The Irish obstruction to Supply on Thursday night was carried
on in a very fierce, not to say furious fashion, and had not the Government, with praiseworthy firmness, organised the House for a night sitting, the vote for the Irish Constabulary would not have been carried even when it was,—namely, at about 2 o'clock. Mr. Dillon's attack on the vote was as frank and bitter as usual, and Sir Michael Hicks-Beach's defence was straightforward and manly in the best possible sense. The Chairman (Mr. Courtney) had to interfere almost as often as in some of the internecine fights of 1882, and be did so with admirable temper and firmness. When at length Mr. Dillon's
amendment was defeated by 246 votes to 121. the House had long been in the condition which Carlyle describes briefly as "growing electric." The Gladstonians, for the most part, took no parkin the division. Not one of Mr. Gladstone's lieutenants supported the Government.
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