friends, and they were many, warmly welcomed on Irish soil the great English Q.C. who had routed the enemy. Littler enjoyed it immensely, and was charmed with Irish warmth and Irish ways. Full of good humour and good nature himself, with a lively wit, and an easy unaffected manner, he gained new friends to our cause, and increased the zeal of old ones. He was a charming companion, a keen observer and interested in everything he saw and everybody he met.
Before the next session arrived my company determined upon a bold course, and decided to themselves lodge a Bill to acquire the Waterford and Limerick line. There was much to be said for this. With the Waterford and Limerick in our hands the competition, which the public loved, would continue, whilst in the hands of the Great Southern monopoly would prevail. That we would command much public support seemed certain. So in the following year three Bills were presented to Parliament, viz.:—
Midland Great Western
Great Southern and Western and Waterford and Limerick
Great Southern and Western and Waterford and Central Ireland
That Parliament regarded these proposals as being of more than ordinary importance is clear from the fact that it referred the three Bills to a Joint Select Committee of both Houses—Lords and Commons—describing them as “The Railways (Ireland) Amalgamation Bills.” An experienced and able chairman was appointed in the person of Lord Spencer.
On the 18th of May the proceedings opened. Day by day every inch of ground was stubbornly fought, and on the 12th of July the decision of the Committee was announced. After the presentation of the Great Southern case our Bill was heard and all the opposition. One of the most effective witnesses for the Great Southern was Sir George (then Mr.) Gibb, general manager of the North-Eastern, the only big railway in the country that enjoyed a district to itself. His role was to persuade the Committee that railway monopoly, contrary to accepted belief, was a boon and a blessing, and well he fulfilled his part.
My examination did not take place until July 6th, after nearly all other witnesses had been heard. Mr. Littler intentionally kept me back, which
was a great advantage to me, as when placed in the box I had practically heard what everybody else had said, and the last word, as every woman knows, is not to be despised. Littler took me through my “proof.” I had spent the whole of the previous Sunday with him at his house at Palmer’s Green and we had gone through it together most carefully. He attached great importance to my direct evidence, and we underlined the parts I was to be particularly strong upon. That I had taken great pains to prepare complete and accurate evidence I need scarcely say, for, as I have stated before, if there is any kind of work I have liked more than another, and into which I have always put my heart and soul, it is this kind. After we had got through I was cross-examined by eight opposing counsel, including Pope, Pember, Balfour Browne and Seymour Bushe. One of the very few things connected with my appearance in the case I have preserved (and this I have kept from vanity, I suppose) is a newspaper cutting which says, “In cross-examination Mr. Pope could not get a single point out of Mr. Tatlow. On the contrary it actually made his case stronger. His evidence from beginning to end was most masterly. It was the evidence of a man who knew what he was talking about and who told the truth. Mr. Pope, in the end, agreed with Mr. Tatlow’s statement on running powers.” Mr. Pope was a big, generous-minded man. In the course of his great speech on the case he paid me the very nice compliment of saying that, “Mr. Tatlow went into the box and with a candour that did him great credit at once admitted that they (the clauses) were the most stringent that he knew of.” This from opposing counsel was a compliment indeed, and I was much complimented upon it. Mr. Pope greatly admired candour, and indeed I found myself that candour always told with the Committees. Littler loved Pope, and so did all the Parliamentary Bar, of which he was the acknowledged leader and the respected father. Littler said to me, “He is a wonderfully and variously gifted man, and had he chosen the stage as a profession would have been a David Garrick.” I said, “What about his very substantial person?” for he was colossal in figure. “I had forgotten that,” said Littler. Littler told me a good story of him which Pope, he said, was also fond of telling himself.
It was in the great man’s biggest and busiest days. Influenza was rife. Mr. Pope was a bachelor, and his valet inconsiderately took the “flu.”
Mr. Pope’s nephew said the valet must go away till he fully recovered, or Mr. Pope would be sure to take it. “What shall I do?” said Mr. Pope, in dismay. “Oh, I’ll get you a good man for the time,” said the nephew; and so he did; a skilful, quiet, efficient, attentive man, whose usual duty it was to attend on a rich old gentleman, who resided, on account of a little mental derangement, in a certain pleasant private establishment. Mr. Pope had not been told, nor had he inquired, where the excellent valet, with whom he was well pleased, hailed from, nor had the valet asked any questions concerning Mr. Pope. Both seemed to have jumped to certain conclusions. After the valet had been there a week or more, one day, when downstairs, he said to the servants: “Tell me, what is it that is wrong with the master? He seems to me to be as sane as any of us!”
Balfour Browne, in his book Forty Years at the Bar, says, “He” (Mr. Pope) “had a broad equitable common sense, and never did anything mean or little.” He was certainly an orator, and displayed in his speeches much dramatic power. His voice was fine, flexible and sonorous. In his later years he must often have wished his “too too solid flesh would melt,” for it had become a heavy burden. He had to be wheeled from Committee Room to Committee Room in a perambulating chair, and was allowed to remain seated when addressing Committees. On the 12th of July Lord Spencer announced that “the Great Southern Amalgamation Bill may proceed subject to clauses as to running powers, etc.” This meant that our Bill was gone, and that the Great Southern had gained possession of the Waterford and Limerick, Ennis, the line to Collooney and running powers to Sligo. Thus they had secured a monopoly in Munster and an effective competition with us in poor Connaught. It was hard lines for the Midland, but all was not yet lost. If only we could obtain running powers to Limerick and carry them back to Ireland, we should have secured some of the spoil. Another week was spent fighting over running powers, facilities, etc., and I was in the witness box again. Balfour Browne and Littler now conducted the warfare on either side, and keenly they fought. The Committee at one time seemed disposed to put us off with little or nothing. In the box I know I waxed warm—“the Great Southern to get all and we nothing—iniquitous,” and then, “the public interest to count for nought—Oh, monstrous!” Well, in