Then the numbers are whispered to
Mr. Gladstone. The winning teller always takes the paper from the clerk.
It is Mr. Marjoribanks who receives the paper, and the Government has
won. A faint cheer, then an immediate hush; we want to know the exact
numbers. Mr. Marjoribanks reads them out--a majority of thirty-one. We
have won, and we who support the Ministry, cheer; but our majority has
been reduced, so the Opposition burst their throats with defiant answer.
Then, with fatuous folly, the Tories insist on another division. Two
Irish members, driving straight from Euston station to the House--John
Dillon and Mr. Collery--have meantime been added to the Ministerial
ranks. Some of the mutineers have come back, and the majority rises to
forty-two.
And so ended the great intrigue of the Liberal malcontents against the
Gladstone Government.
[Sidenote: Obstruction rampant.]
The word had gone forth--the Home Rule Bill was not to be allowed to
pass the second reading before the Easter recess. The slings and arrows
of the Tory press had at last begun to have their effect, and
obstruction had now been entered upon thoroughly, fiercely, and
shamelessly.
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