River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1885-05-07
BRITISH ELoQUENcE.
AS Exhibited in The House Of Commons
Gladstone and Bright.
From paper by Justin Mccarthy

Gladstone and Bright.
From Paper by Justin Mccarthy
The eloquence of the House of Com
mons is curiously conventional in its
character. 1t is peculiar; it is local; If
can hardly be appreciated by one not
familiar with the place and the ways.
A stranger is almost always disappointed
with our Parliamentary speaking more
so with the House of Commons, think,
thu with the House Of Lords The allu-
sions. the illustrations, the hits that tell
best in the House of Commons would not
be understood by any one not well ac-
uuainted with all that is going on in
English public life. We seldom or never
hear IN the House of Commons, now,
passage of sustained eloquence
which would be interesting for its
own sake; for its beauty of language,
its power, or its pathos, the very size
and shape of the chamber are unfavora-
BILE to the higher order ofeloquence and
are distinctly encouraging to the close
and clever practical debater. We sell
dom now have great principles to deal
with. The business CT the House of
Commons is mainly practical, not to
saw parochlal.
The most eloquent and powerful de-
batter in the House of Commons is Mr..
Gladstone; beyond all comparison, if we
take him for all his remarkable qualities;
fuency, readiness, resources of argu-
ment and of language, voice, delivery,
manner, dramatic gesture, variety of
tone, style, phrase, ! am inclined to
doubt whether he isnot the greatest de-
batter who ever sat in the House of Com
mons But he is cert ainly not the great
est orator | sometimes feel inclined to
question whether he is an orator at all.
At the most | should call him par
liamentary orator a House of Commons
orator. His speeches will not be read.
Even now in his own lifetime speech
of his is not read after its immediate oc-
casion has passed away. Mr.. Gladstone
is only to be appreciated by those who
hear him. have often heard innocent
wonder expressed at the fact that one
who is so great speaker should not be
particularly good writer. But any
body who listens to one of Mr.. Glad
stones speeches and observes how the
involved sentences are made clear by
the speakers mastery of tone, infection
| of tone and gesture will readily under
stand why a written essay from Mr..
Gladstone should not be very easy
reading. OF late years, indeed, the finer
qualities of Mr.. Gladstone's voice are
often wanting. Sometimes it becomes
almost feeble; somrtSfifes me speaker IS
indistinctly heard. There was time,
ara that not long ago, when
every word, every syllable, swept easily
over all parts of the House of Commons,
and the most distant listener In the
most inconvenient gallery never had to
trouble himself by any anxiety lest be
| should lose one phrase of the authors
| eloquence. Years must tell; one can
not pass seventy aud lose nothing. Mr..
! Gladstone is a marvellous man for his
age; and, except i'll voice, / do not
! think he has suffered as q speaker.
He is as ready, as varied, as full OF re-
source, as rhetorical and rich IN Ian
guage as he ever was. So much cannot
be said of Mr.. Bright At one time
! Mr.. Bright stood distinctly above Mr..
| Gladstone as an orator; he never APP
| preached him as a DICTATOR. Mr..
| Bright's was purer and o loftier elo-
quence; and, like Mr. Gladstone's it
was aided by voice Of noble quality,
voice which lent itself to every emo
ton of passion, of pathos, of humor, OF
scorn. Mr. Bright's voice now is almost
gone, and his resources of language
seem gone or nearly so. One who
did not hear Mr.. Bright In his better
days would not do we'll to hear him now.
! He would not hear the real Mr.. Bright ;
he would only do wrong to the memory
and the fame of the real Mr.. Bright.
After Mr.. Gladstone and Mr.. Bright
who are the orators of the House of
Commons? One has to pause little
and think before giving an answer.
The House of Commons has never been
quite the same since Mr.. Disraeli left
it. 1t seems to have changed its char
aeter since the days of those glorious
duels, those splendid hand-to- hand
combats, between Gladstone and Dis
raeli. There is no one on the Conserv-
alive bench who is fit to break lance
with Mr.. Gladstone; nobody who is fit
to stand before him for one moment.
Who comes next to Mr. Gladstone in
the present House? Mr.. Bright we need
not name; he Is practically out OF the
debate. Next to Mr.. Gladstone in my
opinion comes Mr.. Joseph Cowen, the
Democratic member from Newcastle.