Part 6 (1/2)

I believe it was on this very evening that I heard Sala utter one of those jocosely brutal sentences for which he was celebrated The literary men who frequented Mrs Riddell's house were not, I aht have been They made it very clear, in fact, that it was the novelist and not the inventor of stoves whom they came to see, and they were impatient when the latter atteathered in the dining-roo ourselves We had been listening to story after story from soain and again the attempts of Mr Riddell to contribute to our entertainorously and successfully repulsed At last the unhappy host found an opening, and had got so far as ”What you were saying re anecdote I once heard,” when Sala, striking his fist upon the table, thundered a stentorian ”Stop, sir!” Mr Riddell looked at hinant ”If the story you propose to tell us,”

continued Sala, ”is an improper one, I wish to tell you that we have heard it already; and if it is not improper, we don't want to hear it at all” Yes, clearly one had wandered into Bohemia in those days

My work in the Gallery of the House of Co his first brief premiershi+p in 1868, when he had to hold the reins of authority in a House in which his party was really in a htly to confront the fierce attacks of Mr Gladstone, as rallying his own followers, both in the House and in the country, for their successful onslaught upon the Government It was a unique and reat ladiatorial co theas if at every onist; Disraeli, withthe rapier of his wit to bear upon his opponent, and again and again pinking hira with delight It le froht of the Reporters' Gallery

I was in the House on that memorable occasion when Disraeli made a speech which astounded his followers so much that they were only able to account for it by the hypothesis that he had taken toothe case, but there is no doubt a ent man, but in those days his devotion to his duties in the House was so great that he would so to a debate without taking any food, and in his dinnerless condition the sti his speech in reply occasionally got into his head Certainly, in the memorable speech on the Irish Church question, to which I allude, he was betrayed into excesses for which so him, at the close of that speech, draw his handkerchief from his pocket and wave it round his head, before he sank back exhausted on the Treasury bench; and I can still see the pale and angry face of Mr

Gladstone as he sprang to his feet to reply, and hear the stern tones in which he referred to ”the exciteentleman”

Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff has recently furnished the world with many volu those reminiscences any reference to a scene which I witnessed in the House of Coh Sir Mountstuart was himself the hero of the occasion It was one Wednesday afternoon There was an empty House and a dull debate, but Disraeli was in his place on the Treasury Bench, so that anything ht happen It pleased the Mr Grant Duff of those days to deliver hiainst the Prin critics to the disadvantage of Mr

Disraeli; he eination; and he illustrated his speech with a wealth of gesticulation and a variety of intonation that convulsed his scanty audience with laughter People wondered mildly what punish one of the unwritten canons of the House, for in those days it was regarded as bad form on the part of a man not himself in the front rank to attack one in the position of Mr Disraeli As the speech proceeded, the Prime Minister sat in his favourite attitude, his arhtly bent forward, and his vacant eyes fixed upon the points of his boots He ht have been carved in stone for any trace of emotion that he displayed We in the Gallery anticipated that this air of absolute indifference was to be the punishment of his rash assailant

But to our surprise, when Grant Duff sat down, Disraeli instantly sprang to his feet As he did so, he raised his single glass to his eye, and looked fixedly across the House to the spot where the hty effort For some seconds Disraeli, with an air of cold, cynical aloofness, continued to gaze at the unfortunate lass froesture of conte to the--the _exhibition_ we have just witnessed; but I merely wish to say in reply to an honourable way,” and so on This was, I think, the most cruel speech I ever heard Disraelieffect upon its subject

In those days Disraeli was not the Tory idol he subsequently beca when Mr Gathorne Hardy moved the adjournment of the House because of the absence of Mr Disraeli at Windsor, and the news instantly spread that Lord Derby had resigned and Mr Disraeli had become Prime Minister in his place, that there was a hubbub--not merely of excitement, but of disapproval--in the Lobby Tory”that Jew,” as they contemptuously styled hi with Sir Edward Baines and Mr--afterwards Sir Charles--Forster

