The Life Of Charles Stewart Parnell Vol - I

Mt. 33] ME. CHAMBERLAIN 189
flogging in the Mutiny Bill, but unsuccessfully; he had opposed it unsuccessfully in the Prisons Bill; but now he raises the question again, and I hope his efforts will be crowned with success.'l
Parnell, with characteristic tenacity, had never lost sight of Mr. Callan's suggestion that specimens of the ' cat' should be exhibited in the Library. ' I should like to know/ he said, * what the Government knows about these " cats." I have a shrewd suspicion that they know very little. Let the "cats." be produced/ But the Government were obdurate. They had given way on Bright's amendment. They now meant to stand firm. Parnell, however, kept pegging away. He moved that when a man received more than twelve lashes he should be expelled from the army with ignominy, but the amendment was defeated by 109 votes.
Obstruction, of which there had been very little up to about June 20, now began, and the Irish pushed to the front, ' Mr. Parnell/ as the ' Annual Eegister' put it, ' providing them with opportunities by moving a succession of minute amendments relative to the provisions for enlisting and billeting.'
On July 3 Mr. Callan, in an amusing speech, informed the House that he had paid a visit to the Library, and had seen the ' cat'—in fact, several ' cats J—which he graphically described. The Ministers questioned the accuracy of Mr. Callan's description of the ' instruments of torture/ ' Produce the " cats/'' said Parnell; ' then we shall know who is right/ Ultimately the * cats ' were produced on July 5. Mr. Callan's description
1 * Chamberlain,' said Mr. Justin McCarthy, ' spoke to mo with great admiration of Parnell, and said that his obstructive tactics were the only tactics to succeed.'