"THE HOME RULERS IN THE HOUSE."

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 74, 26 September 1874, Page 11

"THE HOME RULERS IN THE HOUSE."

Under this heading the London correspondent of the ' Liverpool Journul ' had the following in his last letter :—: — The hatch of Home Rulers which Ireland hns sent to parliament are, on the whole, belter men tlmn the Irish members who were 'in tlu>hoii!.e when I first fame to know it, some twenty years ngo. Sonm were dreadfully afraid when tliej saw the Irish returns that we should have the old times back again. "You will have nothing but Irish rows in the house next session with all these ignorant, violent Home Rulers coming up," said a Conservative fo me whilst the elections were on. But this prophecy has not been fulfilled. We have hnd several earnest; debate*, but i.o rows. Hardly an irritating word has been uttered by a Home Buler. O'Gorman used unparliamentary but not irritating language. Sullivan (of ' The Nation '), who before ho came to the house was thought to bo a dangerous man — a bite noir-~to Irish Conservatives, w.-is, indeed, Mr Sullivan. True he has delivered several eloquent speeches, passionate speeches we might call them ; but it wns not the passion of anger that inspired him, nor was there a lytlung likely to rouse anger in those speeches. Mr Sullivan is an electrical body — through every part of him he seems charged with electricity. When he speaks every muscle of his body is in action, and when he darts about the lobby you can hardly follow him with your eyes, so vapidly doea he flash about ; but he is exceedingly goodhumoured, and singularly cautious, passionately as he speaks, not to offend. Well, then, a good deal of real talent ha 3 unexpectedly developed itself in that mass of Home rulers below (he gangway. Mr O'Shaughnessy (who acted as Whip for the Home Rulers), who moved that resolution about the Irish school.nasters, spoke uncommonly well, aiivl treated his subject so ably that he extorted praises from all sorts of men. There are not twenty men in the House who c mid have clone the work better. He is not an orator, nor does he attempt oratory like Mr Sullivan, but is simply a quiet, gentlemanly speaker of the logical kind, ambitious to convince the minds rather than to rouse the pussion of his hearers, or rather to touch tlieir feelings by appealing to their reason. And thia, by the way, he succeeded in doing that night, for when he sat down there wns nob a man in the house who was not convinced that something must be cone for the poor Irish schoolmasters, whose cause he advocated so well. The Irish Secretary, Sir Michael Beach, said that lie was convinced, and Mr Hardy, too, who was leader of the house pro hac vice. In the course of the debate, which was uncommonly well sustained, mainly by the Home .Rulers, aMr Power arose. Mi v Power is so new a member that I caa tell you very little about him. 'lhis, however, I may say, that, unless I am devoid of sagacity, we shall have some excellent speeches from, Mr Power. He said but a few words — the occasion did not call for a set speech — but he stood up so well before the house, with so much calmness and self-possession, so much aplomb, spoke such excellent English in so admirable a manner, that I am quite convinced that he is a practised speaker.