What was to be done? They
hit upon a plan, which they considered would lift them out of their
dilemma; they resolved to ask Lord George to postpone the second reading
of his Bill, for a time, by which arrangement the Premier would not be
bound to carry out his threat of resignation; and Ireland eventually
might have the benefit of the railway scheme proposed by the
Protectionist leader.
The party which was formed some time before, at the Rotunda meeting, and
named the Irish party, as representing Ireland and its interests,
without reference to politics or religion, continued to meet from time
to time, in rooms they had hired in London. Those who joined it,
probably, meant well in the beginning; and many of them, no doubt, meant
well all through; but they undertook an impossible task, when they
pledged themselves to work for their country, irrespective of their
individual views, religious and political. In an hour or two after the
meeting of the 11th of February, at Lord John's, had broken up, they
assembled in their rooms. Some of the Irish members who were present at
Chesham-place attended, and gave an account of what had transpired
there. The situation was grave.
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