]
Mr. Gladstone on one or two points was able to overthrow the whole case
so elaborately made up. The Irish Parliament could not send
representatives to a foreign Power, because they could not vote the
money for such a purpose under the Bill. "Ah, but"--interrupted the
incautious Wolmer--"could they not send envoys who were unpaid?" "No,"
promptly responded the Old Man, "because they had no power under the
Bill to 'accredit' envoys, and a foreign Power could not receive an
envoy who was not accredited." All this argument--broad, acute,
tranquil--was delivered in a voice that now and then was painfully low,
and sometimes you had to strain your ears. But then it was worth your
while to strain your ears, so that you might master all the supremacy of
the art and skill and knowledge of the whole speech.
For instance, he puts the question to Lord Wolmer, if he seriously means
that the Irish Legislature is not to have the right to petition? Lord
Wolmer answers that the Irish members will be in the Imperial
Parliament. "Ah! that's an argument, not an answer," says the Old Man;
and then, with the spring of a tiger, he pounces on the hapless Wolmer
with the question: "Is the right of petition, then, to be taken away in
every case where there is representation?"--a question which, with
petitions pouring in by the thousand to the House of Commons from the
Ulstermen and others, a Unionist like Lord Wolmer finds it impossible to
answer.
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