Councils of war are usually held in the silence and secrecy and beneath the impenetrable walls of the council chamber.

But sudden councils of war, called for by unexpected events, have to be held in the open in the House of Commons.
The world--the world of strangers, of ambassadors, of peers, of ladies, of the constituents, and, above all, the world of watchful, scornful, vindictive enemies--can look on as though the leaders of the parties were bees working in a glass hive.

And it is impossible for even the best trained men to keep their air and manners in such dread circumstances from betraying the seriousness and excitement and awe which the gravity of the events are exciting in them.
[Sidenote: Mr.Gladstone's attitude.] On the Treasury Bench there was a good deal of excitement, but it was pretty well repressed: and in the midst of it all is the face of Mr.
Gladstone, over-pale, with a strange glitter in the eyes that made them look unnaturally large, two jets of lambent and almost dazzling flame, but otherwise very composed, deadly calm.

On the Irish Benches the excitement was more tense, for their course was even more difficult than that of the Government.

The Government had stated their decision that they wanted only eighty members.