[Mr. Conybeare and the Speaker.]

Mr. Conybeare had written a letter to the Chronicle denouncing the Speaker.  Mr. Tritton, a Tory member, insisted the letter should be read, and this gave the Speaker one of those few opportunities which his position allows him.  In disclaiming this charge he showed his great powers of oratory and the splendid and thrilling notes of his fine voice.  He defended himself at once from the charge of undue partiality with strong passion and deep emotion, which lie hidden beneath his deep reserve.  With a face ghastly almost in its greyness, in its deepening glows and manifest passion, he repudiated the charge of unfairness; he vehemently struck his hand on the order paper which he held, and as he neared to the end of his little speech there was a ring in his voice dangerously near a sob or a tear.  It is on such occasions that Mr. Gladstone’s sonorous and splendid diction and delivery come most to the front; beginning a little awkwardly, hesitatingly, he warmed as he went along, and there came to him the strange power of collecting his thoughts and measuring his language which long years of Parliamentary training has made a second nature.  The House listened—­rapt, hushed, spellbound.  And then there was no more to be said beyond a few perfunctory observations from Mr. Balfour and the dismissal of the whole subject.

[Sidenote:  Another scene.]

And now we were once more in the thick of a fierce and passionate encounter.  Mr. Arnold Forster had an amendment, the effect of which was to remove the exercise of the prerogative of mercy from the hands of the Irish members to those of the English Secretary of State.  Into this innocent amendment he sought to drag discussion of the doings of the Land League twelve years ago, and concentrated on Mr. Sexton a violent attack.  He was not allowed to proceed to the end of his chapter.  The charge was heinous, vile, and such as has rarely been introduced in the House in such a fashion, and soon the temper rose to a fever heat.  Mr. Sexton is a dangerous man to tackle in this guise.

In justifiable rage, quivering with wrath, he yet managed to preserve that cold and even tenour of language so perfect to his heart and his words.  Again and again the Tory and Unionist party cheer for Mr. Balfour, Mr. Courtney, and Mr. Chamberlain, but Mr. Sexton is not a man to suffer such a statement to go unchallenged, and he succeeded in grasping the whole thing and stamped the charge with the terms, base and infamous.  This led to other scenes, men rising and talking together.

Mr. Chamberlain turned fierce in fore front.  Again and again Mr. Gladstone arose to try and end the scene, and again and again he was prevented by Mr. T.W.  Russell at one point, Mr. Chamberlain at another, and Mr. Balfour at a third, to seek to bring the struggle back to the fierce temper it was about to leave.  But the Old Man at last got up, and in measured language and tones which betrayed profound emotion, he scathingly denounced the attack of Mr. Forster as wanton and mischievous.  Here again there was another uproar.  The Old Man pursued his way, but Mr. Chamberlain again tried to get Mr. Sexton called to order, but the charge had been too coarse, and Mr. Mellor declined to interfere.