Marjoribanks--this announces we have
won--a good cheer, but short, for we want to know the numbers--and then
they are read out.
For the second reading 347
Against 304
The majority is 43. The Lord be praised! we have polled all our men! And
then more cheers--taken up outside in the deeper bellow of the big
crowd, and then more waving of hats and another great reception to Mr.
Gladstone. And so, as the streaks of day rose on this hour of Ireland's
coming dawn, we went to our several homes.
CHAPTER X.
THE BUDGET, OBSTRUCTION, AND EGYPT.
[Sidenote: Sir William.]
Sir William Harcourt, on April 24th, had the double honour of speaking
before the smallest audience and making the best Budget speech for many
years. The Chancellor of the Exchequer has two manners. He can be as
boisterous, exuberant, and gay, as any speaker in the House, and he can
also be as lugubrious as though his life had been spent in the service
of an undertaker. He was in the undertaker mood this evening. Slowly,
solemnly, sadly, he unfolded his story of the finances of the country.
He had taken the trouble to write down every word of what he had to
say--an evil habit to which he has adhered all his life.
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