shouted with full mouth across the floor; altogether, the scene was one
of almost insane excitement. Mr. Mellor--gentle, considerate,
conciliatory--reasoned, explained, expostulated. What he should have
done, was to have named half-a-dozen Tories, and showed the party of
bullies that their day was past.




CHAPTER V.

OBSTRUCTION AND ITS AGENTS.


[Sidenote: The younger Tories.]

Obstruction is a thing rather of temperament than intellect. The
occurrences of the early weeks of the Session of 1893 fully confirm this
view. The Tory party and the Unionists vowed in their organs, and proved
by their conduct in the House, that they determined to try and prevent,
by obstruction, the second reading of the Home Rule Bill being taken
before Easter. With this design they came down to the House every
evening with a plan of attack. The consequences were somewhat serious to
some members of the House. I saw young gentlemen suddenly developing
activity whom I had beheld in the House for many years in succession
without ever suspecting in them either the power or the desire to take
any part in Parliamentary debate. The same gentlemen now rushed about
with a hurried, preoccupied, and, above all, a self-conscious air that
had its disgusting but also its very amusing side. For instance, Mr.
Bromley-Davenport, during the six years of Tory Government, never spoke,