The Ivish Members to whom this article will refer are the Nationalists,—it is to them only that any peculiarity belongs, for the other Irish Members are like the rest of their British brethren, The Irish Nationalist Party entered Parliament by the General Election of 1885 in imposing numbers over eighty strong, with the sole and single aim of carrying a Home Rule measure. "They were not sure when ther they would obtain this concession from one of the great Parties in Britain or the other—they rather hoped to win it from both together. They would subor-Ginate all their political conduct and pro-coedings to the object alone—whatever measure of any other kind they supported or obstructed or opposed their course would be guided by the effect thereof upon the prospects of Home Rule, For some reasons of their own they were disposed to embarrass British policy and the British Parliament. They reckoned that such embarrassment might he made subservient to Home Rule, might induce Britain to grant such a measure in order to be freed from the vexatious trouble, They went so far as to cause trouble, and even disturbances, in order to lower the repute and injure the traditions of the House of Commons, to cause the occurrence of awkward scenes almost daily till the worry and annoyance should become intolerable. They expected that in despair the British would yield at last in order to be rid of the "ph These views of theirs were not openly expressed, perhaps, but their prevalence was clearly discernible by those who had to watch the Party action from day to day. In this policy they united, with full party discipline, under the Leadership of it. Parnell. If they meant to emy or oppose this or that, their expression would "we shall just send for the boys to vote." A very few belonged to the gentry class: many were men of very moderate means many were supposed to have but scanty resources. They were believed to be sustained in Parliament by resources large-
Nothing, however, was exactly known drama from sympathisers in, America. about this, nor had anyone any business to enquire; they had " right to pursue this system if they chose. "Apparently, how ever, this plan, so far as it may hav existed, would affect the certainty of their corporate action, for it seemed to be at times question whether they could be maintained in London at much expense up to such and such a date, or whether it was worth while to bring' them Lack fron Ireland, at much expense again, for such and such a crisis, 'They sat on the benches on the left side of the House below the gangway, about one quarter of the accommodation' of the House; they had occupied this quarter in formerParliaments whichever British Party was in power, meaning thereby to indicate that they were always on the Opposition side being opposed to the Ministry of the day whether Liberal or Conservative, and forming a Party of themselves for the special Irish interests which they represented as quite apart from the other interests of the British nation, Their occupation of this quarter in former Parliaments had never been very strong. But now with numbers more than doubled their occupa tion was effective, giving room to none other except a few sympathetic Radicals who sat on the bench nearest. the floor of the House. From the first on entering the House after the General Election of 18-5, they were vod asserting, as if they were a triun band who hid scaled' the parliamentary citadel. Many were new to Parliamentand had to learn its ways; they were held under strict discipline by their Leader. Several again were already known as speakers or orators either in the House, or in Ireland. The principal orator was Mr. Sexton whose ches commanded admiration both for diction and delivery, except that they were too long drawn out. Mr. Timothy Healy was their Rupert of debate; his perfor-an ances were quite trenchant, and his wit flashed like lurid light: frown the fierceness of his language he was sometimes called by his compatriots 'Tiger lim." Mr. 'T. P. O'Connor was much listened to as being the lieutenant of Mr. Parnell in the English elections; he had a merry, rollicking style like that' which we had attributed to the eat O'Connell in his humorous moods, john Redmond we did not hear at first, but when he appeared on the scene Inter he was found to be the strongest, weightiext and most formidable orator on the Irish side. Mr. Justin MCarthy was their literary light; his speeches were cultured, softly delivered and mellifluous. The men in the rank and file spoke boisterously but fluently, and soon learnt the art of tal interminably when any obstructive purpose was in view.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.