The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-05-11
BULLS IN PARLIAMENT.
Whittier EIOquence Sometimes Hur-
ries the Honorable Members.
From the London Mail.


From the London Mail.
The House of Commons produces bulls"
and mixed metaphors in rare quality in
fact, Great Britain's legislators appear to
keep in stock special brancs of these COM
modities. Here are few samples:
One night during his last term as prime
minister, Mr.. Gladstone rose to his feet
and calmly accused a Conservative leader
of an astounding feat. He told the right
honorable gentleman that ''he shook his
head in the teeth of his own wordsr'
Those words must have been very biting
ones.
b. L. Cohen. NJ. p, on one occasion told
an opponent that 1.-THE sheet anchor of his
argument is not one which lies In the
mouth of this House"
At the period when continual reference
was being made to the Gladstone UNI
brela," a Conservative orator, in the
course of debate, informed the followers
of Mr.. Gladstone that we also have an
umbrella, which will soon be heard and
when 1t speaks, it viii be with no I'M
certain sound"
A couple of night later, another men,
Der, seemingly in a spirit of emulation,
astonished a bewildered House by ex-
claiming: Il see a vision float before my
SSNsf~it 10 the tdf VI BfOBIeSS, rolling on
in its majesty, gnashing its teeth as it
goes!' The honorable member appears to
have been quite carried away by that Wis
ion of a car.
Undoubtedly a combination of excite
ment and nervousness accounts largely for
the glorious mixture some orators pour
out upon their listeners. 1t was so In the
case of the Scotch member whose speech
he'd drawn its slow length along for near
IN N NKfhA L.
the house by an eloquent outburst: Sir,
look at the great cities of antiquity
where are they now? Some have persisted
so completely that 1t is doubtful II they
ever existed" Then there went up such
roar of laughter as the House has very
rarely heard-and the orator resumed his
seat
Here are a trio of delightfully."- mixed
metaphors, which made the speaker al
most mold his sides with laughter. The
subject under discussion was bimetalllsm
and the intricate ramifcations of the topic
were intensified by three members. who
wished to give instruction to their fellow
legislators. The first orator let off this
original aphorism: "All along the untrod-
den paths of the past we discern the foot
prints of an unseen hand"
Then there was a dash of members 10
leave the House but those who remained
ing several recent bye-elections as a hay
stack OF straws, showing which way the
wind blows" Ten minutes later the com
mons were told-apparently quite in err
ror, as il did not in any way refer to the
debate-by the member for a north of Eng
land city, that The had in his constituency
scores of destitute chndrenw OF course
laughter loud and long greeted this, where
upon the honorable member FASTENED to
explain that he did not mean exactly what
he had said.
Lord CuTzon, when pain Mr.. George
Curzon, was once. and once only, known
TO hopelessly mix his metaphors. On the
occasion in question he highly amused the
House of Commons by saying: 1--WE are
not yet out of the wood in South Africa,
and to get out the ship of state requires
most careful steering!"
An Irish member. Mr.. Murnaghan to
wit, delivered himself of this delightful re-
mark: Il am not going TO reiterate what
l was going to say" This bull" brings
to mind two strangely mixed metaphors
uttered in the House by another member
from the Emerald Isle. Mr.. William Field.
on one occasion he told the speaker that
"the time has come, indeed is rapidly ar
irving, when," etc, and another night he
informed Parliament that, in certain, even
Qualities, 1.-THE population of ireland will
he decimated by two-thirdsv' These two
delightful expressions have made the hon.
member famous at St. stephens