Gladstone is in his best form, is the exuberance and
freedom of his gesture. Whenever he feels a thorough grip of himself and
of the House, he lets himself go in a way upon which he does not venture
in quieter moods. He was dealing with the question of our colonies and
of the difference which had been made in them by the concession of Home
Rule. It was while thus engaged that he made one of those eloquent
little asides, which bring home to the mind the vastness and extent of
this great career. Nearly sixty years ago--just think of it, nearly
sixty years ago--he had been associated with the Government of the
Colonies--referring to the time when Lord Aberdeen was his chief, and he
held office for the first time as an Under-Secretary. And then he made
from Lord Aberdeen a quotation in which the Colonial Secretary calls
delighted attention to the fact that Heligoland is tranquil--the single
one of all the dependencies of the Crown of which that could be said at
that moment.
But it was not at this point that the significant gesture came in, to
which I have alluded. Mr. Gladstone had another document to read. By the
way--even over the distance which divides the Treasury Bench from the
Opposition Benches below the gangway, where we Irishry sit--I could see
that the document was written in that enormous hand-writing, which is
necessary nowadays when the sight of the Prime Minister is not equal to
the undimmed lustre of the eagle eye.
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