Sir Henry Roscoe is not an
excitable politician, though no man holds to the Liberal faith more
firmly. He was met on the following Sunday by a friend, and when asked
how he viewed the situation, declared that he was rather "low!" Why? he
was asked. Because his heart was saddened and enraged by the treatment
of the splendid Old Man by Mr. Chamberlain and the Tories. To a leading
Liberal Minister, two Tories privately declared that their pain and
shame and disgust with the conduct of their own side to Mr. Gladstone
was so profound, that they had to get up and leave the House to control
their feelings.
[Sidenote: A complex situation.]
When, therefore, Mr. Chamberlain came forward with his audacious
complaint, this was the curious situation: that the bulk of the Liberal
party, and many even of their opponents, were convinced that the
comments of the _Daily News_ were more than justified. The frantic
cheers with which each successive sentence of the scathing attack in the
description was punctuated by the Liberal and Irish Benches, as Joe,
with affected horror, read them out, sufficiently indicated what they
thought. And, on the other hand, the man in whose defence this reply to
his assailants was made was just as convinced that his enemies had been
unjustly assailed, and that he himself had been well and courteously
treated.
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