DOI Heft:
February 27, 1892
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17693#0111
102
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI. [February 27, 1892.
Q. E. D.
"May I ask you how you manage to keep your little Pet so Sleek and Thin ?"
"I don't know. It has its Lunch and Dinner with me every day." "Well, so does mine!
ESSENCE OF PARLIAMENT.
EXTRACTED FROM THE DIARY OY TOBY, M.P.
House of Commons, Monday, February 15.—A lively sitting,
with an unexpected ending. Debate on Address resumed by
Sexton in excellent speech, an effect largely contributed to by
comparative brevity. Only an hour long; remarkable compression.
Would have been better still had it been reduced by the twenty
minutes occupied in preliminary observations. At twenty-five
minutes past four he rose to move Amendment condemnatory of
Land Purchase Act of last year. Precisely at a quarter to five came
to his amendment, and began to recommend it to House. But
mustn't complain. An excellent beginning for new Session that
may further develop.
An oratorical eel," Saunderson, _ later in sitting, likened
Member for West Belfast to; charming simile, with just that
mixture of graphicness and incongruity that only Irish wit could
flash upon. Not meant to be uncomplimentary; for Saunderson,
like the rest, acknowledges capacity of Sexton in debate ; his clear
insight, his capacity for grasping a subject, his aptness of illustra-
tion, his quickness of retort, and, alack ! the embarrassment of the
wealth of language. If he could only economise that, and guard
against the fatal fluency that besets him, converting what might
be a sharp direct speech of twenty minutes into a windy weariness of
hour-and-a-half or two hours, he would take high rank among
Parliamentary debaters.
Dizzy once said the occasions when a man addressing House of
Commons need exceed twenty minutes, come to him only twice
or thrice in a lifetime. He did more than preach ; he carried into
practice his own principle with success. Yery rarely in later years,
even when Leader of House of Commons, did he exceed twenty
minutes, and all his most successful interpositions in debate were on
that plan. When, occasionally, he felt that circumstances demanded
a long< and laboured address, his labour was in vain.
Capital speech, too, of quite another kind, from Dunbar Barton.
Most promising maiden speech delivered in present Parliament; of
good omen that best parts were not those prepared in leisure of study,
but the earlier passages evoked by preceding debate, and necessarily
impromptu. As for Saunderson, he was in his best form.
"Saunderson," said the_ Squire op Malwood, recognising a
kindred spirit, " always reminds me of those Lifeguardsmen you see
at the Military Festival, riding round Agricultural Hall slashing off
heads. The heads are dummies, and no harm is done; but it's a
pretty sight."
The Colonel rides well, and is a skilful swordsman.
Delight of audience crowding in after dinner completed by Tim
Healy dashing in with intent to trip up Colonel. Domestic
difficulties in the Party have not smoothed down Tim's natural
truculence. With John Redmond sitting behind him and Saunder-
son in front, a porcupine in fretful mood is a ball of spun silk
compared with Tim.
After this Radcliffe Cooke and collapse, with the prospect of
proceedings droning on till midnight, then adjournment, and begin
again to-morrow. Suddenly, on stroke of twelve, Closure moved.
House completely taken aback. Whilst it sat gasping under shock
Speaker declared Closure carried; bells rang through all the
corridors; Members trooped in to find Division imminent. When
figures declared, showing Government had been surprised into narrow
majority of 21, fresh wave of excitement welled forth, amid which
Address wras, somehow, agreed to, Members went off into snow-
storm, cheering and laughing as if there had never before been such
larks.
Business done.—Address agreed to.
Tuesday Night— Grandolpii turned up to-day; took his familiar
corner seat; tugged at his old moustache ; caressed his new beard,
and listened to Seale Hayne recklessly attacking the sacred institu-
tion of Justiciary of the Peace.
"Nothing' changed, Toby, dear boy," he said; "not even the
Ministry. VVhen I came back from Mashonaland I was told we were
on the eve of political earthquake. The House of Commons was to
be transformed into a cockpit; the Benches steepled in the gore of
an iniquitous Ministry. But, except for some vacant places and
some further advancement of privates in the little band I once
officered, it's all the same, only a little drearier. The same throng in
the Lobby, the same rows of Members sitting on the Benches, the same
Mace on the Table, the same stately figure in the Chair, and the same
Sergeants-at-Arms relieving guard at the Cross Benches. There are
not quite the same two Irish Leaders, for Brer Fox has ' gone away.'
