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    they say , didn't like it ; but what can Mr . Gladstone do ? You cannot have a Cabinet council to disown a speech . You can , however , have a Cabinet council to repudiate a measure ; and , as we see , Lord John has been obliged — one thought of Mr . Walpole withdrawing his militia franchise—to intimate that , "in consequence of other important business , " he will not go on with his Dockyard Disenfranchisement Bill . Rather odd , however , for a " leader . " More people than the present writer thought of a parallel between Lord John and Mr . Walpole , on Thursday , for the grin was general in the House , though the grin

    did not aggravate into that audibleness which justifies the scrupulous stenographer in recording " a laugh . " Members of the House have not yet realized the idea of Lord John having become laughatable ; and , besides , " a laugh" is becoming serious in public business , —as witness dive rs incidents , two or three noted out of many . Mr . Disraeli was replying 1 , late on Tuesday , to Lord John Russell , about the Budget . " Mr . Disraeli thought that the noble lord had treated his observations in a very disingenuous spirit , and did not consider himself bound to say , as the condition of postponement ,

    that he would oppose this particular motion . £ An honourable member laughed . ] He supposed that the honourable gentleman who had indulged them with that intellectual sneer would not speak ; indeed , he advised him not to do so , but rather to adhere to that particular style of oratory in which he was supereminent . ( Laughter and cheers . ) " Then observe the effect which a laugh has upon Lord Derby ' s Lord Chanaellor . This is an occurrence taking place among the grave Lords in the course of this week : —Lord Campbell : Bead the words of the act of Parliament ! Lord St . Leonards

    was understood to retort—Did the noble and learned lord mean to say he could not state the effect of an act of Parliament without reading it ? ( Laughter . ) £ His lordship had taken the act in his hand , as though about to read from it , but immediately on hearing . the laughter he desisted . After a few inaudible sentences , expressive of his opposition to the address , lie resumed his seat , and two or three minutes had only elapsed when he walked out of the House . " ] Observing these

    results of non-respectful hilarity , Mr . Gladstone might engage some one to go off into uncontrollable merriment whenever Lord John ' s elbows fall into Lord John ' s hands—for then the Cabinet is invariably in dangerand Lord Aberdeen should train , —for an imitation of Momus—with a " Minister on each hand to hold his sides , — -whenever Lord Derby rises to talk chivalry at venerable Red Tapers . He would find it better than getting into a passion — which is Lord Clarendon ' s only forte , and fails with him .

    Wanted , then , by the Cabinet—a Cervantes for Lord Derby . What an effect would bo produced in the Lords if this needed individual were to give notice of this question : Whether the noble Earl , whom I see in his place , will—with the Batch of Doctors—take Coventry in liis way to Oxford ? The Coalition i . standing on its dignity ; but , meanwhile , the laugh i . getting up against it : Mr . Disraeli ( about whom the rumour is again raised , that lie is going abroad in search of a policy ) is actually training 1 a corps of jesters , who think that they arc serving the " Conservative " cause by making the people merry over the strongest

    Government of modern tunes . Mr . Disraeli laughed Peel out of place : and may make Lord Aberdeen ridiculous , even in tho eyes of Court ; but it is not , very clear , so fur , that the policy is serving him , if it be indeed true that ho has given in , and is going oh " . Certainly ho might an well be touring for the Asian mystery as Bitting still and looking helpless on tho Opposition front bench : de jure leader ; and dv facto having to see Pakingtoa , Walpolti , and Lord John Manners ( tho latter statesman with an amendment in favour of dear Piktureth ) leading minority amendments night after night . Why did neither Mr . Disraeli or one of his colleagues tuko part in tho Irish Church debate on Tuesday P Was it because they

    thought they could add nothing to Lord John ' s oration—believing that Lord John was , pro iem , leader of tlie Tory » nd higher Protestant party P Were they afraid that if they commented on Lord John Mr . Gludstono might comment on them , and ho sot the Government right again P Or because they foresaw " an Irish difficulty" roused by that one speech which might curtail Mr . Disraoli ' n travels ? There they sat , howover , stolidly Hilont ; and enjoying Mr . Bright ' a roply to Lord John . Mr . Bright , soon is to have hit on hiu mission ; ho is always replying to Iiord John now ; and ho nover did it better thun on Tuesday . Tho Radiculn havo lately made up their uuikIh that there in no more hope in Lord John ; that what in to come out of thin Government in

    to como from Mr . Gladstone ; und honco Mr . Bright i H lx ! comin unreserved about the Ministerial Imdor—and Mr . Bright , in a stato of unreserve about any

