Mr.Churchill did not vote--nor, although this was not then so apparently significant, did Mr.
Lloyd George.
Thus from the very first the point of danger revealed itself.

By the mere threat of a resistance which could only be overcome through the use of troops, Ulster had made the first dint for the insertion of a wedge into the composite Home Rule alliance, and into the Cabinet itself.

All this had been gained without any tactical sacrifice, without even anything like a full disclosure of the force which lay behind this line of attack.
Nor was the full extent of weakness revealed.

In such a case, much depended on the personality of the man who moved the amendment, and Mr.
Agar-Robartes was one of the most whimsically incongruous figures in the Government ranks.

Twentieth-century Liberalism wears a somewhat drab and serious aspect, but this ultra-fashionable example of gilded youth would have been in his place among the votaries of Charles James Fox.