By a sort of general spontaneity, everybody left his seat; and though hapless Mr.Balfour was forced by the hard necessities of his official position to remain in his place, nobody else was compelled to do so; and Sir Richard addressed the general, void, encasing air.

There was some more speech-making of the like kind--still to empty air--when suddenly and almost unexpectedly the debate was allowed to collapse.

At first, this was unintelligible--for, senseless as was the amendment, it was no worse than scores of others which the Tories have made the pretext for endless debates.
[Sidenote: A tight division.] However, the division revealed the secret.

It is one of the peculiarities of this strangely interesting Session that nearly every division is a picturesque and portentous event.

With a majority so small as forty, the turnover of a very few votes from one side to the other may mean the defeat of Home Rule, the downfall of Gladstone and his Government, and chaos come again.