During the first half of 1893, parliament sat to discuss the Home Rule Bill, also known as the Government of Ireland Bill. This was the second attempt by Liberal Prime Minister William Gladstone to grant Irish Home Rule, despite his first attempt in 1886 causing a revolt in his party and ending his government. The bill was drafted in secret by Gladstone, excluding both Irish MPs and his own ministry in participating, including his Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir William Harcourt. On 21 April 1893, the Bill’s second reading was approved by a majority of 347 to 304. Amendments continued to be proposed and debated throughout the process and by the Bill’s third reading on 1 September, 26 of the Bill’s 37 clauses had yet to be debated. A fist-fight broke out on the back benches between Home Rule and Conservative MPs, and though the Bill passed through the Commons by a majority of 30, it failed to pass in the Conservative-dominated House of Lords, by a vote of 419 to 41.
Sir John Tenniel’s cartoon portrays William Gladstone and the Secretary of State for Ireland John Morley navigating a small row boat, representing the Home Rule Bill, through a treacherous ice field of amendments. The inspiration for this cartoon likely came from a ground-breaking Arctic expedition that had set sail in June 1893. The Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen had embarked to the North Pole aboard his ship, the Fram, with the primary goal of intentionally freezing the Fram into the Arctic ice pack and drifting towards the North Pole. By September, it had been successfully frozen into the ice pack, where it drifted for nearly three years. Though the crew were unable to reach the North Pole due to bad weather in 1895, the expedition significantly increased understanding of the Arctic Ocean and patterns of ice movement.
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