, while it wriggles helplessly. elevation of its reputation before the world.
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