    narticuin his Burke-like Indian declaration last night)— -in sneering invective , in suggesting rather than in speaking contempt ; and his energetic innuendos told wonderfully on Tuesday . His comparison between Ireland - and Canada , between the principles of self-government as insisted on for Canada , and the principle of forcing an alien religion upon Ireland , as now actually defended by Lord John Russell , was masterly and appropriate—was putting an old controversy in a new light , effective as being that in which the people could best see it ; and Mr . Bright , unlike Lord John Russell , never forgets that there is an audience beyond the Club to be talked

    lar man , is rather a formidable orator . Mr . Bright is also aiming—very practically—at getting hold of the Liberal Irish members ; and on Tuesday he combined his objects—destroyed Lord John Russell in Ireland , and got furious applause from the Celtic and Roman Catholic gentlemen below the gangway on the Opposition side—even clutching a cheer now and then from the Ministerial Celtic and Roman Catholic gentlemen who like Keogh , and detest Lucas , and are favourable to a / i equal distribution of Treasury patronage among Irish and English of the hanger-on classes . Perhaps Mr . Bright has no equal—it is his peculiar style —( illustrated

    to , influenced , and governed . But see the results of that splendid speech—eighty men voted for the motion . Could there be a better proof of the idiotcy of Radicalism , its ruinous want of organization ? Some sixty or seventy Irish members should certainly have voted for the motion ; and would , but that Mr . Keogh has broken up the Irish party , and that Mr . Moore took no pains , either through constituencies in Ireland , or about the House in England , to get pledges ; and , besides these , there are at least eighty Radicals who , if led and officered and governed properly , would have been bound io be present on such a division , and ,

    if present , to vote with Mr . Moore . Mr . Moore is a very unpopular man with members of all sorts—his own countrymen and English Radicals ; and if you met men next day and asked them why they had not voted they would say , " the question has no business in his hands . " But ought not personal tactics to be arranged beforehand ? "When Sir Henry Ward had charge of the Irish Church question , the two kingdoms were beat up for recruits ; when Mr . Mr . Roebuck put the notice on the paper session after session ( and never brought it on ) the Anti-State Church Association wrote and talked him and it up

    for months before the expected day . This year the matter is incidentally tumbled on ; and eighty loose men — present by accident—vote in the minority . Are we getting less liberal as our age gets more enlightened ? Mr . Bright warned the noble lord of one thing in the course of the Durham-letter debates : let him pass this measure , and he will have to give up the Irish Church . Is this the proof of it ? The general election in Ireland turned as much on this question as on any other , and here is the result : Mr . Whiteside talking his vehement bigotry , in a stupendous brogue , with an infuriated madman ' s gestures , to a not very dissatisfied

    House ; Mr . Lucas cowering into moderation , with a deprecatory voice , in tho presence of a clearly unfavourable assembly , and about twenty English Radicals following Mr . Bright , after one of tho most superb debuting speeches ever delivered . And after the mischief —for the question goes back , after such a division—Dublin resolves to meet and protest , and to invite Mr . Moore over to bark his disgust ; and the English Radicals find their solace in going about to shake their heads at Lord John . " Did you rend that speech P By ! I ' m hanged if he ' s not going to throw tho Peelites over , and try a . coalition with Lord Derby !"

    But there in good out of the evil , if the Irish liberals would hut consent to hco it . If they li ght tho point in tho House of Commons , thoy must arrange for tho House- of Commons , and it is an English House of Commons . Every one of the Irish members who spoke on Tuenday did the cause a mischief : tho House would listen to no one , for tlio motion , but nn English member , Mr . Bright . Tho IriHh members must fight tho battle through tho English members ; for whatever Irish public opinion demands can only bo carried by getting English public opinion in favour of it . And , after such a

    division , not in tho House , but in the country . What i « tho hkc of meeting in Iroluml—publishing tremendous leading-articles in Ireland P Ireland in convinced already ; it is English public opinion that Iuih to bo influenced ; and there must bo meetings and newspapers in England ; and Mr . Bright's advice lnuftt bo taken . Lot tho Irish members ( Mr . Keogh might go back to them if they'd unite ) devote thoir attention to this ono question . If they did , they would carry it . Lord John ' s speech him to bo answered , not in Ireland , but in Engluiid , where ho is supposed to have talked truths ; and tho aiinvver is tho last sentence of Mr . Mooro ' n rather spirited reply — this question , " Wua there ; a Hirglo question afl ' eding civil und roligioua liberty that

