This description will suffice to
bring before the mind of any reader the difficulty and danger of the
situation.
[Sidenote: Disappointed Office-seekers.]
I tread on somewhat delicate ground when I tell the story of the manner
in which some members of the Liberal party utilised this situation. It
is no secret that there are in this, as in every House of Commons, a
number of gentlemen who do not think that their services have been
sufficiently appreciated by the Minister to whom the unhappy task was
given of selecting his colleagues in office. This is the case with every
Government, and with every House of Commons--with every party and with
every Ministry. You do not think that the favourite of fortune whom you
envy has reached a period of undisturbed happiness when he sits on the
Treasury Bench--even when he speaks amid a triumphant chorus of cheers,
or drives through long lines of enthusiastically cheering crowds. He has
to fight for his life every moment of its existence. He is climbing not
a secure ladder on solid earth, but up a glacier with slipping steps,
the abyss beneath, the avalanche above--watchful enemies all round--even
among the guides he ought to be able to trust.
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