The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1886-09-16

THURSDAY. SEPT. lG. 1886.
GLADSTONE IN THE HOUSE.
THE SCENE WHEN HE is THERE AMI
WHEN HE is NOT-HOW HE DOMIN-
ArES THE ENTIRE ASSEMBLY
his POWER IN DEBATE.

A London correspondent of the
New York Times writes: What par
allel in history is there for this stu
ation-where the question of free
self-governnent for n whole nation |
confessedly. turns upon the ability of
n man sevcnty-seven years old to be |
at his best on II certain afternoon!
Could there be more remarkable
illustration of the absolute quality
of Mr.. Gladstone's rule in British
politics? No one can understand the
marvellous domination until he has
seen the House of Commons in the
two stages of its being-with Glad
stone and without Gladstone. To
see the House on any evening when
he is absent, no matter how inter-
esting the subject before it may be
of itself or how well the reports may
read next morning, is to view one of
the least inspiring spectacles con-
ceivable. Indifference is stamped
on every face, on the pose of every
lolling figure. Deadly mediocrity
rules on both sides and the House
yawns in bored acquiescence in its
supremacy. Opposition billiards
pound questions in perfunctory
listlessness ministerial billiards an
swer with routine commonplaces. A
spell of drowsiness seems to hang
over sparsely filled benches. No
body listens to the speaker, or even
pretends to be interested in what he
is saying. When he pauses at the
end of rounded period to receive
the sustaining "cheers" of his party,
three or four men say"Hear! hear!"
languidly, and the rest YEARLY look
at each other, at the galleries, at the
J. ceiling, and slide further down on
. their cushioned seats. The few Min
listers who sit ON the Treasury Bench
have their hats tilted over on their
, noses, their chins on their breasts,
4 their legs stretched far out to the
dispatch table, their hands buried
deep in their trousers pockets. No
body cares for them, and they care
j. for nobody. The prosy orators
d drone away, members and ministers
saunter out to gossip in the lobby OF
drink in the smoking-room below,
disappointed strangers get up and
tiptoe out, amazed that the Parlia'
>. ment of such an Empire should be
,e so stupid place.
% But go some night when the Pre-
mier is there-and note the differ
ence! 1t is such change as the
| fairy prince wrought on the enchant
. ed palace. The benches are wei
filled, and the members-especially
the new members-sit upright anc
with eyes wide open. The occu
pants of the front opposition bencl
look nervously conscious and appre
% hensive. Every speaker-and par
ticularly if he be a new man-evi
dences by his manner, his voice, hi
delivery, that he is chiefly anNiou
Ill to impress Mr.. Gladstone favorably
and that he is really speaking to IL
. one else. If there is a chance tina
!! the Premier is to speak, you wi
find few loungers in the lobby
fewer still in the smoking room.
There is an indescribable fascins
ton in watching the great man {
he sits toward the outer end of til
Government bench listening to
debate. 1t may be that this is nj
his invariablc rule, but at least
J, have never happened to see him
q the House in any other garb tina
I evening dress, with wider expans
IL of shirt front than is ordinarily wor
Nh even here, where very much linen
l5 the fashion. He leans back con
r. fortably, with one thin leg over til
U other, and with his eyes musingl
~ fixed on the great mace on the tab
q before him, when in repose. Th
p full top light shines on his Ion!
"a bald crown, his clustering, gray sic
locks, and his shirt front, and max
him the conspicuous object of evel
eye. About 10 or II o'clock in Il
~ evening he always writes his dai
letter to the Queen, using a pad {
:. his knee and quill pen, and it
= one of the most familiar of his Gu
Gus ways that this occupation new
prevents his hearing acutely all tn
Is going on. All at once you W
see him stop writing and screw /
head to one side like very wise O
me bird, and you may know that he h
to. heard something which interef
oil him. If the speaking happens
~ be unusually good he will turn al
. look at the orator steadily, as If {
lighted at the discovery of nj
or a talent. When lesser lights of
Ga opposition-an and the name of the
VI " is legion-are attacking him,
customarily draws his head do
+. into his collar and looks stonily
them; but if the assault be fri
$. somebody worth listening to, S
Churchill or Smith, he listens INT
gracefully, expressing on
strikingly mobile face, as the indi
ment goes on, all his emotions
] amusement, interest, dissent, ind
nation, scorn, elation. No or
actor ever knew better how to sh
ss forth more varied feelings in
their intensity on his face. A
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