]
There was a curious little incident on the following day--nothing less
than a defeat of the Government. It arose on a small local Irish Bill.
Blackrock is a small seaside place just outside Dublin. The Tories, who
occupy a good many of the villas, have kept the whole government of the
place in their hands by maintaining a high property qualification for
votes for the Town Commissioners. On this day they brought forward a
Bill; but it was opposed until they had mended their ways with regard to
the government of the town. Mr. Morley, acting on the official view,
urged that the Bill might be passed and this other question dealt with
separately, but the Irish refused to be pacified, they went to a
division, and with the aid of the Radicals they managed to defeat the
Government by nine votes. They celebrated the event by a hearty cheer.
[Sidenote: And so to the end.]
The penultimate week in August went on--wearily, tamely, and
monotonously. It was, perhaps, the presence of the Speaker--it was,
perhaps, the painful recollection of the scene of violence on a previous
occasion--it was, perhaps, the universal exhaustion of the House;
whatever the cause, the excitement on the night of August 25th was
infinitely below what anybody would have expected.
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