Sketches in the House: The Story of a Memorable Session (1893)

by T. P. O'Connor

CONTENTS.

• • CHAPTER I. PAGE
  • [OPENING OF A HISTORIC SESSION] [9]
• • CHAPTER II.
  • [THE HOME RULE BILL] [31]
• • CHAPTER III.
  • [A SOBER AND SUBDUED OPPOSITION] [40]
• • CHAPTER IV.
  • [THE PERSONAL ELEMENT] [49]
• • CHAPTER V.
  • [OBSTRUCTION AND ITS AGENTS] [67]
• • CHAPTER VI.
  • [GLADSTONE AND THE SURVIVAL] [82]
• • CHAPTER VII.
  • [A FORTNIGHT OF QUIET WORK] [96]
• • CHAPTER VIII.
  • [THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM] [111]
• • CHAPTER IX.
  • [THE END OF A GREAT WEEK] [131]
• • CHAPTER X.
  • [THE BUDGET, OBSTRUCTION, AND EGYPT] [146]
• • CHAPTER XI.
  • [THE BILL IN COMMITTEE] [164]
• • CHAPTER XII.
  • [RENEWAL OF THE FIGHT] [178]
• • CHAPTER XIII.
  • [THE SEXTON INCIDENT] [198]
• • CHAPTER XIV.
  • [THE BURSTING OF THE STORM] [207]
• • CHAPTER XV.
  • [MR. DILLON'S FORGETFULNESS] [219]
• • 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]
• • INDEX.
  • [INDEX.] [283]

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CHAPTER I.

OPENING OF A HISTORIC SESSION.

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.

The irony of the seats.