The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-04 00:00:00

A MAIDEN SPEECH.

The following exquisitely graphic description of
a maiden speech in the House of Commons we ex-
tract from a brilliant article, closing the September
number of Blackwood's Magazine. Few will fail
to recognise the master-hand to which the readers
of " Maga " are indebted for the paper in question,
entitled "The Commons at Cherbourg," the hand
that has already penned. "Ten Thousand a-year."
The subjoined is manifestly a fragment of truthful
autobiography :
" I was present, too, when you made your debut," said
one, turning to another, who good-naturedly gave the fol-
lowing account of his passage through that terrible ordeal.
" I had resolved not to open my lips del ug my first ses-
sion," said he, "and kept my resolution linr!y during the
three months, except that I had once to present a petition ;
and when the Speaker suddenly called out my name, for
which, at the moment, I was not prepared, a mist came
over my eye, and the paper trembled in my hands, during
the few inarticulate words in which I endeavoured to indi-
cate its object. Bring it up,' quoth the late Speaker, iz
that melodious voice of his, which will never be forgotten
by those who heard it; and having handed in my petition
to the clerk, he crammed it, with a matter-of-fact air,
into a bag, and so ended my first experiment on the indul-
gence of the house. At leng ih, however, I was urged by
one whose position entitled him to be heard with respect,
to endeavour to address the house, for several reasons ;
which he urged so forcibly, that I reluctantly assented,
and promised, but with an inward spasm, to speak on a
particular question, when it next came before the house.
It was one of great public interest and importance, but not
within the category of patty questions. Shor ay afterwards
I left town, and took an early opportunity of shaping my
thoughts into a short address. The subject was one with
which I was familiar, and yet I was so nervously appre-
hensive and fastidious, that I wrote out my speech eight
times before I could please myself I should have gone on
writing it, up to the present moment, if I had not reflected
that I had just three weeks time left to commit it to
memory—"

" Commit it to memory ?" inquired one or two surpris-
edly—" why, surely, you were 110 novice in pub—"
" Yes—l committed it to memory, verbatim et literatim,
for breaking the ice of the House of Commons is a fearful
business to any one. If I repealed it once, I repeated it at
least a hundred times--whenever I had the opportunity of
being alone ! I tried, moreover, to prepare myself for the
awful moment at which, on my rising, the cry of New
Member I' would cause every other who had risen, not so
entitled, to resume his scat, leaving me standing in solitary
' possession' of that fearful house I I kept my own coun-
sel ; and as the appointed day drew near, and I thought of
the break-down' which would be ruthlessly recorded by
the truthful reporters, and amuse so many good-natured
pitying friends round the breakfast-tables, and at the
clubs, next morning—felt myself more and more
disposed to give the thing up in despair. At length
arrived the day, big with my little fate. I repeated the
speech in my dressing-room that morning, as usual, but,
alas I more inaccurately than ever, and felt sick at heart. I
dined, very slightly, at three o'clock, andshortly afterwards
took a glass of port wino, with an egg beaten up in it to
clear my voice. Then down to the house I went, sighing
at every step with Dalivty and apprellewip, afraid to look

any body'in the face, and lapsed into a sudden taciturnity,
and took my seat on one of the back benches, cold as death.
Presently entered the noble lord who was to open the dis•
cussion, and my heart began to beat. He was one of only
two who knew that I should attempt to speak. Oh, how I en-
vied his perfect self-possession ! his practical knowledge of
the house, and his own weight and position in it ! Then
another, and another, and another rose ; I getting less and
less sell-possessed, as time wore on. I had resolved to wait
till the house had, so.to speak, ebbed down to dead low din-
ner point, viz., eight o'clock. You're going to speak—
it's written all over your face,' said Sir sitting
next to me, good-hrunouredly. I whispered in the affirma-
tive ; for at that particular moment I dared not tell a fib,
' Well, you won't rise before rine, of course, and I'll run
and get dinner I That will do, won't it ?" Yes,' I faltered,
inwardly adding' By that time it will do, or I shall have
been done for !' Away he went; and resolving to follow the
speaker who next rose, I slipped out to the refreshment-
stand, and took a glass of Seltzer-water, with a small dash
of cognac in it, and returned to my seat. There were then
about thirty members in the house, but among them, most
of the leading men, on whose absence I had anxiously cal-
culated. I glanced at the reporters' gallery, and down
again, in trepidation ;
_the strangers' gallery was crowded,
the one might have to chronicle what the other would wit
ness—a break-down ! ' For these reasons, sir,' quoth the
speaker then on his legs, lookinground for his hat, ' I shall
unhesitatingly—' I heard no more ; doWn he sat ; my heart
knocked against my ribs almost audibly ; I trembled front
head to foot ; I took off my hat, up rose seven or eight
members ; Shall I rise ?' I gasped to myself : I did rise
very slowly ; then the cry new member !' appalled my
ear ; every one of the disappointed members looked sternly,
or at least with pique, at me, for whom they were forced to
suppress their statistics and eloquence a little, it might be,
a very little longer and left me standing alone. At that
moment the lively image rose before my mind's eye, of a
solitary culprit arrived at his last moment on the scaffold.
I had my written speech in my pocket ; what world I not
have given for leave to read the well-worn familiar little
document, bodily, to the complaisant house ? However, I
began, huskily, trembling like an aspen leaf, and got
through my first two sentences ; oh ! the dismal horrid
silence there was.

