ST. STEPHEN'S IN THE "FIFTIES."*

THE republication of this collection of brilliant papers should be welcomed by all sorts and conditions of men. The "Lobby Correspondent" of to-day will gaze with envious eye upon an epoch when the exigencies of time and taste permitted such descriptive articles, exhaustive, critical, and polychromatic; an age which knew the last of the Parlia- mentary giants, and witnessed the close of a reign of manners which—whatever may be said against it—provided admirable material for the newsman. The student of the personnel of Parliament will value the reappearance of Mr. Whitby's con- tributions to the Leader newspaper, written by one whose power of analysis was only equalled by his gift of expression. He will not fail to note in his book of unpaid debts his obligations to the impartial limner whose art depicts with a freshness of colour and exuberance of detail the political scenes of tragedy, comedy, and farce, the abilities and short- comings and idiosyncrasies of chief actors and subordinates in the Parliamentary troupe, as presented on the stage at St. Stephen's in the "fifties." And Members of the present Parliament may study this volume with admiration and • St. Stephen's in the Fifties: the Session 1862-3. A Parliamentary Retrospect. By R. M. Whitty. With an Introduction by Justin McCarthy. London : T. Fisher Unwin. ins. 6d. not.] advantage. The period with which it deals has much in common with the situation to-day, if we choose to institute a comparison between the personal problems underlying the two political situations. They will observe, moreover, that during a space of years responsible for many social and other itn- provements known as reforms, the institution which has• altered least of all—in character and routine—is the House of Commons itself. Test it as you will—by the invaluable hints to new M.P.'s at the beginning of the book ; by the different atmospheres prevailing between the Parliamentary Recesses in the course of a Session ; by the attitude adopted by the House toward its Members, according to their classified deserts ; by the mercurial changes of temperament in the Chamber, due to no reasonable cause, but alternating between the extremes of passion and frivolity ; by the bitter cry for a Session that does not mean every summer spent in London ; by the plague- stricken appearance of the House when the " condition of India" is under discussion—you will find conditions obtaining in 1906 precisely similar to those reviewed by Mr. Whitty in 1852.

And since " good wine needs no bush," we cannot conceive

why so notable a vintage as this should be obscured by the umbrageous verbosity of Mr. McCarthy's preface. With great submission, we consider it a work of supererogation from beginning to end, for it attempts to elucidate nothing but the already obvious, and cumbers the ground with a deal of personal opinion upon topics sublimely irrelevant to the matter in hand, coupling the topics of the " fifties " and those of to-day with no nexus more important than " I should like to know what our author would have thought of . . . . "— then proceeding to discuss the presence of ladies on the Terrace, women's suffrage, Labour Members, and what not. Surely here Mr. McCarthy has missed a great opportunity,. which few men but he could have seized, of comparing the men and manners of contemporary European Parlia.mente with the situation under review; of discussing the subsequent improvement and liberty and political value of newspaper reporting and descriptive articles of life and labour at West- minster ; of applying the obiter dicta which decorate every page of the book he introduces to the successive Parliaments. whose energies he has shared and chronicled during the past. half-century of a brilliant literary career.

But, leaving the preface, we come to the book itself, and. here in truth the difficulties of the reviewer begin : what to quote, what to omit. Let us premise that with the political problems of the period we need not deal. The advantages, the intrigues, the follies of the famous Coalition Government, the conversions and apostasies of 1852 pivoting round the reorganisation of our fiscal system,—these are all suggestive enough, but they do not contain the essence which gives this " Retrospect " its character and its charm. We pass, therefore, immediately to the picture of Parliament,. drawn from a point of vantage by an unerring hand which can. give us caricature like Gillray or portraiture like Velasquez,. with a sincerity and wit that leave nothing to be desired. In this picture three portraits stand out, the more interest- ing since none of the originals had then reached the zenith of their fame : Gladstone, Disraeli, Bright. Of the first two let us reproduce the author's sketches, as each rises to speak from his place at the table :— "Mr. Disraeli is up You see the orator, there at the top. His body is half thrown across the table, one hand resting- behind him, flirting with a laced cambric, the other white hand. tapping gently a red box. And he is making a great speech ?