Brer Rabbit I see sitting over there with his kindly face and his
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI. [February 27, 1892.
Q. E. D.
"May I ask you how you manage to keep your little Pet so Sleek and Thin ?"
"I don't know. It has its Lunch and Dinner with me every day." "Well, so does mine!
ESSENCE OF PARLIAMENT.
EXTRACTED FROM THE DIARY OY TOBY, M.P.
House of Commons, Monday, February 15.—A lively sitting,
with an unexpected ending. Debate on Address resumed by
Sexton in excellent speech, an effect largely contributed to by
comparative brevity. Only an hour long; remarkable compression.
Would have been better still had it been reduced by the twenty
minutes occupied in preliminary observations. At twenty-five
minutes past four he rose to move Amendment condemnatory of
Land Purchase Act of last year. Precisely at a quarter to five came
to his amendment, and began to recommend it to House. But
mustn't complain. An excellent beginning for new Session that
may further develop.
An oratorical eel," Saunderson, _ later in sitting, likened
Member for West Belfast to; charming simile, with just that
mixture of graphicness and incongruity that only Irish wit could
flash upon. Not meant to be uncomplimentary; for Saunderson,
like the rest, acknowledges capacity of Sexton in debate ; his clear
insight, his capacity for grasping a subject, his aptness of illustra-
tion, his quickness of retort, and, alack ! the embarrassment of the
wealth of language. If he could only economise that, and guard
against the fatal fluency that besets him, converting what might
be a sharp direct speech of twenty minutes into a windy weariness of
hour-and-a-half or two hours, he would take high rank among
Parliamentary debaters.
Dizzy once said the occasions when a man addressing House of
Commons need exceed twenty minutes, come to him only twice
or thrice in a lifetime. He did more than preach ; he carried into
practice his own principle with success. Yery rarely in later years,
even when Leader of House of Commons, did he exceed twenty
minutes, and all his most successful interpositions in debate were on
that plan. When, occasionally, he felt that circumstances demanded
a long< and laboured address, his labour was in vain.
Capital speech, too, of quite another kind, from Dunbar Barton.
Most promising maiden speech delivered in present Parliament; of
good omen that best parts were not those prepared in leisure of study,
but the earlier passages evoked by preceding debate, and necessarily
impromptu. As for Saunderson, he was in his best form.
"Saunderson," said the_ Squire op Malwood, recognising a
kindred spirit, " always reminds me of those Lifeguardsmen you see
at the Military Festival, riding round Agricultural Hall slashing off
heads. The heads are dummies, and no harm is done; but it's a
pretty sight."
The Colonel rides well, and is a skilful swordsman.
Delight of audience crowding in after dinner completed by Tim
Healy dashing in with intent to trip up Colonel. Domestic
difficulties in the Party have not smoothed down Tim's natural
truculence. With John Redmond sitting behind him and Saunder-
son in front, a porcupine in fretful mood is a ball of spun silk
compared with Tim.
After this Radcliffe Cooke and collapse, with the prospect of
proceedings droning on till midnight, then adjournment, and begin
again to-morrow. Suddenly, on stroke of twelve, Closure moved.
House completely taken aback. Whilst it sat gasping under shock
Speaker declared Closure carried; bells rang through all the
corridors; Members trooped in to find Division imminent. When
figures declared, showing Government had been surprised into narrow
majority of 21, fresh wave of excitement welled forth, amid which
Address wras, somehow, agreed to, Members went off into snow-
storm, cheering and laughing as if there had never before been such
larks.
Business done.—Address agreed to.
Tuesday Night— Grandolpii turned up to-day; took his familiar
corner seat; tugged at his old moustache ; caressed his new beard,
and listened to Seale Hayne recklessly attacking the sacred institu-
tion of Justiciary of the Peace.
"Nothing' changed, Toby, dear boy," he said; "not even the
Ministry. VVhen I came back from Mashonaland I was told we were
on the eve of political earthquake. The House of Commons was to
be transformed into a cockpit; the Benches steepled in the gore of
an iniquitous Ministry. But, except for some vacant places and
some further advancement of privates in the little band I once
officered, it's all the same, only a little drearier. The same throng in
the Lobby, the same rows of Members sitting on the Benches, the same
Mace on the Table, the same stately figure in the Chair, and the same
Sergeants-at-Arms relieving guard at the Cross Benches. There are
not quite the same two Irish Leaders, for Brer Fox has ' gone away.'
Brer Rabbit I see sitting over there with his kindly face and his