Here was a most portentous announcement--the portentousness of which the careful observer could see at once, by the sudden stillness which fell upon the House.

Whenever a Minister, or even a politician of small importance who is not a Minister, makes a statement full of portentous possibilities as to the future, the House suddenly becomes still and tense, and you can hear a pin drop.

It is the prompt and sometimes almost irresistible expression of the feeling that Destiny is throwing the die, and that you have to watch the grim and fateful result.
[Sidenote: The Treasury Bench looks awkward.] And if you looked on the Treasury Bench, you could see that the feeling was not altogether comfortable.

It was no secret that the ninth clause was the one which offered to the Government the one perilous fence they had still to take--that is to say, so far as their own followers were concerned.

Hitherto the attitude of the Government was quite unknown; and, indeed, it was quite probable that the Government themselves had not finally decided what their attitude should be.