It is in the work of obstruction that one sees temperament rather than intellect in the House of Commons.
Obstruction does not call for very high intellectual powers, though, undoubtedly, obstruction can at the same time display the highest powers.
[Sidenote: Artists in obstruction.] For instance, Mr.Sexton made his first reputation in the House of Commons by a speech three hours in duration, which was regarded by the majority as an intentional waste of time and an obstruction of a hateful Bill, but which everybody had to hear from the sheer force of its splendid reasoning, orderly arrangement of material, and now and then bursts of the best form of Parliamentary eloquence.

But the obstructionist wants, as a rule, strength of character rather than of oratory--as witness the extraordinary work in obstruction done by the late Mr.Biggar, who, by nature, was one of the most inarticulate of men.

It was because Biggar had nerves of steel--a courage that did not know the meaning of fear, and that remained calm in the midst of a cyclone of repugnance, hatred, and menace.

Mr.Bartley, then, has the character for the obstructive, and he rose blithely on the waves of the Parliamentary tempest.

But he had to face a continuous roar of interruption and hostility from the Irish benches--those converted sinners who have abjured sack, and have become the most orderly and loyal, and steadfast of Ministerialist bulwarks.