The debate upon this Bill was marked by an unexpected
incident. Mr. Disraeli, who cannot understand the instincts of his own party, all but resisted the first reading, saying that it was a Bill of pains and penalties for mere words ; that it was lawful to honour Fenians when Government had released them, and that the House was asked to act on the ipse dixit of an "Irish Attorney-General," a bit of scorn which drew down a well deserved rebuke from Mr. Gladstone, who believes in that gentleman, and has none of that loathing of "mere Irishry " which Mr. Disraeli seems to entertain. Thereupon Mr. Bereaford Hope, as an independent Conservative, declared that he regarded the Bill as a " manly " step, and Dlr. Hardy announced that he for one should heartily support the Government. The majority of the Tories were clearly of his mind, holding that Government should govern, and Mr. Disraeli lost more ground with them by his speech than by much more serious mistakes. It showed that he did not understand the cardinal truth of English politics, that both parties intend the law to be supreme. A tradition as old as our history binds the Opposition to support the Government in punishing either treason or defiance of the law, and it is very rarely violated.
