A NOTABLE INNOVATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2785, 31 July 1907, Page 78

A NOTABLE INNOVATION.

(By T P. O'Coincoß, M.P., m P.T.O.* * Msy 18.) There was a small and at the seine time a tremendous innovation in the House of Commons last week. Changes are constantly going on in the interim: and, so trt speak, faattily life of the assembly, especially since its affairs got under tie control! of co active and aeaious a Commissioner of Works as Luk Hareourt ; but tfcis innovation caps all that has gone before. The -reader must be prepared for a surprise ;J the innovation took no glimmer or more affrighting shape than a smalt cottoge piano. But a piaao inside tie fcaUs. of Parliameot— except, of course, in the private houses of the officials—there, md<eed, was something very startling and very, new to old stagers. —Mr Redmond's Dianer. — It was all along of the ooJojiial Premiers. Mr Redmond, as leader of the Irish warty had invited the Premiers to dine with him and his colleagues in the new dining room. I toM mj readers a.ll about this dining room some time ago.,, It is—as I fold them—the largest" tooto in the House of Commons, is beautifully decorated; is, in fact, something like tihe best* banqueting room of a great hotel, and, aa a result, has at once jumped into popularity, and is now tbe official banqueting room of tfoe Houee of Commons. Here it! was that tbe gathering met which was to do honour to tbe representatives of tns Empire over the sea*. It was, indeed, a very remarkable gathering. The statuesque faci of Sir Wilfred I^urier, the goodHumoured, kindly, but Spbmx-like face ofi General Botba, the alert, bright face of Sir JosepU TVwd, «><s tfce *fa«», **u<**tor, rather »Ky face of Sir Robert Bond were al« to be seen at tbe head table. Mingled with theße men were ti» other chief guests. Foremost was the Ixxrd Chancellor. It is a sign of the tiroes that this great officer calmly left the woolsack in the midst o£ a big debate and look his dinner with tfae Premiers, with General Botha, tn recently) a formidable enemy, and with the Irish leaders, still regarded by some who don t know them as terrible fellows, meaning; destruction to all things sacred 1 and divines And to add piquancy to the situation*; there were three other Minister* of the Crown in this strange company—Mr Mor-j ley, the Secretary for India; Mr Bi"*™' the Chief Secretary for Ireland; and Mar Winston Churchill, tbe representative i» tie Houte oMJpiwKi©* of t&A CicJtadaX

Office — : to i flay, perhaps, the fiercest battleground of party. There were.several other colonial Ministers, among whom I should mention Sir F. Borden, the Minreter for JMilitia in Sir Wilfrid Laurier's Cabinet. I (had the honour of "sitting beside him, and 3 found him one of the most charming and instructive men I have met for a long time. — The Explanation, of the Piano. — Two other guests must be mentioned — Mr Denis O'Sulliv&n and Mr~M'Cormick. Everybody by this time in London knows tihe wondrous Denis; witii the voice at tone moment of thunder and the next of soft zephyr; with, the artistic temperament to bis fingertips and with, the abounding good nature and high spirits of the jtace to whkjh he belongs. And- Mr M'Cormick is getting to be as well known. Here is a young tenor coming fresh from Ireland — and, indeed, from tibe good old town of Athlone, like myself — who in a few months Eas managed to capture iSie public of London and to charm audiences by a voice which has melodious notes that eyen Caruso might envy. And this explains the piano. •—The Music Irish, and the Minstrels, Too.— We all knew that tihe unfortunate Pre-" Jniers bad gone through each an amount of after-dinner talk, both on their own part )and on- tie part- of often, that a little festive gathering where there would be song and music instead of politics and speeehmaking would be a welcome change, aid so it was resolved that, except for a lew words of welcome from Mt Redmond, jHiere should not be a toast or a speech, and that Irish music sung by. Irish minstrels should be the one entertainment. I will not detail tie proceedings at length, as I have many other things to crush into $ihese small columns. Suffice it to say that song followed song, and that the guests were moved to laughter, and very