Mr O'Neill's Dream.

Cromwell Argus, Volume III, Issue 152, 8 October 1872, Page 7

Mr O'Neill's Dream.

(Oamaru Times.) Our Wellington correspondent, in giving I us a resumt- of the debate on the " No Oonfii dence" resolutions, take* notice of Mr C. ! O'Neill'B speech. He says :—Mt O'Neill | spoke fluently, forcibly, and withal humour- \ ously ; indeed his speech was one of the best !of the session. Ton have er« this received a | synopsis by telegraph, bin I am tempted to supplement that by a portion of the speech j winch has not yet appeared in the newspaper | reports here. Alluding to the honorable ! member for the Hutt, Mr O'Neill said (I ■ quote " Hansard"): — " What pleased me most va« his mildness • and kindness towards the Government. I almost thought he would have shed tears—as : Shakespere says, " H« has strangled his lan- , guage in tears." Eb entertained the highest ! opinion of the Government, as he said on a j former occasion, when supporting the resold* tion of the honorable member for Nelson i City, he supported it with the greatest feeling : of kindness towards the Government, and he ! said it in such mild tones of voioe—with his | voice rising and falling, sometimes up and I sometimes down, speaking sometimes in whispers and sometimes in tones like " the deep 'ones of an organ in the dim cathedral light." | It was in listening t > these soothing tones that I was pleased. 1 gradually fell asleep, and in my sleep 1 had a dream—a most extraordinary dream. The honorable member for the Hutt : gave truly a most eloquent s: e >eh, and it was so kindly towards the Government, and even j in supporting the resolutions he was doing it I in the most friendly spirit to the Ministry. His language was so sweet, so kin 11 y, so pleasing, and altogether so mellifluous—-it times .vith angelic mildness, again like the solemn tone* of a grand organ " in the dim cathedral light"—l felt in? mind winder into such sweet strains of thought that 1 was lulled to sleep. Yes, 1 slept ; hut in that sleep I had a dream—so strange a dream. I fancied I heard a commotion in the reporters' gallery, and on looking up, I observed a stranger enter in haste, dressed in a garb of a fashion 300 or 40:) years old. He looked as if he had travelled far, weary and tired, evidently having made long journeys in search of something not easily found. He looked towards towards this end of the House ; his eye was immediately lit up with pleasure—the' Treasurer was discovered. This was one of the old Masters : it was Michael Angelo, fresh from leaving the last chisel mark on his famous Muses. He was followed by another ; thatwas Leonardo doVinci. Searcolywere they seated when a commotion was again heard'; another stranger entered in haste, bespattered with mud—young, so pale. It was the master -if old Masters—the painter of the greatest painting the world ever saw. The two iirst immediately dolTed their hats. It was Raphael. Then I saw the canvas placed, the easel caught in the one hand, the pencil in the other ; the arms played deftly across the canvas. In a few moments a portrait was taken—so truthful, so life-like. I gazed on it with wonder and admiration. I saw the eves half-closed ; I thought I heard sounds issue from the canvas : " That it was with the must friendly spirit to the Government." I looked again : the representation was Innocence ; the portrait, that of the honorable member for the Hutt.[ vir Fitzherbert]."