Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-05-16
THE REFORM BILL.
Description of the Final Passage OF
the u efOrm Bill Through the House
of Commons.


4
d. was smaller than might have been e.
K, pected-certainly much smaller than a
or sembled on the first night of the debat
us The leading members of both sides wer,
= of course, easily recognized, and bot
ne were pretty equally applauded. Nj
W Gladstone was very warmly received
though he hardly appeared to notice il
sitting back in an open carriage, AM
looking careworn and pale. Mr.. Disraeli
who came few minutes before was quit
as warmly cheered as Mr.. Gladstone, th,
q only difference being that whereas Mr.
Gladstone was only cheered, severa
Kisses mingled with the applause given t.
J. the Conservative chief Beyond thi.
there was no manifestation of hostile
= feelings to any one, and very little signs
of feeling at all. On the night of the
opening of the debate the spectators had
{ left Palace Yard at seven o'clock. Il
was not so, however, on Friday evening,
but, on the contrary the numbers coIl-
tlnued TO increase as the night wore on,
| and as the time for the expected division
drew nigh there was probably greater
number of people in and about the lob
bies, Westminster Hall, and Palace Yard
than were ever before seen there at so late
an hour
1t IS scarcely necessary TO say that in
the House itself all the seats allotted to
strangers, and those set aside for peers,
peers sons, and visitors of distinction,
were densely crowded-in fact, only two
in the gallery facing the Speaker were un-
occupied, and these were reserved for the
Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cam
bridge. The body of the House, however,
was by no means full and contrasted
strongly with the crowded attendance of
the previous day, when Mr.. Lowe opened
the debate. Neither did the numbers
show the slightest tendency to increase as
Lord Cranborne proceeded, and when he
was followed by a number of smaller
speakers the attendance was at one time
so small that apparently any mischisvous-
ly inclined member might have moved
that tho House be counted, though, of
course there were SO many members in
attendance that the motion would have
effected nothing beyond showing how for
time the interest in the debate had
tagged within the walls of Parliament it
self
The luli Of excitement, however, was
but short, and arose more from the ne
NGsoltl hAAIA AlcuiUCL6 lClL VI
themselves in the supper room against the
fatigue of what they were sure would be
an uuusally long and exciting sitting. By
9 o'clock the tide of members set steadily
back again, and before 10. when Mr.
Disraei was expected to rise, every place
was crowded. Never did the House pre-
sent more thronged appearance or more
earnest and interested aspect. The Prince
of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge
had both taken their places in the Speak
ers gallery, both the side galleries were
erammed with members, and all below
the bar was absolutely blocked by crowd |
so great that they frequently transgressed
the traditional limits within which they |
are not supposed to be present, and we're |
only kept back by occasional |
cries of "Bar, bar" Mr.. Disraeli |
did not bring his speech to a |
close till o'clock the tumult of applause
with which he was greeted lasted some
minutes, and during this time his Royal |
Highness the Prince Of Wales left the /
House. Mr.. Gladstone spoke for almost /
precisely two hours, with great fuency,
but, at the same time, with wonderful |
calmness. Nothing could exceed the at
tention and Difference with which the
Chancellor was listened to, and even the
cheering of the Government members,
who sat behind him, was less frequent
than usual, though when il did break
forth it was loud and vehement. Mr..
Gladstone spoke till 10 minutes past 3,
and on resuming his seat, amid the most
prolonged cheers, was as pale, and seemed
almost as much exhausted, as though on
the point of fainting. When at last the
applause ceased, the excitement became
intense, though silence was most rigidly
preserved while the Speaker rose, and
rather hastily read over the words of
Lord Grosvenor's amendment, to which
there was the usual alternately tumultu-
Gus reply of Ayes" and "Noes." The
two-minute sand-glass was then turned,
and the division bells rang all over the
House till the last and most distant of the
Struggling members were brought within
the bar. At the same time the Speaker
gallery and all the parts which are tech
nically supposed to be in the House were
cleared Of strangers, the Duke of Cam
bridge being, among others, elected, in
accordance with custom, which allows
none but members TO be actually within
the precincts or body of the
House itself while a division is being
taken. The question was then again put,
and with the same uproarious result of
negatives and alternatives, and when the
last of these shouts had died away, the
Speaker said, 'Ayes to the right and Noes
TO the left" and the House began to di-
vide. The great crowd of members filed
out very slowly into their respective lob
bies, one by one, and the whole process of
taking division occupied nearly twenty
minutes. The four Tellers-Lord Gros-
venor, and Lord Stanley for the opposi-
tion, and Mr. Brand and MIR. W. Adam
for the Government-were the last to
leave the House, and almost Immediately
after their departure both parties began to
return, much more rapidly than they
quilted. Before half had taken their
seats it was known through the efforts
of an enthusiastic Conservative, who had
been at the pains TO count the members,
that no less than 3l5 would vote for the
amendment, and against the bill The
greatest anxiety was everywhere evinced
to find out what the number of Govern
ment supporters would be, but nothing
transpired on this subject till the returns
were actually read in the House. As
soon as the members had taken their
places, the Tellers gave their returns to
the Clerk of the House, who, after having
read them, called the Tellers forward,
who came up to the chair with the three
usual deep reyerenees. According to us
ual custom the returns were handed TO
the whipper-in of the party who has the
msjority, and when the papers were
placed in the hands of Mr.. Brand the {
cheering of the Government members was
tremendous. An almost complete silence
however, fell upon them when the NUM-
bers were read and the majority was seen
to be Sc small as to make the decision a
virtual defeat ofthe Government measure.
On the other hand, the excitement and
enthusiasm of the Opposition seemed to
know no bounds, and such scene ensued
of waving hats and handkerchiefs and
loud cheering as has probably seldom
been witnessed in any division in the
House of Commons. Conspicuous also on
the Government side were the cheers of
the Liberal members who had opposed
the bill, and who We'd in their manifesto
tions. of delight with the members of the
Opposition. The brief sentence with
which Mr.. Gladstone, when silence was
st last restored, announced mis- intention ,
of fixing the course of public business this
evening was hailed with almost similar