Goschen. But Mr. Storey, clear, resonant,
resolute, speaks to a House that listens with the stillness of great
situations. Every word tells. The issue is understood and knit; and now
let us troop into the lobbies, and proclaim to the world either our
abject unfitness to govern an empire and pass a real statute, or let us
stand by our great mission and mighty leader.
[Sidenote: John Burns's penetration.]
Not even yet do levity and faction surrender the final hope of doing
mischief. At the door of the House, as I have already said, stands a
Scotch Liberal doing the work of Tory Whips, and attempting to capture
young members who have smoked their pipes or drank their tea, or
wandered up and down the terrace by the peaceful Thames--all unconscious
of the great and grim drama going forward upstairs. He catches hold of
John Burns, among others--a sturdy son of the soil ready to receive, as
might be hoped, anything which calls itself sturdy and independent
Radicalism. Over honest John's manly form there is a fight; but he has a
strong, clear, practical head over his muscular body, and at once
penetrates to the underlying issue, and walks into Gladstone's lobby.
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