It was nearly eight o'clock before the Ministry of Mines came on. Lord Salisbury thought it would be improper to consider so important a measure after dinner; Lord Crawford thought it would be still more improper to suggest that the Peers would not be in a condition to transact business after that meal. He carried his point, but at the expense of the Bill, for Lord Salisbury, returning like a giant refreshed, induced their Lordships to transform the Minister of Mines into a mere Under-Secretary of the Board of Trade, thus defeating, according to Lord Peel, the principal purpose of the measure.
It was another day of rather small beer in the Commons. There were, however, one or two dicta of note. Thus Sir Bertram Falk, who was concerned because Naval officers received no special marriage allowance, was specifically assured by Sir James Craig that the Admiralty will not prevent men from marrying. I understood, however, that it will not recognise a wife in every port.
Thursday, August 5th.—With lofty disregard of a hundred-and-twenty years of history the Duke of Northumberland informed the Peers that the present state of Ireland was due to Bolshevism. Having diagnosed the disease so clearly he ought to have been ready with a remedy, but could suggest nothing more practical than the holding of mass meetings to organise British public opinion.
Meanwhile the Commons were engaged in rushing through with the aid of the "guillotine" a Bill for the restoration of order in the distressful country. Mr. Bonar Law, usually so accurate, fell into an ancient trap, and declared that the Sinn Fein leaders had "raised a Frankenstein that they cannot control."
Sir Hamar Greenwood made as good a defence of the Bill as was possible in the circumstances. But neither he nor anybody else could say how courts-martial, which are "to act on the ordinary rules of evidence," will be successful in bringing criminals to justice if witnesses refuse to come forward.
Mr. T. P. O'Connor re-delivered the anti-coercion speech which he has been making off and on for the last forty years. Mr. Devlin was a little more up-to-date, for he introduced a reference to the Belfast riots and drew from the Chief Secretary an assurance that the Bill would be as applicable to Ulster as to the rest of Ireland.
Mr. Asquith denounced the Bill with unusual animation, and was sure that it would do more harm than good. Cromwellian treatment needed a Cromwell, but he did not see one on the Treasury Bench. "Cromwell yourself!" retorted the Prime Minister. The only unofficial supporter of the Bill, and even he "no great admirer," was Lord Hugh Cecil; but nevertheless the Second Reading was carried by 289 to 71.
The House afterwards gave a Second Reading to the Census (Ireland) Bill, on the principle, as Captain Elliott caustically observed, that if you can't do anything with the people of Ireland you might at least find out how many of them there are.
Friday, August 6th.—The remaining stages of the Coercion Bill were passed under the "guillotine." Mr. Devlin declared that this was not "cricket," and refused to play any longer; but it is only fair to say that he had not then seen our artist's picture.