he is quite colloquial and He is talking to Lord John

his tone is friendly and familiar—especially when he comes to a bitter innuendo, when he turns his head to the country gentle- men that they may hear it, and laugh. He is getting near the end of his speech, and is now recapitulating and fasten- ing all the points together, as is his wont : and this is his- argumentative style. He approaches the peroration—his forte : and here he raises his head, he throws back his collar, he puts by his cambric ; he turns from Lord John and faces the House. He speaks slower ; he ceases his affected stammer ; he is more serious and more solemn, but still quiet and unpretending. What lie is now saying is "the manifesto of a party, and not a syllable is lost. He is nearing a meaning and his articulation is elaborate ; and there is a dead silence. But he is still unexcited ; dexterously and quietly he eludes the meaning—soars above it, in one or two involuted closing sentences, delivered with a louder voice and with more vehement gestures : and, having got the cheer at the right spot, this great orator sinks into his seat and turns to ask Lord Henry Lennox whether Grisi was in good voice that night!"

What would not such a portrait fetch to-day at Christie's, and with the following for its pendant ? (for, as the author says, " these two men should be always via-it-trig—the eternal Pitt and Fox of the time—for Mr. Disraeli is unrivalled as the jesting, watchful, guerilla leader of an Opposition ; and

Mr. Gladstone is the beau-ideal of a spokesman of Her Majesty's Ministers ") :— " It was a Budget last night; about a page of a morning paper spoken in two hours. And he hardly referred to a note, never paused a moment, broke through cheers, dashed over interpellations —logic, figures, illustrations, extracts,—all poll well, with a whirl and fury that took the breath away And he did it all with the utmost ease and got to the end. without turning a hair. . . . . . Mr. Gladstone took it all quietly, and did it quietly, and left the House and went home quietly—probably mentioning to Mrs. Gladstone, as a reason for being rather tired, that he had been saying a ` few words' that evening."

And here is Macaulay, at the end of his House of Commons career, to add to an incomparable collection of portraits of statesmen "on their legs ":—

" What can be the matter ? Doors open, members rush out: members are tearing past you from all points, in one direction— towards the House. Then wigs and gowns appear : they tell you with happy faces, their committees have adjourned ; and then come a third class, the gentlemen of the press, hilarious. Why, what's the matter ? Matter! Macaulay is up. You join the runners in a moment . . . . . . it was an announcement one hadn't heard for years ; and the passing of the word Macauhty's up' emptied committee rooms now as before it emptied clubs. The old voice, the old manners and the old style—glorious speaking. Well prepared, carefully elaborated, confessedly etsayishb; but spoken with perfect art and consummate manage- ment the grand conversation of a man of the world confiding his learning and his recollections and his logic to a party of gentlemen, and just raising his voice enough to be heard through the room. As the House filled he got prouder and more oratorical; and then he poured out his speech with rapidity, increasing after every sentence, till it became a torrent of the richest words, carrying his hearers with him into enthusiasm and

yet not leaving them time to cheer The great orator was trembling when he sat down : the excitement of a triumph overcame him, and he had scarcely the self-possession to acknow- ledge the eager praises which were offered by the Ministers and others in his neighbourhood."

Of Mr. Blight's oratory we have unfortunately no such elaborate description. Indeed, during this perplexing Session he was only just beginning to make his mark in Parliament as an orator. His force was that of character ; his speaking conformed (at that date) too little to the exacting standard of the House of Commons. Brilliant flashes illumine the methods of other great men of the time. " Fancy a spirited

despatch being calmly read to the Queen, and you gain an exact idea of Lord Palmerston's speaking." Then " Lord

John Russell is always for preserving his country—in ice. The frigid voice, the didactic tone, the reserved gesture— consisting of catlike and cautiously placing his hand on the table and slowly withdrawing it—are very repulsive to a stranger who cannot understand how that cold nature got a leadership." But here we feel bound to notice in a word a failing (of which the author is obviously conscious) to appreciate the undoubted qualities of Lord John, quaintly described in a phrase of daring parody as " the volunteer pilot to weather the calm " ; it may have been

the metier of Mr. Whitty's organ at that time to do less than justice to the great little man. Mr. Cobden is well described : he "talks out his beliefs in the sharp, clear, crisp sentences that delight a public meeting; and in talking of these he

