Under Redmond's leadership we smashed the House of Lords.

The English middle class instinct for compromise was asserting itself, when he took hold and gave direction to the great mass of popular indignation which the hereditary chamber had roused against itself.
Yet guiding action in an alliance of which he was not the head was delicate work.

A clumsy speaker in debate might do infinite mischief.
When a party is in opposition, all its members can talk, and are encouraged to talk, to the utmost; little harm can be done to one's own side by what is said in criticism of measures proposed.

Support and exposition is a much more ticklish business.

Add to this the fact that under the fully developed system of parliamentary obstruction--that is, of using discussion to prevent legislation from being put through--the best service that a member can render to Government is to say nothing, but vote.
The tactics of limiting discussion to chosen speakers in important debates and of discouraging sharply any intervention which might help to delay a division were pushed further in the Irish party than elsewhere.
We were there under different conditions from the rest; our objective was as clearly defined as in a military operation: and we all understood the position.