often to something eke© to tears, as the history and spirit of Ireland, now sad, now gay, rollicking at one moment, tragic at another, were unfolded before this sympathetic audience by the sivgers. And at the piano accompanying them was Mr Harty, ' another brilliant young Irish musician, who at this moment is attracting a great deal '•■ - oiattention by the spirit and 1 daring of his compositions. It was, indeed, a strange jfching t» hear the piano and the songs in these curious and novel surroundings, and ' the evening was felt by everyone to be j one whioff their memorial will not -willingly Wet die. To me almost the chief interest ' of the occasion was to watch the face of General' Botha. , — A Pen-portrait of General Botha. — I have already attempted to draw a portrait of ihat remarkable personality as I saw bim at a previous gathering. To-day, as before, I feel as if the face puzzled me still. It is all sood nature — nobody could •■ look at it without feeling instinctively that this is a men who wishes well to his fel- • low men. I<e slight double chin rather ' adds to tihis air of geniality and sweetness. f And there is always hovering about tine mouth a certain rippling smile — as of a man who wanted to be on good terms with v life and with men. And 1 yet there is in . The whole face and figure ' that strange phlegm, caution, and unresdabkness which are characteristic of the Dutch race, whe- . ther settled in Europe or in Africa. Tie eyesj beautifully blue and clear,, and the brow, not overhanging, and yet strong and well marked — all abdicate tie man of action who could remain cool in the midst of the roar of thunder and face desperate ' - odds without losing his bead" or bis heart. ' It was curious, in moments when others seemed to lose tbetnsehnes in the excite- < men* of fcbe sonir how this man's brow remained unchon^ecl. Ani^ at tome momente 1a was deeply moved. Yon could only suspect it ; there was no outward sign. I watched even the well-shaped and plump • (hands as they lay on the table ; they did V not even mark fKe time oi the music as men are accustomed to do when something occurs to -thrill tihem. It was only tihe deeper solemnity job saw in the face that gave 3*>u the hint that his inner eye was ; wandering over battlefields, and night | attack and deadly ambush, and t&at tihis V; inner vision of hu was peopled with all 1 the bloody spectres, and awful tumult of t bitter, horrible wur. ? — "T!»e Wearing of flic Green."— There was a, moment, indeed, as I have -_ said, when General Botha was moved, little |as the face showed it : and that was when Denis O'Sullivan song the favourite and : - stirring Irish song "The ■wearing of the • gieen." This, is a song with a curious history and unexpected effects. Almost rebel C in tone, it ihas yet the power to attract £ the sympathy of men and women of the T strongest Conservative principles. It was t a favourite of Queen -Victoria, and used : often, at her own request, to be sung to i her by a bouncing young Irish maid of = honour who had 1 a pretty voice and a spirited temper. O'Sullivan catches as well Jias inspires the flame of enthusiasm round I him ; and the' rafters rang to the shouts of ' final defiance and triumph in which the I eong end, and then there broke forth a „ '. great scene. The song was to be the signal r for the break-up of the gathering, and ' General Botlha, of course, ro^ witih the 1 test. There was the finest outburst of " cheers I have ever heard j it rose aigain «nd again ; and Botha, with that smile of $is — genial, sympathetic, and yet some- . what unreadable^ — paased out of the room, %ith his face turned towards the entnuerastic admirers, and just a beckoning of' 'his hand as recognition and farewell. I l^ave rarely c&en anything which, was more P.."* — Old Memories Bevived.— -■ It is an Irish week in Westminster, and ftjE*<> mutt be my excuse for dwelling so jUnJch on this curious, eventful, and unpre- ; ttdented evening in the dining room of the ; : WB* e °f Commons. The scene on Tuesday, -< |v ?> 190^{ when Mr Birrell got up to ; urn the third bill intended to deal with ' m Irish Home Bule question could not j I tuj bring to toe miad of those like myself, |»bo caw the other two bilk, a curious \ MMtt of contrast and a flood of memories.

