But by the irony of
fate, the action of the Irish Party compelled the Unionists to sit on
the Liberal benches again, with the result that men were ranged side by
side, whose hatreds, personal and political, were as deadly as any in
the House.
[Sidenote: Watchers for the dawn.]
As a result of all this, there occurred in the House on Tuesday morning,
January 31st, a scene unparalleled since the famous day when Mr.
Gladstone brought in his Home Rule Bill in 1886. Night was still
fighting the hosts of advancing morn, when a Tory Member--Mr.
Seton-Karr--approached the closed doors of the House of Commons, and
demanded admission to a seat. For nearly an hour he was left alone with
the darkness, and the ghosts of dead statesmen and forgotten scenes of
oratory, passion, and triumph. But as six o'clock was striking, there
entered the yard around the House two figures--similar in
purpose--different in appearance. Mr. Johnson, of Ballykilbeg, is by
this time one of the familiar types of the House; and, from his evident
sincerity, is, in spite of the terrible and mediaeval narrowness of his
creed, personally popular. Mr. Johnson is an Orangeman of Orangemen.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25