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338

SONNET XX
THE GREAT BETRAYAL

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The Parliament Bill was passed by the House of Lords on August 10, 1911.

Fear, treachery, folly, intrigue, all that's base
And foul in politics, heaped up pell-mell
Converged, as if through some magician's spell,
When Lansdowne and his fate stood face to face.
Was no high instinct left, no pride of race?
Prone at the feet of Ford the noblesse fell:
And for one night the House of Lords was hell,
“His Lordship” striving to outlie “His Grace.”
Then...forth the traitors surged, one rabble-rout,
Each blindly pressing first to scamper out,
Lords, Bishops, one great shameless wrestling sea,
While from the tongues of those who still stood fast
As the black herd of wolves and apes swept past
Rose with a cheer the name of Halsbury.
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