trusts to accident for a following—for the response which be does not expect in the House itself." And so we pass to the minor characters and scenes, mainly drawn from a Ministry of mediocrities, noting as we pass the pregnant remark, "A great master is known by his pupils in a great degree, and it is Sir Robert Peel's condemnation that he left us no public men to lead." We see Mr. Cardwell, who " has got on in the world by being dull "; and Lord Aberdeen, " heavy, low- voiced, slow, conversational, whose mediocrity with sixty-eight years is sublimity, and suggests no rivalry to rising young fellows of fifty and sixty like Graham, Palmerston, and Russell." Then, past the noble army of Garters and other celebrities on the Ministerial Benches in the Lords (irre- verently described by Mr. Drummond as a draper's counter

over which ribbons were sold in exchange for conscience), to recall a mot, a type, and a "scene in the House," for our catalogue of characters becomes unconscionably long.

We apologise to the shades of those who said so many

good things in the "fifties," and choose from the wit of Mr. Phinn to illustrate the esprit du jour. To Lord Palmerston, who objected that "public flogging would brutalise the offender still more," the Member for Bath retorted: " Then, let it be private !" And he further argued, in later con- versation, that "when a rich man has a row with his spouse he can seek refuge in his club; but the poor man has no club and accordingly takes to the cudgel." Then, as ever, there were favourites who could do no wrong, and outsiders who could do no right. To the former class belonged the aforesaid Mr. Drummond, and to the latter a certain Mr. Duffy. The first- named admitted the corruption of the House of Commons, but his successor in debate rebuked it. Then arose one of the scenes so rare in the British Parliament:- "Cat-calls were introduced for the first time on Thursday since 1832; fists were shaken at faces for the first time in Commons' history ; and at one moment J. Ball and V. Scully, who rose at the same time to be cloud compellers of the tempest, were struggling for the precedence—the lighter weight going down ignominiously in a hideous screech of universal laughter. Tho dined, who had got into the middle of the crowded hubbub, were obliged to skulk to back benches and into the galleries ; and they set to, one after another, imprompting a Donnybrook."

And so the scene continued until sober counsels prevailed and the discussion was adjourned. Moral lectures were delivered by the leaders to the House in general and to the delinquent in particular. But sad to relate, that Hibernian martyr stuck to his point ; on the morrow he reiterated his charges and offered to particularise if necessary.

Finally, we would draw attention to the sagest chapters in this most sagacious volume, the " Hints to New M.P.'s," and our last quotation embodies the features of a personality well known in every deliberative Assembly in the world :--

" His memory was wax to receive and marble to retain. His honesty was beyond all question. This man devoted himself to the House of Commons, sacrificing to it splendid professional prospects ; and bold in that sacrifice, in the consciousness of ability, he concluded that he was entitled to be a personage. Accordingly he attacked every subject. He was in every debate, on every committee. He moved for any returns. He introduced any grievance. Figaro here, Figaro there ! He speedily advanced into boredom. Put down, counted out, he retaliated; he lectured the House, he expostulated, he abused, he reviled. No men are ever misunderstood in the House of Commons. They said he was clever ; and if they had had time they would have taken pleasure in his speaking. But they had no time ; they did not require instruction or enlightenment from a man who stood aloof from parties ; and speaking, therefore, only for- himself spoke for one no other M.P. cared one curse about."

To preserve the budding Cicero from such a fate, to teach him the royal road to success in Parliament, is clearly the main object of Mr. Whitty's ambition. Only those who know the inner life of English politics can appreciate the depth of sense and truth in these first four chapters. We close with a few phrases taken at haphazard from this grand recipe for Parliamentary success :-

" There should be a medical examination and a medical certificate for all new men facing the House of Commons."

"Those who give themselves up to the House entirely induce the House to give itself up to them."

"The House of Commons will not be spoken at ; it will be talked to."

" Select your leader, appoint your whipper-in, cultivate taci- turnity, and cease to have a will."

It matters not who reads this volume, with its story of rises and falls in great reputations, of disappointments soothed, of foiled intrigues, of dogged endurance and loyalty repaid,—the oldest "Parliamentary hand" and the last successful candi- date at a by-election can learn much to his edification and amusement by studying the conditions at " St. Stephen's in the fifties."