Chamberlain himself. One had only to look at Mr.
Chamberlain throughout the speech to see how palpable, how painful this
discovery was--especially to a man to whom politics is nothing but a
mere conflict between contending rivalries and malignities. Mr.
Asquith--calm, self-possessed, measured--put Joe on the rack with a
deliberation that was sometimes almost cruel in its effectiveness and
relentlessness; and Joe was foolish enough to point the severity and
success of the attack by losing his self-control. When Mr. Asquith said
that Joe could find no better employment than that of "scavenging"--here
was a word to make Joe wince--"among the dustheaps" of past speeches,
Joe was a sight to see. A "scavenger"--this was the disrespectful way in
which those quotations were described which had often roused the Tory
Benches to ecstasies of delight. Joe was so angered that he could not
get over it for some time. "Dustheaps!" he was heard to be muttering
several times in succession, as if the word positively choked him.
Indeed, throughout Mr. Asquith's speech, whenever the allusions were
made to him, Joe was seen to be muttering under his teeth. It was the
running commentary which he made on the most effective attack that has
been uttered against him; it was the highest tribute to the severity and
success of the assailant.
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