THE BERRY INFLUENCE, 1875-1882 213 



themselves to either party. Mr. Service, however, met the House, 

 which promptly elected Mr. Peter Lalor to the Speakership without 

 consulting the Premier. The singular fact that two of Her Majesty's 

 rebellious subjects, both Irishmen, should have been selected in suc- 

 cession for the position of the highest dignity the House could be- 

 stow did not pass without sarcastic comment. The first had been 

 a prisoner of the Crown, the second a fugitive from its grasp, with 

 a reward offered for his capture. The main difference between them 

 lay in the fact that the first had by his pen persuaded hundreds of 

 his countrymen to risk their lives and liberties in an unequal combat ; 

 the second had not said much, but had shown his faith in the cause 

 by plunging recklessly into the fight, and bearing its disastrous scars 

 in a crippled body to his grave. 



So indecent was the haste to utilise the electoral triumph that 

 Mr. Berry moved a vote of want of confidence in the Government 

 before the representative of the Crown had officially opened the 

 session. The new Speaker in face of protests allowed it to be put, 

 and drew down upon the House subsequently a dignified rebuke 

 from the Governor for such a violation of Parliamentary law and 

 practice. On the 27th of July, when the Governor's speech had 

 been read, Mr. Berry renewed his attack, and carried an adverse 

 vote by forty-eight to thirty-five. Mr. Service at once resigned, 

 and again Mr. Berry occupied the Treasury benches with some 

 modifications of his old following. He managed to shake off John 

 Woods and Francis Longmore, and he created some surprise by 

 appointing a Parliamentary novice, who had quite recently been a 

 clerk in the Customs House, to the Ministerial charge of that 

 important department. It must be admitted that he tried to do 

 better, and spent several days in vain negotiations for a coalition. 

 Mr. Service declined his overtures, and weary of the incessant strife 

 which dogged the steps of constitutional reform, and disappointed 

 by the fickleness of the unreflecting multitude, he decided to with- 

 draw for a time, and after the close of the session he left for England. 

 When Sir John O'Shanassy was approached, he made what Mr. Berry 

 considered such exorbitant demands as the price of his allegiance 

 that the Premier was compelled by his followers to defy him, and to 

 fall back on such material as his direct supporters could supply. 