They were both full of the dislike felt on the Tory side for the change in the leadershi+p of their party It is strange to note how quickly the views of a party change with regard to its leaders I remember the time when the idea that Mr Gladstone would ever be Prime Minister was treated with ridicule by not a few of those who sat beside him in Parliament I have myself heard Mr Disraeli assailed in scornful and sarcastic ter retort Even after Disraeli became Prime Minister in 1868 it is notorious that the Duke of Buccleuch refused to entertain hiuest when he visited Scotland to rally the party before the General Election of that year It was on the occasion of this visit that he gave such offence to the graver section of the Tories by the speech in which, explaining the genesis of the Household Suffrage Act, he used the words, ”I educated my party” A few years later the whole party was proud of having been educated by hiarded as an insolent display of vanity on the part of an upstart who had elbowed his way to the front at the expense of better reat Tory leader was connected with this sa the course of the 1868 election, in order to report a speech of his He spoke in the Corn Exchange, which was crowded to excess The accommodation for the reporters was quite unequal to their de the crowd and take ood-natured farainst which I placed my note-book Disraeli had not proceeded very far with his speech before I found that reeain he interrupted hi time Disraeli took no notice of these interruptions, but at last one stung him into action The orator had paused for ahis chance, bawled out in a stentorian voice, ”What about educating your party?” The Prilass to his eye, and with an angry and conteiven hen he found that his shot had told, and, to ust, he dropped upon his knees, and left me to face the music

Disraeli looked athis glass, said, in those chilling tones of which he was a master, ”I shall certainly not try to educate _you_, sir” Everybody stared at roaned at me; and it was only the consciousness ofon my knees beside the treacherous author of my humiliation

In that election of 1868 I recordedat 24, Addison Road North, I was an elector of Chelsea, and I duly supported at the polling booth the joint candidature of Sir Charles Dilke and Sir Henry hoare This was the last General Election before the passing of the Ballot Bill Representatives of the different candidates sat on either side of the poll clerk, and duly thanked each elector as he recorded his vote for the man whom they represented

I wrote an article in the _St Ja day of the session of the new Household Suffrage Parlia back, I think I was fully entitled to inning of the Gladstonian epoch in English history, and, for good or for evil (in ood), it was destined to make a deep impression on the institutions and fortunes of the nation When Mr Gladstone entered upon his first term of office as Prime Minister, he was certainly surrounded by a wonderful band of colleagues They included Lord Granville, Lord Hartington, Lord Kiht, Mr Cardwell, Mr Childers, Mr Bruce, and Mr Forster In land The ht and Mr Forster I had not yet made the personal acquaintance of Forster, and did not dream of the close ties by which ere eventually to be united; but I was drawn to hi and esteeenuine manners, all seehly honest politician; and whilst I sat in the Reporters' Gallery, there was no one after Mr Gladstone whose speeches delighted me more than did those of Forster

Before the Ministry had been long in office I was brought into contact with one of its members, Mr WE Baxter, the Secretary to the Adreat reformer and a financial purist When he went to the Adance and confusion, not to speak of corruption, pervading all the departments connected with the provision of _our of the new brooean stable Naturally he excited the bitter hostility of those whose personal interests were affected by his action, and these, being in many cases persons of influence, were able to inspire attacks upon his policy in the leading organs of the daily press in London I, in my small way, as London correspondent of the _Leeds Mercury_, had defended hiainst soht me out in order to thank me for it He did more than this He proposed that I should hear fro in his work of reorganisation and reforh the colureat promotion for me In those days the provincial press had no direct connection with Ministers or the leaders of parties; and the ”London correspondent” was not in a position to supply his readers with news at first hand, or with any news, indeed, that was at once original and authentic Through Mr Baxter I suddenly found myself placed in a position that enabled me to provide the _Leeds Mercury_ with political and adhest importance, but that had not appeared anywhere else For Mr

Baxter was better than his word When I went, as I did several times a week, to see hi on in his own departard to the proceedings of the Govern that I was at that time the only correspondent of a provincial newspaper as favoured in this way, and an to be read and quoted in many different quarters

Certainly my position was made both easier and more i the whole of 1869 I attended the debates in Parliaress of the Govern of the Bill for disestablishi+ng the Irish Church was the chief business of that hest level In the House of Coht, Lowe, and Gathorne Hardy distinguished themselves above all others But the palm for oratory, as has so often been the case, was borne off by the House of Lords That House presented a brilliant spectacle during the debates on the second reading of the Bill which the ainst the measure was far more effective than that in its favour

Indeed, at this distance of time I can only recall one speech by a supporter of the Bill which ily upon me as to remain fresh in my memory after the lapse of more than thirty years That was the speech of Dr Connop Thirlwall, Bishop of St David's, as courageous enough to stand against his brethren, and to prefer the claims of justice to those of the Establishure On the other hand, two at least of the speeches delivered against the Bill are still vividly present to ee, Bishop of Peterborough, an extraordinary display of florid and flowing eloquence It reatly that when he sat down the Tory peers rose, al across the floor, offered hinition of his success Such a scene, con Chambers, was almost without precedent in our cold and stately House of Lords The other memorable speech was that of Lord Derby, ”the Rupert of debate”

