Sir John Gray on Thursday night was amongst the few
to support the amendment, which he did in a very rambling speech, involving apparently a good deal of effort rather than much earnestness. He argued at tedious length against the notion of allowing the land tribunal to respect the capricious custom of every estate, which he illustrated by so very elaborate a disser- tation on the case of some estate where a grandmother was not allowed by its custom to harbour her own grandson, that the House got to giggling at every repetition of the word ' grand- mother,' and Sir John Gray grew angry. He twitted the O'Donoghue with having once been one of the " excited patriots " whom he now ridiculed, and sat down after a very ineffective- speech, which leaves a strong impression of half-earnestness on its readers.
Previous page
