New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-11-26
THE COMIC GLADSTONE.

| MT GlauStODeS HuinOT, hNd9S pV""Ni"''
has been even heavier than usual during the
autumn session. If we may put faith IN crit
| les, the Liberals have laughed at his strokes
| with q loyalty almost servlle and the density vi
! his Jokes has been cOnspicuOusly advertiser III
the reports OF the Parliamentary debates. me
| SATURDAY. RerieW maiciOusly reprints series OF
| passages from his speeches which nave Deen
| punctuated by the laughter OF the House, the
| collectors purpose being to prove not only
that The Comic Gladstone is very dull Joe
Miller, but also that the orators intellectual
| powers have become impaired. Mr.. Gladstone,
| however. has never been distinguished as IA
| humorist nor as n phrase maker. PrOixlty
has always been his besetting sin, as 1t was
| Edmund Burke's, although the defect has been
| less noticeable in his speeches. since they are
logical rather than rhetorical Mr.. Burke
began by delightng his audiences and ended
| by boring them and speaking to empty benches.
| His classic periods and interminable embellsh-
| ments became tedious, and his colleagues finally
| found it laborious to listen to him. Mr.. Glad
| stones rhetorical passages have become so In
| frequent as ne has advanced in years that they
are eagerly watched for His speeches are
masterpieces OF argumentative reasoning.
|
from every available point of view; the argu-
ments against his conclusions are traversed one
by one the discussion is rounded out INTO log
zeal completeness and if he sometimes exposes
| himself to the criticism of talking himself out,
he invariably succeeds in exhausting the sub
iect His jokes may limp, but his argument
is always as firm and solid a. a c1be. Two OF
| the speeches which he has delivered during the
| autumn session have been especially powerful.
One WAS the animated and picturesque descriD-
ton of the Egyptian campaign, which nc gave
in moving the thanks of the Commons to the
Army and Navy. The other was his mastery
refutation of the arguments in favor Of closure
by a two-thirds vote. On both occasions he
seemed perfectly equipped for the work before
| him and spoke with commanding force and dig
nifty. without showing the faintest sign of IN
tcllectual decadCncc.
On the night before the critical division was
| taken on the Closure the Premier had genuine
success in turning the laugh upon his adver-
saries. From the opening OF the session he had
scarcely been absent from his place on the
front bench, being more faithful in attend
ance than any other member of the House. For
| severa nights 1t had been observed that he was
| taking notes, even while the dullest speakers on
the Opposition side were droning their feeble
laws in favor of free and unlimited speech.
"What is the Grand Old Mans little game F"
whispered one Conservative to another. The
debate dragged along. night after night, the
| Liberals rarely speaking and the Tory Obstruc-
tionists addressing IA dozen or moro members
on their own side of the House and the Pre-
mier was still interchangeable in making his mys-
| A . laot p. Ga.
hours before it was expected that he would
speak, be interviewed in the debate and made
use of his notes. He had counted the number
of members on the Opposition side hour after
hour on the successive nights Of the debate
and was able to prove that willie they protested
| to believe that one of the fundamental rights
| of a free Parliament was endang ered by the
| Closure, not more than fifteen or twenty OF
| them OH the average-sOmetImes as few rs ten
and never more than thirty-cOnsidered it
worth while to remain in their places and en-
courage by their presence those who were bat
fling for " sacred precedent" " the greatest of
constitutional principles" the final refuge
| of liberty If the Commons laughed heartily
at the Premier's arithmetica computations, it
was becalse there was, for once, considerable
fun in that days edition of The Comic Glad
stone" The lOquacous Tories, who had been
expecting that the incessant nOte-takinS i'm
| piled a serious and prolonged consideration OF
| their own captOus talk, may have lacked APP
| nreciatiOn of the Premcr's humOr in exposing
| the hypocrisy of their clamOrs against the
| Closure. 1t was not one of those jokes which
could be equally enjoyed on each side of the
| House.
That was a surprise which the Premier delb
erately planned in one of his most serious
moods, and when he observed the discontinue
of the Opposition. lie probably regarded it with
| grim satisfaction. But ordinarily his pedSan-
tries are unprecedented. If the truth were
KNOWN it would he found that the humor OF
nearly all the so-calIed Jokes, which are Off
cally collected for Il" The Comic Gladstone" was
not suspected by the orator himself. lie has to
! catch his breath occasionally i'll passing from
one division of his subject to another, and
| SOME times a careless phrase is dropped, which
is followed IN the prlG ted report by the mlsIead
| ing world, slaughter" Mr. GladstJne5 ar
| currents may he as hard rs hints, but sparks of
humor do not fly out when they are brought
| together. He is too serious a statesman to
make any Roadway as Parliamentary mtm-
orist. Lord Palmerston dearly loved his joke
| Lord Beacunslied dotted on his epgrammatic
phrase but Mr.. GladstOne's heart Is in his
| argument and in his work Why then, have
| the Commons fallen into the habit of laughing
ut The Serious Glldstonef" Possibly it il
| because he presents most exhilaIating spec
| tacle of Greatness and Genius tTIumphng over
every obstacle. lie is not fighting with ig-
| noble antagonists like Mr.. Chaplin. He is no
longer insulted by the Court and lampooned as
a sophisticated rhetOrician Inebriated with
the exuberance of his own verbosity.r lie is
| rocnnnizel "a 4 rinnt rithnnt a rival in the in