On Monday, the House of Commons spent an hour or
two in "debating what they should debate." Mr. Gladstone moved a resolution under which, until Easter, the Govern- ment is to have morning sittings on Tuesdays and Fridays, and, whenever the Home-rule Bill is put down, the whole of the sittings on those days. Naturally enough, the private. Members fought hard for their rights, but without success,— the only exception agreed to being one in favour of the Bimetallists. Mr. Labowshere, on the whole, stood by the Government rather than the private Members—a sign of how complete has been his capture—and "regretted the Prime Minister had given way in the matter of bimetallism, which could be adequately discussed in the three hours of an evening
sitting. It was said that our lunatic asylums were being filled by people driven insane by the study of bimetallism ; and he should as soon think of discussing abstract love as bi- metallism." The unpopularity of the proposal may be gathered from the fact that on the division the Government carried with them only 276 against 245 votes,—a majority:of but 31. On a second division, however, when there was no cross-voting, they obtained their true majority of 42.
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