CHAPTER XVI.
REDUCED MAJORITIES 229

CHAPTER XVII.
THE FIGHT IN THE HOUSE 242

CHAPTER XVIII.
IRELAND'S CHARTER THROUGH 254

CHAPTER XIX.
HOME RULE IN THE LORDS 269




CHAPTER I.

OPENING OF A HISTORIC SESSION.


[Sidenote: Memories.]

There is always something that depresses, as well as something that
exhilarates, in the first day of a Session of Parliament. In the months
which have elapsed, there have been plenty of events to emphasize the
mutability and the everlasting tragedy of human life. Some men have
died; figures that seemed almost the immortal portion of the life of
Parliament have disappeared into night, and their place knows them no
more; others have met the fate, more sinister and melancholy, of
changing a life of dignity and honour for one of ignominy and shame.