The Home-rulers, led this time by Mr. O'Shaughnessy, got up
a little Home-rule debate on Thursday in a very odd way. They complained that there were not enough Irish Ministers in Parliament. The Chief Secretary for Ireland, Mr. I. Lowther, was responsible for all Departments, but they wanted Irish Ministers for education, public works, and local government, all responsible—a course which they thought would improve govern- ment in Ireland, and especially enable Irish Members to get their questions answered. The proposal was, of course, not serious, the object being, first of all, to display a grievance only curable by Home-rule; and secondly, to intimate to Mr. Lowther that the Home-riders hated him. Mr. Lowther, whose forte is sang-froid, was quite equal to the occasion, and gravely told the amused House that he thought five or six editions of him would be rather too much for Ireland ; to which, of course, Mr. Sullivan rejoined that the suggestion was impossible, for Nature could not produce even two repetitions of the Secretary tor Ireland. Six Mr. Lowthers is a portentous idea, bat imagine six Irish Ministers for Ireland. sitting by the side of the Ministers for the United Kingdom, with sixty Members anxious to succeed them ! " Count-onts " would not be so common, that is certaiu,
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