1867.] Death of Pahnerston to Reform Act. Conclusion. 467 terrible and indefinable things. The ridiculous pertinacity of these attacks was rebuked in the House of Commons by Mr. Baxter, who said " he might be permitted to say, at the same time, that he hoped the discussion would be allowed to go on without any more personal and monotonous attacks upon the honourable member for Birmingham. He was sure the country was tired of these incessant personal references. The other day he met a gentleman who was constantly in the habit of attending the debates in that House, and who entirely differed from the honourable member for Birmingham in politics ; and he (Mr. Baxter) asked why he had not appeared lately in the gallery. He replied, ' You people in the House of Commons seem to be doing nothing but discuss John Bright, and I am quite sick of it.' " * The fact which lay at the bottom of all this abuse was, that the subject of it represented a depth of public opinion which was danger- ous to all obstructives, and which gave to his actions an im- portance not to be denied and a power, which could not long be resisted. Mr. Mill, even on his entrance into Parliament, spoke with unquestioned authority, which was in the first place due to his fame as a thinker and writer, but was soon increased by the thoroughness of his principles and the force of his advocacy. There were many other members of the party who vindicated its influence in Parliament, and alto- gether its position became more in accordance with its strength in the country than it had been before. The introduction of the promised Reform Bill was delayed by the discussion of two other subjects which had been referred to in the Queen's speech, the ravages of the cattle plague in England, and the Fenian Rebellion in Ireland. With regard to the Irish troubles, the old short and easy method was of necessity adopted, but on this occasion it was applied with unwonted rapidity. An Act to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act in Ireland passed through all its stages in both Houses of Parliament in a single day, Saturday, the i/th of February, the sitting of the Lords being prolonged into the Sunday to
- Speech in the House on the second reading of the Reform Bill, April 13.
