take it for granted that the business of the country is at a standstill;
and that just so much of the public time is being wasted in mere
emptiness and talk. But when the House is half empty--when the galleries
are no longer full--when debates are brief and passionless, then you can
reasonably conclude that things are going well with the Government; that
useful business is in progress; and that something is being really added
to the happiness of the nation.

[Sidenote: The humbled Opposition.]

So it was during the second week of the Home Rule Session. No great
diplomats claimed their seats; the outer lobby was no longer besieged;
there was no longer any ferocity of competition for seats; and the
attendance at prayers visibly relaxed; but all the time more useful
legislation was initiated in the course of the week than in any similar
period for upwards of six or seven years of Parliamentary time. A good
deal of the progress is due to the sober and subdued spirit of the
Opposition. So long as Mr. Balfour was in power, the more democratic
section of the Tory party was kept comparatively under; but with his
fall came an outburst of freedom; and men like Sir Albert Rollit, who
represent great constituencies, have been able to freely express their
real opinions. Let me pause for a moment on Sir Albert Rollit, to say
that he is a very remarkable type to those who have known the House of
Commons for a number of years--as I have. It is rather hard to make a
distinction between him and a moderate, and in some respects, even an
advanced Liberal. He boasts, and rightly, that he represents as many
working men as most of his Radical colleagues; and he certainly does sit
for a place which is not inhabited by any large number of wealthy
people. Disraeli, with his Household Suffrage; Lord Randolph Churchill,
with his Tory Democracy, have brought this type of politician into