The influence of Lady Aberdeen was considerable, and she helped to earn success for the viceregal party. An ardent politician, she never made the mistake of subordinating the hostess to the politician, and at her functions all classes and {297} creeds met. It may be necessary here to state that the story which has been in circulation some years, describing how Lady Aberdeen was informed by the late Lord Morris that 'herself and the waiters, bedad!' were the only Home Rulers in the room, is a wicked and malicious lie. The alleged incident never took place, for Lady Aberdeen is not in the habit of introducing politics during dinner-parties and canvassing for opinions when entertaining. Lord Morris was the author of many witty sayings, and he does not require the aid of the unscrupulous to perpetuate his memory. His sayings will live without the help of that type of person who delights in associating persons of eminence with their jokes, well aware that because of their position they are compelled to ignore their slanderers. While history was being made with startling rapidity in England, Lord Aberdeen continued to carry out the duties of his exalted office. But the Liberal party was by now smashed to atoms. Mr. Gladstone was acting like a broken and disappointed man, and the life of the ministry threatened at any time to cease. It was merely a question of time for the Tory party and the rebellious Liberals to amalgamate and turn out the Gladstone Government. On July 20, 1886, Mr. Gladstone resigned, and Lord and Lady Aberdeen left Ireland, and it was now the turn of the Tory-Liberal-Unionist coalition to show what they could do in Ireland--the land of opportunities of which no one seemed capable of taking advantage. Lord Salisbury had {298} already stated his views with characteristic bluntness. During the debate on the Home Rule Bill of 1886 he forgot that he had not a reputation for humour, and informed his audience that the Irish were like the Hottentots, incapable of governing themselves, while he suggested that the best plan for Ireland would be the application for twenty years of a stringent Coercion Act. The question of the Imperial contribution towards the setting up of a Parliament in Dublin he touched upon lightly by suggesting that the money would be better employed in aiding the emigration of a million Irishmen.