Mrs. B.—“I will speak all the same. You make a grand mistake, if you think my mouth is to be closed in that fashion. I can tell you all, that we shall obtain nothing by persuasion. Here, as well as in the world we have left, it is by strong measures and threats that one obtains one’s ends.” (Order, order.)
The President.—“You have already despised my authority. If you use threats, I shall refuse you permission to speak further....”
Mrs. B.—“It is a swindle!” (Order, order.)
The President (rising).—“Retract the word swindle. Do you imagine yourself in Seven Dials?”
Mrs. B.—“I shall retract nothing. If in a week’s time, I am not placed on a throne resplendent with light, I shall make myself objectionable: I shall break the park railings, pull up the flowers, trample on the beds, and turn everything upside down.... I will keep you busy, I promise you. I have only just come.... I’ll get up a meeting of my own, by-and-bye....”
The President.—“I order the expulsion of the interrupter.” (After a great struggle, in which the lady, looking like a destroying angel, strikes out right and left, she is turned out, not without difficulty.)
The President.—“Now that order is restored, I call upon the Reverend Mr. Goodman to address the meeting.”
Rev. B. G.—“In place of the words, ‘Considering that the British nation is the most virtuous on earth,’ I propose that the following be substituted: ‘Considering that the British nation is none other than the lost ten tribes of the House of Israel, the holy nation chosen of the Lord.’ Ladies and gentlemen, I am thoroughly convinced that....”
A voice (interrupting).—“But, as the Lord reigns in these realms, would it not be much more simple to ask Him if we really are, as the reverend gentleman declares, His chosen people? It seems to me that, by adopting this course, a great deal of time and trouble might be saved.”
Several voices.—“Let the amendment be put to the meeting.”