ESSENCE OF PARLIAMENT.
EXTRACTED FROM THE DIARY OF TOBY, M.P.
House of Commons, July 14th, 1891.—Things going on here much as usual. Rapidly winding up Session amid familiar surroundings. OLD MORALITY in seat of Leader of the House; Mr. G. opposite; SPEAKER in Chair; Sergeant-at-Arms on guard by the door; and WINDBAG SEXTON on his feet.
Brings back to my mind the first time I saw House. Wasn't in the House then; a mere puppy, which, indeed, some say I remain to this day. The date was August the 19th, 1841, and from seat where Strangers were admitted in the old House (the temporary building occupied whilst BARRY was erecting this lofty pile) I looked on at the opening of the first Session of the Fourteenth Parliament of the then United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, appointed to meet at Westminster in the fifth year of the Reign of HER MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA.
Remember it as if it were yesterday. It was MELBOURNE's Ministry; but he of course sat in another place. On the Treasury Bench, distinctly visible under his hat, was JOHNNY RUSSELL, Colonial Secretary and Leader of the House of Commons. At a safe distance from him sat PAM, then in the prime of life, and at the time holding the post of Foreign Minister, in which he was able to make a remarkably large number of people uncomfortable. There was Sir GEORGE GREY, Chancellor of the Duchy, whilst a sturdily built gentleman, then known as the Right Hon. THOMAS BABBINGTON MACAULAY, was Secretary for War; HENRY LABOUCHERE (not the SAGE OF QUEEN ANNE'S GATE) was President of the Board of Trade, and Master of the Mint; whilst FRANCIS BARING was Chancellor of the Exchequer, all untroubled by the necessity of constructing a Budget since he knew he would never be called on to bring one in.
On the Front Bench opposite was Sir ROBERT PEEL with JAMES GRAHAM at his right elbow. In modest retirement at the end of the Bench sat a young man, of full height, and good figure, with a mass of black hair crowning a large, well-shaped head. Remember noticing how carefully the hair was parted down the middle, in a fashion then unusual with men. His face was pleasant to look upon, even mild in its expression; but from time to time, more particularly when he spoke, there flashed from beneath his dark and bushy eyebrows a pair of eyes that shone like stars. This was the Mr. G. of those days, whose highest Ministerial office, as yet, had been the Under-Secretaryship for the Colonies, held for a few months six years earlier.
Big House on this first night, as Houses were counted then, when the number of Members was considerably less. First business was to choose SPEAKER. SHAW-LEFEVRE (not the Member for Bradford, but a forbear) had been SPEAKER in last Parliament; re-elected now, PEEL, who, by the lifting of a finger, could have put his own nominee in the Chair, graciously consenting.
Of all who filled the House on that night, only two have seats in the present Parliament—Mr. G., and the humble person who, by favour of the Electors of Barkshire, is permitted to pen these lines. (CHRISTOPHER TALBOT, then represented Glamorganshire, but he just failed to live into this Jubilee time.) Yet, when I look round on the Benches now, I see a score of men who bear the names, and are, in many cases, descendants, of Members who sat in the Parliament that will ever have a place in history, if only because it was born in the same year, almost in the same month, as Mr. Punch. There was a THOMAS DYKE ACLAND, representing Devonshire; there were two HENEAGES, one representing Devizes, and the other, EDWARD, sitting for Grimsby, as EDWARD HENEAGE sits to-day for the same borough. There was a BORTHWICK, Member for Evesham. There was a PHILIP STANHOPE, Member for Hertford. STANSFELD sat for Huddersfield, and MARJORIBANKS for Hythe, a LAWSON for Knaresborough, a BECKETT for Leeds, a CHILDERS for Malton, a MANNERS for Newark-upon-Trent, having a certain WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE for colleague. He was the Lord JOHN, well known to students of poetry, who now wears a Ducal coronet.
Of course there was a SMITH, VERNON by Christian name, Member for Northampton; a HOULDSWOTH representing Nottinghamshire, a MACLEAN for Oxford, a HARCOURT for Oxfordshire—nay, in this happy Parliament there were two HARCOURTS, GRANVILLE HARCOURT VERNON sitting for East Retford. A VIVIAN sat for Penrhyn—HUSSEY VIVIAN's father, JOHN HENEY, sat in the same Parliament for Swansea. Lord EBRINGTON sat for Plymouth, and CHARLES RUSSELL for Reading. ORMSBY GORE represented North Shropshire, long a possession of his family. The Markiss o' GRANBY sat for Stamford, with a CLARK for colleague. FREDERICK VILLIERS (not our present Father) kept the name green at Sudbury, and there was a WYNDHAM for Sussex. The HENRY LABOUCHERE of those less lively days sat for Taunton, and Sir ROBERT PEEL, our SPEAKER's father, for Tamworth. There was a HAYTER, GOOD-ENOUGH: for Wells, one LOWTHER represented Westmoreland, and another York. A WALTER LONG sat for North Wilts, STUART WORTLEY sat for the West Riding, and JAMES DUFF for Banffshire. We had a BALFOUR for Haddington, and Lord DALMENY of that day, happier than the present head of the family, sat in the Commons for Inverkeithing, a place long since swept off the electoral board. These surnames, with one or two others I can't recall—yes, there was a DALRYMPLE for Wigtonshire—are familiar on the Roll of Parliament to-day.