" ' Ay, I was there, I perfectly recollect ; it was intense,
and I felt for you,' interrupted the Deputy-Sergeant-at-
Arms.

"At the end of the second or third sentence my memory
failed me ; I slipped, so to speak, ' off the rail,' and thought
' here I go!' I managed; however, to throw in an allusion
to the noble lord who had opened the debate, that enabled
me to recollect myself ; and I happily got on the line again
But, cette afremse silence continued. Not one solitary
' hear' from any part of the house ; nor any whispering,
or any convervation, which I should have hailed as an in-
expressible relief ! Scribble, scribble, scribble went the
pens of the ruthless recording angels in the gallery to my
right. I thought of them for an instant with terror. After
I had been speaking about five minutes, thank Heaven I
a kindly and decided ' hear issued from the opposite side,
followed by one or two on my own side ; the effect was
truly inspiriting on me ; the house had seen the agitation
with which I was speaking, and generously encouraged
me, till at length I was enabled to get through a speech o
2.5 minutes' time, without having'missed more than a word
or two of what I had prepared ; having had presence o
mind, moreover, to throw in one or two allusions to what
had fallen from preceding speakers, and resumed my scat ;
having delivered my maiden speech, which I would not
have to do again for a thousand pounds !"
" How were you received when you sate down ?"
" Ah, that does not signify !"

" Well, how did you figure in the papers next morning ?"
asked one.

" At much greater length than I had the least right to
expect, and in two of the chief ones, almost word for
word."

" Whew !" exclaimed a young member, who had lis-
tened very anxiously, " I'm disposed, after this, to put off
my little business till the Greek Kalends--"

THE COUNCIL OF INDIA.

Yesterday, at 2 o'clock, the new Indian Council
met for the first time. They assembled in the board-
room in which the Court of Directors have been for
years accustomed to hold their meetings, at the
India-house, in Leadenhall-street. Lord Stanley,
the Secretary of State for India, arrived at the
India-house half an hour before the time of meet-
ing. Mr. Henry Baillie, joint secretary to the
Board of Control, and Sir George Clerk, the per-
manent secretary, were also in attendance. The
members of the Council present were :—Sir Fred.
Currie, late Chairman of the Court of Directors ;
Sir Henry Rawlinson, General Sir Robert Vivian,
Sir Henry Montgomery, Mr. J. P. Willoughby,
Mr. Win. Arbuthnot, Mr. Mills, Sir James Weir

Hogg, Mr. Elliott Macnaghten, Captain Eastwick,
and Mr. H. T. Prinsep. The first six are nominees
of the Crown, and the remainder are part of the
elected members. Sir John Lawrence, one of the
eight nominated members, was, of course, absent,
as was also Sir Proby Cautley, another of the
Cown nominees. The whole of the elected mem-
bers were in attendance, except Captain Shepherd,
who was absent from indisposition, and Mr. R. D.
Mangles, who is understood to be on the Continent
and absent from a similar cause.

At two o'clock Lord Stanley took the chair, and
announced the names of the members to whom her
Majesty, by virtue of the power conferred on her
by the Act, had been pleased to nominate to the
Council. A return of the members elected by the
Court of Directors was also formally made, and the
Council was then constituted. The sitting, which
lasted upwards of two hours, was occupied chiefly
in settling the future mode of procedure ; and the
President, in exercise of the authority conferred
upon him by the Act, divided the Council into
committees, for the more convenient transaction of
business, and also nominated the Vice-President,
selecting for that office from among the Council,
Sir Frederick Currie, the late chairman of the East
India Company.