Mundella to indignantly deny that he had
ever done anything of the kind. Of course, he hadn't, and Sir John Gorst
knew that as well as Mr. Mundella. But then, ten minutes were wasted in
the encounter; and even ten minutes are not despised by Jimmy and his
compeers.
[Sidenote: T.W. Russell.]
At last, this was got over, and the time came for T.W. Russell. There
are few men in the House of Commons who excite such violent dislike on
Liberal and Irish Benches as this pre-eminently disagreeable
personality. The dislike is well founded. It is not because Mr. Russell
is rancorous, or has strong opinions; it is because nobody has any faith
in his sincerity. For many years of his life he was a paid teetotal
lecturer. Teetotalism is a counsel of perfection, and teetotallers are
estimable men, but the paid platform advocate of teetotalism is never a
very attractive personality. This tendency to shout, and thump the
table, and work up the agony--this eternal pitching of the voice to the
scream that will terrify the groundlings, appal the sinner, and bring
down the house--all these things produce a style of oratory which is
about as disagreeable as anything in the shape of oratory can be.
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