Amongst the prominent Members of this Parliament I remember ROEBUCK sitting; for Bath; and PAKINGTON—then plain JOHN all unconscious of the coming marvel of a Ten Minutes' Reform Bill—for Droitwich. STRATFORD CANNING had a seat for King's Lynn, and MONCKTON' MILNES was Member for Pomfret. JOHN BRIGHT was not in the House, but RICHARD COBDEN sat for Stockport, and there was an acidulous person, then known as RALPH BERNAL, who sat for Wycombe. We knew BERNAL OSBORNE in many later Parliaments.
Curious to think how Ireland at this epoch belonged to the classes! DANIEL O'CONNELL was just in his prime, and, in addition to himself returned three of his name. SMITH O'BRIEN was yet far off the cabbage garden, and HENRY GRATTAN sat for Meath. There is a living image of him now among the busts in the corridor leading out of the Octagon Hall; a fiery dramatic speaker in the House, who, as someone said of him at the time, used in his passion to throw up his arms, bend over till he touched the floor with his finger-nails, and thank Heaven he had no gestures. The O'CONNOR DON whom Members younger than I remember as he sat above the Gangway in the Parliament of 1874, then represented Roscommon. But for the most part the Irish Members of those days were Earls, Viscounts, Knights, Baronets, Honourables and Right Honourables.
There were, on the Motion for the Address, big debates in both Houses on this particular night, when I first saw the SPEAKER in wig and gown. The fate of the Ministry could scarcely be said to hang in the balance; they knew they were doomed. In the Lords the shrift was short. Not too late for dinner, their Lordships divided: "Contents 96, Not Contents 168," majority against Government 72. I well remember COVENTRY's speech; worth reciting as a model for these later days. He followed LANSDOWNE, and House wanted to hear NORTHAMPTON. When COVENTRY presented himself, fearful row kicked up. He stood there till silence partially restored, then he said in deep voice, as who should say "My name is—Norval,"—
"I am Lord COVENTRY. A few words from me. I think the country is in a safe state, and I hope to find it placed in the hands of the Duke of WELLINGTON. My Lords, I hope I have not detained you."
Then he sat down.
In the Commons, debate lasted four days; majority against Government 91.
The LABBY of 1841 spoke at length, and was followed by Mr. D'ISRAELI (he spelt it with an apostrophe in those days): a good Disraelian ring about the last sentence of his speech.
"The House," he said, "ought now to act as it had been acted upon in times when Parliament was unreformed, when DANBY found himself in a dungeon, and STRAFFORD on a scaffold. Now the Whigs hold office by abusing the confidence of the Sovereign, and defying the authority of Parliament."
After him came the still budding BERNAL OSBORNE, CHARLES NAPIER, ROEBUCK, JOHNNIE RUSSELL, fighting to the last with his back to the wall; COBDEN, HENRY GRATTAN, PAM, MILNER GIBSON, O'CONNELL, PEEL, and Colonel SIBTHORP.
MR. PUNCH KEEPS HIS EYE ON CRICKET.
PUNCH PRESENTING YE TENTH VOLUME TO YE QUEENE.
(1846.)]
FROM W.M. THACKERAY TO MR. PUNCH. (FEBRUARY, 1849.)
MR. PUNCH,—"When the future inquirer shall take up your volumes, or a bundle of French plays, and contrast the performance of your booth with that of the Parisian theatre, he won't fail to remark how different they are, and what different objects we admire or satirise. As for your morality. Sir, it does not become me to compliment you on it before your venerable face; but permit me to say, that there never was before published in this world so many volumes that contained so much cause for laughing, and so little for blushing; so many jokes, and so little harm. Why, Sir, say even that your modesty, which astonishes me more and more every time I regard you, is calculated, and not a virtue naturally inherent in you, that very fact would argue for the high sense of the public morality among us. We will laugh in the company of our wives and children; we will tolerate no indecorum: we like that our matrons and girls should be pure."
