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    only gave way after a grave Premier and two graver ex-Chancellors had implored decency and self-respect . That bis lordship is a very Bmall-minded man was a heterodox remark made heFe a week ago ; and the ample demonstration of the littleness was suppli ed last night , when , to the meanness of the unblushing reproduction of the leading article against Mr . Keogh , his chivalrous lordship puperadded the silliness of sneering at Lord John Russell ( who was standing by the throne ) upon the same ' grounds , in much the same tone , and with the same description and degree of wit employed by Sir Robert Peel on Tuesday . So small , so

    thoroughly wretched was this attacK , none u * the members condescended to take the least notice of it ; and thus Mr . Keogh , while unquestionably teazed by the stray fire at his general political vicissitudes , has had his wrongs adopted , from a common sense of anger , and even identified with Ministers . He gained , on the whole , from what passed last night among the Lords , inasmuch as the Duke of Newcastle ' s spirited defence swept the main charge away , and as the public will have its sympathies aroused for the protection of an obviously persecuted man . Whatever his political sins , it will be fejt that Lord Derby ' s business should be with higher matters .

    And , so far as regards Thursday ' s proceedings in the House of Commons , Mr . Keogh , no doubt , obtained a distinct personal success . His success is in the fact just stated—that he placed the assailant Eglinton and the spiteful Derby in a ridiculous position ; and he succeeded because he tickled the Government side of the House with a piquant story about the arrangements of the Tory camp . It was pleasant to find that Lord Naas , a heavy Irish young man , fat and fatuous , had made such a dreadful fiasco of a little diplomatic pourparler W . B . had entrusted to him . It was pleasant to find that W . B . " formed" the Tory Government , and

    only made use of Lord Derby as a frontispiece , or tame elephant in the Lords , keeping him in complete ignorance of manoeuvres for the management of Mr . Keogh ( then a potent person as democratic ultramontanist , pet of the priests , and creator of a new party , standing aloof from , and yet combining " Old" and " Young "" Middle-aged Ireland" )—and when his lordship " inquired , " letting him know nothing of what was going on . It was pleasant to find Mr . Disraeli , tempted by a genial inclination to say a kind thing of Mr . Keogh , pooh poohing Lord Eglinton , in admitting that he would not have been " displeased" if Lord Naas had

    induced Mr . Keogh to take office under Lord Derby . It was pleasant to find poor Sir John Pakington falling into the trap skilfully laid by Mr . Keogh , and denouncing Mr . Keogb , the whilom ultramontane democrat , for taking office under Lord John , and denouncing Lord Aberdeen for accepting such a politician as Mr . Keogh ( that is apart completely from tho question of tho so-called seditious agrarian outrage speech ) — the fact turning out , that Mr . Keogh had mado all his unti-Ecclesiaetieal Titles Bill speeches previous to Lord Nuas' oH ' erj so that , if the argument wuti true that Iuh present appointment was

    disgraceful , Sir John would make out Lord Naas , not only to bo a very silly heavy young Irishman , but n vary criminal heavy young Irishman . It was pleasant to find Mr . Whiteside indignant with Mr . Disraeli for Mr . Disraeli ' s compliments to Mr . Keogh—observe , that Mr . Whitcbido was Lord Derby ' s Solicitor-Generul for Jrckuul , just tho office Keogb would have had , had he joined—and , in tho teeth of his leader , delivering an hysterical , table-banging expression of horror at any Government encouraging " agitation " by tho promotion of agitators . It was pleasant to find some of tho Opposition cheering Mr . Whiteside , in utter forgetfulness of Mr . Disraeli's opinion , Unit Mr . Keogh would bo un acquisition ; und as Mr . Disraeli

    fuflfcrod severely from his law officers , und always fled deliriously from tho brogues , and dulness , and bigotry of Napier and Whiteside , he ought to know ; und it was pleasant to find Mr . Vance , u staunch Tory , and perhaps the most stupid member of Parliament going , elaborately lecturing imd rebuking Mr . Disraeli for bin preference of errant men of genius to consistent bores . Lastly , it was vory pleasant to hear Lord John reappear in his fine old character— " a . reul friend when you ' re in trouble , " and stand up so heartily lor Mr . Keogh—in noble forgetfulness thut through Mr . Keogh he had been memorubly insulted before all Europe by Lord Aberdeen . Every now ami then , of Into years , thcro is a renaissance , about Lord . John ; und it is

