_Thursday, April 19th._--The mental processes of Sir WILLIAM BYLES are
normally so mysterious that his suggestion that, with the Americans coming
in and the Germans making off, this was the psychological moment for the
British Government to initiate proposals for peace, did not strike the
House at large as specially absurd. It was, however, both surprised and
delighted when Mr. SWIFT MACNEILL interposed with an inquiry whether it
would not be time enough to talk about peace when the Germans ceased to
blow up hospital ships. When Mr. BONAR LAW tactfully observed that the
Supplementary Question was better than the answer he had prepared, one felt
that the prospects of an Anglo-Irish _entente_ had appreciably improved.
When the new MINISTER FOR EDUCATION deposited upon the Table a vast packet
of manuscript, and craved the indulgence of the House if he exceeded the
usual limits of a maiden speech, I thought of the days when the headline,
"The Duke of Devonshire on Technical Education," used to strike on my
fevered spirit with a touch of infinite prose. Mr. FISHER began in rather
professorial style, but he soon revealed a glowing enthusiasm for his
subject which thawed the House.
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