    the Catholic representatives and the Catholic clergy had not supported , and that the representatives and the clergy of the Irish Established Church had not strenuously opposed ?" It was pleasanter talking on Wednesday , when the position of Mr . Macaulay in Great Britain was mear sured in a great way . On a Wednesday the House and the committees are sitting at once , and the building is filled with scattered M . P / s—some at work , many looking at those who are at work , but most loitering about the lobbies and corridors , picking up About

    old acquaintance and feeling for public opinion . three , on Wednesday , one was loitering about , too ; for the talk in the House was not interesting—on a Wednesday it seldom is—and one could pick up members ' opinion , which is as important as public opinion . You were walking along the committee lobby , wondering which " room" you would take next , when , as you paused uncertain , you were bumped against by somebody . He begged your pardon , and rushed on , and you looked to see who it was : a member—a stout member ; a man you could ' nt conceive in a run ; and yet he ' s running like mad . You are still staring at him when two

    more men trot past you , one on each side ; and they are members , too . You are very puzzled , and see the door close to you— " Members' Entrance" above itdashed open , five members dash from it , and plunge furiously down the lobby . Why , what can be the matter ? More doors open ; more members rush out ; members are tearing past you from all points , in one directiontowards the House . Then wigs and gowns appear ; they tell you , with happy faces , their committees have adjourned ; and then come a third class—the gentlemen of the press , hilarious . Why , what ' s the matter ? Matter ! Macaulay is up ; and all the members are

    off to hear him . You join the runners in a moment , and are in the gallery to see the senators who had the start of you perspiring into tleir places . It was an announcement one hadn't heard for years ; and the passing the word " Macaulay ' s up , " emptied committee rooms now , as of old it emptied clubs . It was true ; he was up , and in for a long speech ; not a mere spurt , but an oration . He was in a new place , standing in the second row ( above Che treasury bench ) from the table , and looking and sounding all the better for the elevation and the clearer atmosphere for orators which must be found in that little remove from the green boxes .

    The old voice , the old manners , and the old styleglorious speaking . Well prepared , carefully elaborated , confessedly essayish ; but spoken with perfect art and consummate management ; not up and down , see-saw , talking off a speech , but the grand conversation of a man of the world , confiding his learning and his recollections , and his logic to a party of gentlemen , and just raising his voice enough to be heard through the room . That is as you heard him when you got in ; but then he was only opening and waiting for his audience . As the House filled , which it did with marvellous rapidity , he got prouder and more oratorical ; and then he

    poured out his speech with rapidity , increasing after every sentence , till it became a torrent of the richest words , carrying his hearers with him into enthusiasm ( yes , for dry as was the subject ho gave it grandeur by looking at it from the grand and historical point of view ) , and yet not leaving them time to cheer . A torrent of words—that is tho only description of Macaulay ' s stylo when he has warmed into speed—und such words—why it wasn't four o'clock in the afternoon , lunch hardly digested , and yet the quiet reserved English gentlemen collected there to hear the celebrated orator were as wild with delight as an Opera house after

    Grisi at ten . You doubt it ? Seo the division ; and before Mr . Macaulay hod spoken you might havo safely bet fifty to ono that Lord Hotham would havo carried bin bill . After that speech the bill was not thrown , but pitched out . Speeches seldom do affect measures : and yet this speech will have altered British policy , on a great question , and—don't forget that—on a Wednesday , in u day sitting ! People Huid , when it wok over , that it was superb , and so on , and ono be ^ an to have a higher opinion of tho House of Commons , though it is queerly " , " seeing that if tho Macaulay class of minds

    would bid for leadership , thoy would get it , and that , perhaps , the Lord Johns only got it , ut present , by a sort of moral justice , because they work for it . But it wasn't all congratulation . Mr . Macaulay had ruHhod through hi « oration of tt > rty iriinute « with masterly vigour ; and , looking at bin massive chest and onormouH head , you couldn't bo flurpriscd . That in tho sort of man who would go through whatovor ho undertook . Yot tho doubts about his health , which arise when wo meet him in the street , ( lie never moots anybody , )—when you take advantage of his sphinx-like reverie

    , " Staring right on , witli culm , olornal oyos ;" to study the wickly face , —would be confirmed , by a closo inspection , on Wednesday . Tho great orator won

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    «^ t THE LEADER . [ Saturday , ^ " ^ ¦ ' ; JT ! . _ LmJ _—1 ^ 1 —^^——^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 4, 1853, page 544, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1989/page/16/