It was worth living in those old days of the Irish struggle; I say of myself that nowadays I often feel as if I had been a member of the great French Convention which destroyed a dynasty and an epoch , and killed a King who had survived into the tranquil bourgeois days of Louis Philippe. Who that was present at that day in April in 1886, when Mr Gladstone i ! proposed his first Home Rule Bill, can ever j forget the memorable scene? Men began to fight for places as early as 6 o'clock in the morning ; most- of the Irishmen took their breakfast in one of the dining rooms; every seat was taken hours before Mr i Gladstone made his entrance; and I rei member the splendid inspiration of Sir Robert Fowler —popular Tory —who went out to the library, got- a chair, and set ! it down on the floor of the House in the empty space which divides its two sides from each other. —Ardour Undamped by Accident. — What strange, hot, young blood, what wild hopefulness and exaltation of spirit there were in the veins of the Irishmen of that epoch and of that memorable day. j I One little incident will illustrate the pre- J ~valent spirit. There was on the terrace a ] tricycle^ —tricycles, and bicycles were then j somewhat new things in the life of London 1. —and on© of the Irish members, ignorant of the perils and difficulties of tricycling, 1 got on the tricycle, attempted to tarn a corner sharply, was thrown violently on to the stone floor of the terrace, and had j got a deep, bad wound in the temple. But "he never thought of going home. One of his colleagues —a radical man —hastily bound up the wound, and with a great bandage covering half his face this couraareous fellow eat throughout the long hours of waiting through Mr Gladstone's long speech in unfolding the bill. —Gladstone and Paroell. — One other figure there was on that day which is gone .for ever, as Gladstone's has —a figure almost as remarkable as Gladstone himself. I would find it hard to say. if I had to make the choice, whether Gladstone or Parnell was tha handsomest man of the House of Commons of their day. Gladstone's splendid face, with the beaked nose, the brilliant, flashing black eyes ; the mouth large, mobile, expressive, w>th all the strength of will, and at the same time the artistic mobility of the orator; the beautiful complexion, white as ivory, but so delicate and refined ; the massive head, the crown of scanty but beautiful -white hair; the mingled expression of firmness and kindlines in the face; and then the broad shoulders, the massive body, the figure so graceful as well as so robust; and when he spoke that tremendous voice, with such a long gamut of intonation, and such colour and variety —here was a man you could not see without at once recognising him as a king among men. Different in every respect was the other figure, and yet juet^as striking, just as unmistakably a king among men. Very tall, rather slight, with a long, perfectly oval face, thin and at times sunken cheeks, a beard long and somewhat unkempt, and of light brown, indefinite colour, and a fore- -• head white, large, a perfect oval in shape, and the eyes, with their strange, red-flint their mysterious lights,' and sometimes dazzling and affrighting glances — here was a man who seemed to have stepped straight out of the Land of Fairies arid Lagends, a figure 6uch as Lohengrin, or some other of the mystic knights, half human, half divine, who 6talk across the stage in Wagnerian opera. The entrance of Gladstone was public, conspicuous, half a triumphant march, half a bitter public denunciation ; Parnell stole into the House with a suit of obscure, somewhat discoloured tweed, a email, brown, half-dis-coloured hat, and he took his seat in the very midst of tbe rank and file of his own party —apparently the obscurest, most unconcerned and detached figure in that great drama, the authorship of which, after all) belonged even more to him than to - that wondrous, white-haired, goldenmouthed Old Man Eloquent, who was about to unfold it to the listening world. —A Brief Smmmarising. — It is a far cry from that time, and there is little to recall it except by contrast in the scene of last week. There was no inconvenient crowding of the House; few men came down before the usual hour; there was no thrill of excitement. Mr Birrell attuned himself to tbe spirit of the hour by the most humdrum speech he has ever made, but a speech lucid, bußi-nees-like, and soothing. The speech of the evening I thought Mr Balfour's immediate reply, spirited, clever, adroit, except in one passage, of which he will hear a good deal later on. The speech of the evening, however, was that of Mr Redmond. I have heard that Irish leader make many brilliant speeches, but this one outdistanced them all by its wonderful combination of eloquence and caution, its eplendid exposition of its own views, and at the same time its dexterous avoidance of pronouncing the judgment which has to come from a convention of his people during the Whitsuntide holiday. I may sum up the impression of the biU by saying that it disappointed the Nationalists a good .deal, the Liberals a little more, the Unionists most of all; which may throw some light on the stormy seas over which it has to travel before it gets Trithin sight of the haven under the hill.