Though I had no sympathy with his views, I could not but admire the almost passionate fervour hich he pleaded for the Irish Church, and the indignation hich he denounced those ere bent upon despoiling it I re with draowan--a curse which he intended, of course, to apply to Mr Gladstone It was the last speech that Lord Derby ever made When the announcement of the final surrender of the Peers, after the Bill had passed through Committee, was made by Lord Cairns, I saw Lord Derby rise fronation, hobble swiftly out of the Chas to the tragedy of politics; but the debates on the Irish Church Bill in the House of Lords were not without their touches of comedy One of these was supplied by Lord Westbury, the ex-Liberal Lord Chancellor He , a very bitter, and an alainst the Bill The older peers, with their hands behind their ears, clustered round hi on the floor in order to be near enough to hear hihed consumedly, but we unfortunate reporters in the Gallery had but the faintest idea of what it was they were laughing at

One sentence I did indeed catch, and still remember It was to the effect that if the Irish Church were disestablished there would be no provision for the celebration of holy matrimony in Ireland in accordance with Protestant rites ”Was it possible,” Lord Westbury asked, with sination, ”that the authors of this iniquitous measure really meant to drive all the unmarried Protestants of Ireland into mortal sin?” The old peers around hihtily

The other comic incident I remember was of a different kind The Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Trench, on behalf of his fellow-prelates, ainst the Bill Dr Trench was a h character and fine talent, but he was not at home in the House of Lords, or, indeed, in a political speech When he advanced to the table of the House, he caused a slight titter by producing an un it open before him By-and-by, as he proceeded with his sonorous but somewhat melancholy discourse, everybody perceived that he was preaching a sery, the measured sweep of the hands, all serly, and watched intently for the accident that was certain to happen At last it came ”I beseech you, my brethren,” said the Archbishop, in a moment of apostolic absence of -suppressed laughter, which made it impossible to learn the nature of the Prience the position of a parliareat possibilities In my days in the Gallery there was, as I have already stated, little communication between the Gallery and the House proper The art of exploiting the Press had not yet becoulf seemed to be fixed between the reporters and the ulf has almost disappeared, and not a few men have stepped down from the Reporters' Gallery to the floor of the House But our very aloofness from the inner side of parliamentary life, with its personal interests and its incessant intrigues, strengthened our position as independent critics and observers We looked on as at a play in which we ourselves had no part, and those who possessed the instinct for politics which is the gift of the born journalist were able to see more and learn more from our independent standpoint than many of the actual actors saw and learned

Some of the most capable of our political writers and critics were trained in the Gallery One of my most intimate friends in those days was Mr Mudford, who subsequently became known to fame as the editor of the _Standard_, and who built up that journal's great reputation Of Mudford's capacity as an editor it is hardly necessary to speak here, but Ithat even in his early days in the Gallery he displayed the uished him when he was at once the ablest and the least known of London editors His independence of character was even then co indisposition to ure in public

It washis friends, and I ae which I still enjoy

My stay in London was brought to an end in the early part of 1870, aed the whole tenor of my life, and for a ti in these pages of e had proved to be, in all respects save one, everything that the heart of man could desire

The one drawback was my wife's delicate health; but she had shown such marvellous recuperative powers at tiravesta flow of natural good spirits, that it was impossible for one who, perhaps, saw only that which he desired to see, to believe that her case was hopeless

Yet hopeless it really was during the whole of the two short years of her married life Her death--it took place on the 4th of February--was a blow that seemed to shatter my own life to its very foundations I cannot dwell upon it, unless it be to say that at that time of unspeakable sorrow I first learned the value of human sympathy, and made the discovery that there are, happily, in this world not a fewable, not indeed to rehten the burdens of their fellow-creatures It is only those who have gone through such an ordeal as this of mine who can fully understand all that human sympathyon the threshold of life, finds himself alone in a world which to him has suddenly become an empty desert

One incident, and one only, of those days I will venture to recall I alking along the Strand in the blackest hours ofshowed that he had sustained the same bereavement as myself There was probably a difference of fifty years in our ages, but ere alike in the sacred kinshi+p of sorrow As he drew nearlook of tenderness and sympathy that went to e, which see him so much nearer to the end I do not think he envied me my youth It was but for a moment that ere thus drawn to each other in the crowded street--”shi+ps that passed in the night,” in the darkest night, indeed; but that otten

CHAPTER VII