The Life Of Charles Stewart Parnell Vol - I

280 CHARLES STEWABT PAHNELL [1881
circumstances they doubtless thought that it did not behove them to demonstrate too much. Their leader, addressing the Speaker, said : * Sir, I respectfully submit for your further consideration that there is at least one precedent for the course I propose to take/ The Speaker firmly replied: ' I have ruled that the course the hon. member proposes to take is out of order/ Again the Whigs and Tories cheered lustily, and the Speaker added : ' If he wishes to challenge that ruling he is entitled to do so by motion.' Parnell rose again; but the House had now grown impatient, and cries of * Order, order' broke from the benches on both sides above the gangway, in the midst of which he sat down, Here The O'Donoghue interposed to ask when his ' hon. friend would have an opportunity of raising the question of order'—an interrogatory which was received with laughter. The Speaker answered, * That is a matter for the House itself,' a reply which evoked another salvo of cheers from the Whigs and Tories. And now the struggle seemed all over. There were slight i movements ' in the House, as if hon. members were preparing to settle down to business. The Speaker leant back in the chair and waved his hand gently in the direction of the Treasury Bench, to indicate to the leader of the House—Mr. Gladstone—that the coast was at length clear for passing to the ' Orders of the day.' At this juncture Mr, A. M. Sullivan sprang to his feet. ' Do I understand you, sir/ he said, with outstretched hand and in a clear and manly voice, ' do I understand you, sir, to rule that my hon. friend cannot as a matter of privilege challenge the course which, without precedent, you took this morning?' He paused for a moment, manifestly much agitated, but quite self-possessed, and then boldly continued: 'In