    always when his manliness w evoked for u slandered eolleugutt . He is u grout purty man : all of ) i ' m party to bis i >» rw > niil friends ; and ho would die for a col-Iwgtio . Tho finest Hpnech lie bus made these ten years was Iuh muguificeiit burst , two days before he left uflko im IVenrior , in behalf of Lord Clarendon , Ihon attacked ( mid on cupitul grounds ) by this saino Lord Kuan , whom Lord John coiniuirud , in coiwidorntiou thut

    he was of the Irish propertied classes , and that Lord Clarendon ' s government had carried Ireland safely throug h a rebellion , to a skulker in the hold > who , when the fight was over , crept up on deck to criticise the captain . The same unexpected vigour was exhibited by Lord John on Thursday : and in his generous vindication—his contemptuous looks at Lord Naas—and his sneers at Lord Eglinton and Lord Derby , no one could have detected any trace of those feelings which must always be in Lord John ' s inmost mind when he thinks of Mr . Keogh , —the man whose cleverness and energy made the

    debates on the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill destructive to the Whigs , the bill itself a dead letter and a farce , and a perpetual reproach to its author , —the man , too , who had humiliated Lord John the other day by wringing from Lord Aberdeen an apology which was an insult to Lord John Bussell . Of course , the Government benches cheered fast and furiouslyit was delightful to them to find Lord John in such a splendid condition for fight : and then , the spirit of party survives all coalitions , and so long as a ^ Vhig is left , he will be found hallooing and hurrahing whenever there is a chance of seeing a Tory kicked ; and

    Lord John ' s kicks at Lord Eglinton reminded them of good old days , when they had both measures and men . On the whole , therefore , Mr . Keogh obtained a complete personal triumph : and it was no wonder , seeing that against his own practised tact were pitted no more startling antagonists than a clumsy stoutminded young lord , and the ungrammatical and deplorable W . B . There is no doubt that the House was glad of the result , and that the congratulations Mr . Keogh got in the lobby were hearty and sineere There is not a more popular man in the whole clubthe House of Commons ; as , having been in every

    party , his personal acquaintance is , of course , extensive ; and , wherever lie may happen to be in politics , he doesn't lose the friends he makes . Every one understands all about his career : they don't think him a Bayard ; but they think , if he had been born to a great fortune he would have been a far more respectable statesman than Lord Derby ; and , considering that it ' s the business of the country , and not of the House , to reward political virtue , and punish political vice , they fancy Mr . Keogh and Ireland may be left to arrange with one another , and , meanwhile , like his society , are glad to see him getting a handsome salary ,

    hope he'll soon get a safe permanent appointment , and , it ' s a pity , but it ' s a fact , would rather sit and hear Keogh for five days than Whiteside , or Napier , or other consistent bores , for five minutes . When Cato went down to the House at Home he was going to an assembly which was in contact with the nation , and was national—Roman nationality meaning something sublime ; and when Cato walked to his place the young coascript fathers looked at him with awe , no doubt ; but the British House of Commons is not in contact with tho nation , is the result of a limited suffrage , and shapes necessarily into a club , and has no high opinion of the nation , winch it buys and sells ; and in

    the British House of Commons , therefore , Cato would l ) e counted out , and wouldn't be reported . Keogh , leading in the smoking-room , would set all the young conscript fathers , just in from Hampton races , roaring at Cato . And that being so , the EgHntons and Whitcsides , who give themselves airs , and talk Catoism about a notoriously villainous public life , talk very paljMible nonsense . Mr . Disraeli ' s is , perhaps , the right view : Mr . Keogh was aif agreeable cjover man ; and Mr . Disraeli could not see what obstacle there was to his acting in the same government with Mr . Keogh . Thus , if Mr . Disraeli sees * vice in the coalition , it is a coalition of dull dogs . Were it really a coalition of " all tho talents" he would admire it , for in tlmt case

    he would not bo left out . Another bearable debate was on Tuesday , on the Ballot , when other Lord Naasus used a similar argument—that it in nii-ftngjibh to get at tho truth . Lord Naas blamed Mr . Keogh lx ? causo ho had betrayed confidential communications in Iuh own defence : and Mr . Sidney Herbert blamed Mr . Berkeley , because it was suggested that secret voting would get at the true opinions of ihe people of England ; and if an un-English system , would ut least be preferable to tlie too British system of selling conscience for A few shillings

    and a day's drunkenness—tho great characteristic of the existing electoral system , and of which the up * holders of our wondorful Constitution are justly jealous . Mr . Berkeley nuule a most amusing « pooch . True , the question , m ho put it , was how wo can remedy general national corruption ; hut lie hud to be heard , to keep an audience a little uftor dimier time , arid this is the British and not u Roman Sonata , und he was obliged to l ) o amusing . It in no use , he , an old and clububle member of tho club knows , adopting what Mr . Cully called tho "integrity dodge'' in politics . Virtuous

