When he made this quotation against Mr. Gladstone, the
Old Man at once pounced on him with a demand for the date and the
authority. Joe was nonplussed, but he stuck to his point.
But on the following day Mr. Gladstone got up and in the blandest manner
declared that he had since looked into the speech to which Mr.
Chamberlain had alluded, and he found that what he had really said was,
that Mr. Collings had been supposed to have advocated "three acres and a
cow" as a policy, and to that policy Mr. Gladstone had declared he had
never given his adherence. This was turning the tables with a vengeance.
Jesse grinned and Joe frowned--the rest of the House was delighted.
[Sidenote: Mr. Asquith.]
The Home Secretary delivered a speech, which in one bound carried him to
the front rank of Ministerial speakers. It was a triumph from beginning
to end: in voice, in delivery, in language--above all, in revelation of
character, it was an intoxication and a delight to the House of Commons.
He swept over the emotions of that assembly like a splendid piece of
music, and there was no room, or time, for reflection.
But there was an aftermath, and then it began to be hinted that it was
the speech of an orator and an advocate rather than of a Minister, and
that it was unnecessarily and unwisely harsh in tone; it uttered "no"
and a "never"--which are the tombs of so many Ministerial declarations.
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