The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-07-17

had ever existed. He looked upon his charac-
ter. he said. as a great mystery. and II pained
him to feel that the mystery would never DO
solved. He thought that Dizzy did not show
at his best during the Last twenty years oil his
lifo. But he showed great ability when attack
ing Peel. Mind. / am not weighing his sayings
in the moral scales, but they certainly showed
great ability" Mr.. Tollemnche recalled the fact
that Shell. alluding to the falling on OF Dis
raoli's el%oduence after Poel's denth. had COM
pared him to n dlssccting surgeon without
n corpse. Il will give" pursued Gladstone,
"ono or two examples OF his witty attack
on Peel. Speaking OF the Maynooth grant, he
said OF Peel: To what end is IL that he thus
convulses the country? That tho Maynooth
students may lilo two in a bed instead OF three
in n bed 1 will not deny that Maynooth was
pauporizcd; but 1 will pass on to another ex-
ample: Disraeli charged Peel with tracing the
steam engine back to the teakcttle." Appar-
entity by this illustration Dizzy meant to indi-
cate that Peel was too much In tho habit OF dis
cussing political questions on FIRST principles.
Once in 1891 the conversation turned upon
Bright, and Mr.. Tollemache mentioned that he
had heard Bright's speech at tho dinner given
to W. l.. Garrison after the conclusion OF the
American civil war. Mr.. Gladstone reioined
that Brigh approved OF the American war. and.
seemingly. OF that war only. Brigh had fore
seen. he said. that although the Northern
States were not in the first instance consciously
fighting against slavery, the practical result OF
the war would be to abolish slavery; and he
had seen this when hardly anybody else did.
On another occasion-it was in 1So4-Mr Glad
stone was requested to name the greatest
speaker that he had known In Parliament. He
replied: 1T depends on what you mean bya
great speaker. No man was equal to Bright
when he had time to prepare n subject. But he
was not strong as q debater, though l remem-
Der his once being very successful in de-
bate. l think 1t was about Ireland; but l am
not sure. ] once had an odd experience. 1t
was found convenient that I. as leader OF the
party. should make a speech from Bright's
notes." Mr.. Gladstone went on to mention
another experience that he had had: Ayr
ton was often a very troublesome opponent In
debate. / remember once that at 8 o'clock in
the morning he was going to attack me. I saw
him go out OF the house to eat an orange. and
knew that this probably meant an hours speech.
This was too much, and / beat q prudent re-
treat" Another Parliamentary reminisoence
recalled by Gladstone at this time was the fol-
lowing: The Conservatives appointed Lord
Glenolg to a high official position. He was
| thoroughly honorable. but was supposed to be
| inefficient. and had q way OF falling asleep dur
ing debates. In the course Of an exciting de-
bate Brougham, in the House OF Lords. ex-
pressed regret that he and his party had cost
the noble lord so many s~leepless days. re-
minded BrouRham OF this afterward. and was
glad to find that he had quite forgotten 1t. 1t
showed that his wit was 80 abundant that he
could afford to forget particular instances Oft"