Even under urgency the debate on the Coercion Bill in Committee went on slowly, and at one time (owing to Lord Randolph Churchill, who supported the Bill “with reluctance and distrust,” and Sir John Holker, who contended that “liberty was more precious than coercion,” displaying much sympathy with the opponents of the measure) it was feared that Ministers would lose the support of a large section of the Opposition. This fear was baseless, but the debate went on till the 21st of February, when the Speaker, on a motion summarily moved by Lord Hartington, suddenly terminated it under the new Rules. All amendments not disposed of after seven o’clock on the 22nd were put and divided on without debate. The measure received the Queen’s assent on the 2nd of March. A Bill giving the Irish police power to search houses for arms was introduced by Sir William Harcourt on the 1st of March, read a third time on the 4th, and passed by the House of Lords on the 18th of March. The struggle against coercion thus lasted nine weeks, and the violence with which the Irish Party conducted it is defended by Mr. T. P. O’Connor on the grounds that it consolidated the Nationalist Party, and that the scenes in the House so roused the temper of the Irish people that the Peers were afraid to reject the Land Bill of 1881, as they did the Compensation for Disturbance Bill of 1880.[171] On the other hand, they permanently alienated from the Irish Party the sympathies of a large class of moderate Liberals in England, who were anxious to legislate for Ireland in a sympathetic spirit.