At once
there was a heavy sigh of relief, and most of all on the Irish Benches.
Among the Irishry, the declaration of Mr. Gladstone had produced a
moment of something like panic; the only exhibition of which was a
certain impatience with the attempt of Mr. Balfour to pin the Old Man
down to the most literal interpretation of his words. The panic soon
passed away. It was all, I say, a false alarm. Vulnerable though his
temper--though there was in him still enough of the hot onrush of battle
and of resistance under all the snow of advancing years--the great old
tactician had not forgotten his cunning. He at once seized the
opportunity of saying he was not finally committed to the ninth clause
in its present shape, and so we once more breathed freely.
[Sidenote: Joe comes back from dinner.]
This was the end of the important part of the debate before the dinner
hour. It is one of the peculiarities of Mr. Chamberlain that no stress
of a Parliamentary situation induces him to seriously interfere with his
habits. When the clock points to ten minutes to eight any evening of
the week, he may be seen to rise from his place with the inevitableness
of fate, and to disappear for a couple of hours.
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