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REDUCED MAJORITIES 229
CHAPTER XVII.
THE FIGHT IN THE HOUSE 242
CHAPTER XVIII.
IRELAND'S CHARTER THROUGH 254
CHAPTER XIX.
HOME RULE IN THE LORDS 269


CHAPTER I.
OPENING OF A HISTORIC SESSION.

[Sidenote: Memories.]
There is always something that depresses, as well as something that
exhilarates, in the first day of a Session of Parliament. In the months
which have elapsed, there have been plenty of events to emphasize the
mutability and the everlasting tragedy of human life. Some men have
died; figures that seemed almost the immortal portion of the life of
Parliament have disappeared into night, and their place knows them no
more; others have met the fate, more sinister and melancholy, of
changing a life of dignity and honour for one of ignominy and shame.
[Sidenote: The irony of the seats.]
But no such thought disturbed the cheerful souls of some of the Irish
Members; in the worst of times there is something exuberant in the Celt
that rises superior to circumstance. This was to be an Irish Session;
and the great fight of Ireland's future government was to be
fought--perhaps finally.


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