The Sun.
London, England, 1866-06-12 00:00:00

THE HOUSE LAST NIGHT.

The Speaker of the House of Commons, for the
first time since his indisposition, proceeded in per-
son to the House of Lords to be present at a
Royal Commission. The right honourable gentle-
man was' much cheered as he walked down the
house. The business of the evening being the im-
portant clauses of the franchise, at the conclusion
of the ordinary questions, Mr. Finglake rose to
put an interrogation which he had threatened on
Friday with regard to the present state of affairs
on the continent of Europe. In a few minutes it
was perceived that he was about to extend what
purported to be a mere question into one of those
abecedarian dissertations on foreign politics for
which he is rather noted than famous, and which
he drops slowly, so to speak, with a sort of dis-
tillation, from his lips, and in a • way stu-
diously intended to be oracular. As he be-
gan, with a somewhat laboured apology for
not putting his question to Mr. Layard, it
became -the duty of Mr. Gladstone ta: re-
ply, which he did in measured tones and
particular quietude of demeanour. The manner
was just diplomatic enough not to clash with a cer-
tain candour which was traceable in all that he said ;
and certainly there was nothing about him to ex-
cite irritation, or to bring on a debate ; so that when
such a candidate as Mr. Darby Griffith rose to fol-
low him, it was probably supposed that the matter
would soon have dropped. Even when Mr. Baillie
Cochrane protested in angry tones at the "ungene-
rous conduct" of Mr. Gladstone towards Austria,
and Mr. Sandford took up a similar strain, and Sir
George Bowyer talked high treason against the King
of Italy, and when Sir Robert Peel betrayed some of
the tendencies to criticism on foreign policy which
used to be so very characteristic of him some years
ago, it was not perhaps suspected that anything
was going on beyond the natural run of discussions
of this kind. But presently a change came over the
spirit of the, debate; andit became evident that mem-
bers on the Opposition side were being mustered
outside, and sent in singly to talk against time, Lord
R. Montagu leading. There was a chance apparently
of the subject dropping, when Lord Cranborne
rose, and in his best, which is his bitterest, man-
ner said things of Mr. Gladstone which could
hardly be allowed to pass unnoticed, and which
brought up Mr. Layard, who met with the reception
usually accorded to him by gentlemen opposite.
Soon there was a dispute, and a recrimination, and
an explanation ; and it was not for a little while
that Mr. Layard seemed to become aware that he
was doing exactly what his opponents wanted, by
lengthening Fs observations. When he
dis-
cover
it, he refrained and left the work of delay of
the real business of the night to be done by the
agency of Colonel Percy Herbert, Mr. Cavendish
Bentinck, Mr. Powell, and Lord Claude Hamilton.
Several other gentlemen of similar calibre were
ready to follow, and Sir John Walsh, who is a capi-
tal contriver, sought the Speaker's eye, but gave
way to Mr. Whiteside, who, strange to say, was
not really long. Suddenly, and with a burst of in-
dignation, Sir John Hanmer, from the Liberal side
proclaimed aloud the strategy of the Opposition, and
denouncedit in good set terms. But it being nearly
half-past nine, the chances of talking off the Re-
form Bill 'far the night were increasing, and so
Lord John Manners did his utmost to prolong
the debate. Again Sir John Walsh essayed to do
his part—not likely to be small—towards that
end ; Sir. Harry Verney, however, declaring that
he was too hot to allow all sorts of statements and
assertions to be made against the Government with-
out reply, took up the theme, and occupied as much

time as an Opposition speaker of the class in readi-
ness was likely to have done—though that was not
much. At length Sir J. Walsh was allowed to get
on his legs ; and though he met with some obstruc-
tion from the Ministerialists, who had been singu-
larly patient all the evening, he received the good-
natured endurance which somehow is always ex-
tended to him whenever he speaks, which is not
very often. In the plainest language Mr. llibbert
asked gentlemen opposite to forbear the course they
had been pursuing ; nevertheless Colonel Stuart
Knox—not hitherto known as an authority on
foreign affairs—presented himself. The members
on the Government side, however, had now become
resolute, and they firmly put him down ; while an
attempt on the part of Mr. Earle to go on was a
failure in its inception. The subject then dropped
at five minutes to ten. After a hearty laugh—any-
thing unexpected has been defined as the prime
cause of laughter—at the announcement of the
next order—the report of the resolution on the
Princess Mary's annuity—the house was suffered
to get into committee on the Franchise Bill.
Although his name was not on the notice paper,
Mr. Ward Hunt opened with an amendment, which
was in reality an attempt to substitute a rating for
a rental franchise. This was discussed for an hour,
when Mr. Gladstone set in for a speech in as fresh
and animated a fashion as if he had never said a
word on the subject of the franchise before. The
House was very full and excited, and in a short
cut-and-thrust conversation which took place be-
tween the Solicitor-General and Mr. Disraeli, both
sides cheered every word that was emphatically
uttered, whether it wound up a point or not. The
policy of obstruction was renewed at twelve o'clock
by a motion to " report progress" from the Oppo-
sition, which was negatived by 303 to 254. Of
course then came the next move, that the " Chair-
man do leave the chair," and Sir Las rence Palk was
put to talk about his conscience, while a hunt was
made for more Oppositionists. Still one after
another rose, gentlemen more or less heated, Col.
Edwards distinguishing himself by vociferation and
also by candour, when he stated that he would
place every obstacle in the way of the measure.
Entreaty alike failing to shake the resolve of the
Government, another division was taken, ending in
another victory for Ministers, the numbers being
254 to 212. A motion to " report progress" was
again made, which Mr. Gladstone did not resist.—
Telegraph.