The Irish standard., 1886-04-17
/" THE GRAND OLD Man. e
His Power in the British Parliament The
House STUPID Assembly When
He is Absent.
A GULLIVER AMONG LILLIPUTIANS

A GULLIVER AMONG LILLIPUTIANS
Sentiment and Shrewdness are Gu
riously Mingled in His
Mental Control.
No one, says writer in last SUNDAYS
New York Times, can understand the
marvellous domination which Mr.
Gladstone has over Parliament until
he has seen the House OF Commons in
the two stages Of it's being--with Glad
stone and without Gladstone. The un-
usual cold weather OF the past few
weeks has. unfortunately, rendered it
very easy to view the house sitting
without it's mentor, Nestor and dicta-
tor. He has been ill with colds and
bronchial difficulties, and has wisely
kept within doors, nursing his health
and meditating on the great finishing
masterpiece of his career. To see the
House on any evening when he is ab-
sent, no matter. how interesting the
subject before it may be of itself, OF
how we'll the reports may read next
morning, is to view one of the least in.
spring spectacles conceivable. Indif-
ference 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
it's supremacy. Opposition dullards
PROFOUND questions in perfunctory list
lessness: ministerial dullards answer
with routine commonplaces. A spell
of drowsiness seems to hang over the
sparsely filled benches. Nobody listens
to the speaker or even preteuds to be
interested in what he is saying, When
he pauses at the end Of a rounded po-
riod to receive the sustaining CHEERS
of his party, three or four men say
Hear! hear|'' languidly, and the rest
wearily look al each other at the gal
leries, st the ceiling, and slip further
down on their cushioned seats. The
few ministers who sit on the treasury
bench have their hats TILTED over on
their noses, their cllins on their breasts,
their legs stretched far out 20 the dis
patch table, their hands buried deep in
their trousers pockets. Nobody cares
for them, and they care for nobody
The prosy orators. drone away. mem
bers and ministers saun5er cut to gOs-
sip i'll the lobby OF drink in the smok-
ing room below, disappointed strangers
get up and tiptoe out. amazed that the
parliament Of sucl an empire should be
so stupid place.
But go some night when the premier
is there-and note the difference Tt
is such a change as the fairy prince
wrought Oh the enchanted palace. The
benches are we'll filed, and the mem
bers-especialiy the new members--sit
upright and with eyes wide-open. The
occupants of the front opposition bench
look nervously conscious and apprehen-
sive. Every speaker--and particularly
if he be a new man-eyidences by his
manner: his voice, his delivery, that he
is chiefly anxious to impress Mr.. Glad
stone fayorably. and that he is really
speaking to no one else. If there is a
chance that the premier is to speak,
you will find few loungers in the
lobby, fewer still in the smoking room.
There lis an indescribable fascination in
watching the great man as he sits to-
wards the outer end of the government
bench listening to a debate. It may be
that this is not his inyariable rule, but
at least I have never happened to see
him in the House in any other garb
than evening dress-,With a wider e1-
panse of shirt front than is ordinarily
worn even here, where very much
linen is in fashion. He leaus back
comfortably, with one thin leg over the
other and with his eyes musingly fixed
on the great mace on the table before
him, when in repose. The full top
light shows on his long, bald crown,
his clustering gray side locks, and his
shirt front, and makes him the con-
spicuous object Of every eye. About
10 or II o'clock in the evening he al
ways writes his daily letter to the
Queen, using a pad on his knee ana a
quill pen, and it is one of the
the most familiar of his curious ways
that this occupation never prevents his
hearing acute1y all that is going on.
All at once you will see him stop writ
ing and screw his head to one side like
"a wise old bird, and you may know that
he has heard sog1.stl llipg aN;bith. .h:cereeeas
him. II the sHdaaz i; ::lh;aiP:psas; tp:he
unusually good he VIII. turn and look at
1 the draton Steadily.. as If delighted al
the dises,essvSeiy ::of new 'tsitnit. hen' les:
ser lights Of the OPPOSITE on and the
inameof these3is legionare attacking
him, he customar1ly draws his head
down into. his collar and looks stonily
at them; but if the assault be from
somebody worth listening tto,s say
Churchill or S51 Sit III. lln listens more