    indignation is not his forte , and so he treated the quesr tion of national corruption in a light , pleasant style , which did not drive away the easy moralists—the members—until he had done , when , of course , they rushed from Sir John Shelley , who doesn't quite understand the club yet , and accordingly talks at his constituents , who must be delig hted to see their member sp active in the House , and who are of course honoured by his reputation as a first class bore . Perhaps as the country is to settle the question of corruption , sterner talk would , in the end , answer better than Mr . Berkeley ' s jovial and careless flippancy ; but , as the jurists seem to like democrats born among the aristocracy , and are

    no doubt convinced that Henry Berkeley holds exactly that moral position which enables him with effect to teach the people how to live , it was his business to show his wit—which he did—and his wit is very good ilfaut 6 tre homme blase avant d ' etre homme polltique—and as Mr . Henry Berkeley , who is familiar with the tone of the governing classes , must have a high opinion of the democracy which worships those classessneers at the House of Lords come well from a son and brother and uncle to earls—it is easily conceivable that his bluff cynicism tells immensely on the House in June when people are beginning to he weary of the budget , and to wish Mr . Gladstone less conscientious and more curt . It was hardly a good debate on the

    Ballot , for it was too argumentative , when all that was wanted was piquant illustration ; and , on the whole , Mr . Berkeley ' s was the best and most serviceable speech . He was happy in the accident which left reply to no more important personages than the Secretaryat-War and the Lord Advocate ( of the Lord knows what ) . Mr . Sidney Herbert is an elegantly feeble statesman , who reproduces the commonplaces of conversation and orthodox books with careful memory and

    in . a nice voice ; and having an immense property , and being a contingent Peer , his teasing but compact twaddle is invariably listened to with deference—nay , on Tuesday , when his plagiarisms of Sidney Smith on Ballot were so adroit as to be literal—with great " cheers and laughter . " But to the enlightened strangers , who were not bound to be well bred towards a statesman with 30 , 000 Z . a year , it was painful hearing his speech , for probably more impertinent nonsense was never talked—it should be understood that

    Sidney Herbert quoted Sidney Herbert only at dreary intervals , when the quotations specked , so as to show the Boeothian profundity of the parentheses . The greater part of an hour he devoted to showing that it was a delusion to suppose that the Ballot would really be a secret system ; his argument was that every man ' s vote would be known . Mr . Cobden was in a hurry and nervous , and was intense on his own crotchets , or he might have annihilated the whole speech by the simple retort—if so , if the Ballot would make no practical change , why not let us have it P

    The other Ministerial speech was , in a different way , more absurd . Out of respect to Lord John , no doubt aa ? ' leader , " and opposed to tho Ballot , only two Ministers who agreed with him spoke ; there appeared a tacit understanding that the Radicals of tho Coalition were to be discreet and quiet . Sir William Molesworth accordingly going to asleep , and snorin g audibly through Mr . Herbert ' s wisdom ; Mr . Bernal Oaborne sitting out the delate as spectator on the back benches of the Peers' gallery , where he was able to enjoy private conversation when Sir Robert Peel made the amicable reference to the " eccentric

    member for Middlesex ; " Mr . Bethel I imitatingSir William as well as he could , but , being active minded , not doing it very well ; Sir Alexander Cockburn taking refuge in the smoking-room , chatting with congenial Mr . Keogh , both of them turning up in time to record their opinions practically that Lord John Russell had talked nonsense . But the Lord Advocate He was evidently put up , with faith in his powers , by Lord John . He rose with Sir Robert Peel ; but the House would have tho baronet and not the lawyer , and he had to wait ; and then he got a hearing , and straightway proceeded to pour out fluent futilities in an abominable forensic way .

    — further developing his incapacity for House of Commons position , in not only not adopting House of Commons style , but in making a set speech , which mfghfc have been mado last year , ten years ago , or next your—which had no reference to the current debate , containe d no reply to Peel , and was utterly disconnected from tho ovents of the yoar and the argumonfcs of tho day . Lord John hoar , beared : Mr . Gladstone , just coino in in very full dress from an evening party , did so too : Mr . Gladstone is conscientious , and , having been absen t all night , thought it was his business , as an " in , " to cheer whoever might happen to he up : but tho rhetorical Mr . Rutherford was , nevertheless , a conspicuous ftdluro , and had foolishly displayed to a full House his third-rato nature , which , well concealed

    Untitled Article

    592 THE LEADER . [ Satprpay ^

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 18, 1853, page 592, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1991/page/16/