Home Rule Debate.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 163, 31 July 1886, Page 7

Home Rule Debate.

Gladstone's Voice. A writer in the " Fall Mall Gazette " thus describes the wonderful charm of the Premier's voice and manner on this great occasion :—: — The Prime Minister was very pale — almost as white as the flower in his buttonhole -and there was an added solemnity in his manner befitting the occasion. Best of all, however, he was in splendid voice. It rang as clear as in years gone by, and what a voice it is ! To begin with, it is of extraordinary compass from thelight high bantering note in which he twitted the Tories with endeavouring "to adorn thelaugh—todecorate it — with an idea," down to the deep, resonant, intentionally hoarse bass to which it sank as he spoke of the * profound and bitter condemnation ' with which English action towards Ireland was universally received. Then the flexibility of it, too ! From top note to bottom Mr Gladstone passes as lightly and smoothly and easily as a bird's carol. But the quality of it — how can one describe that ? It i 3 impossible to do bo without seeming to fall into absurd hyperbole. There is something so winning, so * magnetic/ in Mr Gladstone's voice, as it was once more, and as we can hardly venture to hope that it will be again, that it is necessary to seek far for a smile. A cathedral bell bounding far away over 0 river, a waterfall heard a long way off in the atiilness of night, the sea rolling slowly in over a pebbly beach, a summer wind blowing over a hilltop of pines— in each of these there is a strange indescribable quality which sometimes makes one's eyes fill and one's throat contract for mere physical sympathy, and in Mr Gladstone's voice, when he will, there is the same note. The admirable construction of his speech, bow it began by a few personalities and referencea to his immediate predecessors in debate, how it passed gradually to elaborate historial argument, how it turned to denunciation of the rival policy, how there came into it the touch of national poetry, and the picture of Erin with the cup at her lips— picture finished with a touch of Virgil — how it concluded with a solemn appeal for a " blessed oblivion of the past," and ll happiness, prosperity, and peace" for the years that are to come -these, and the utter absence of any personal taint, any complaint, any reference to the speaker's own position, all can see who will read ib. But that voice, it is only an inalienable memory. An Astounding Climax. Another writer, recounting the details oi this exciting scene, cays: — "In the great division of yesterday morning, the * Cheers for the Grand Old Man' constituted the electrifying climax of a memorable scene. For frantic excitement and utter abandonment to the passion of the moment, the Scene did not approach that of the early morning of the 9th of June last year. ' Now hats ware thrown up to the ceiling ; , no Lord Randolph Churchill in mad self-forgetfulne3s danced on the benches and shouted himself into apoplectic hue ; no Irish members in alliance with the noble lord mounted the seats and delivered, during a sort of war dance, their galling 1 cheers and exclamations at the head of the Prime -Minister as he unmoved, proceeded with the writing of his letter to the Queen • and but little time in comparison with that taken up on the 9th of June, 1885, was devoted to hilarious and uncontrolled rejoicing over the Go* vernnient defeat. 'The demonstration of yesterday morning was, in these respects and by comparison, short, sharp,* and relatively decorous. But to that, thrilling moment of generous and enthusiastic, rallying round the beaten Minister the event of June last presents no parallel, , nor could the ' annals of Parliament be consulted with success for its precedent. The strangers in the gallery shared the impulse of excitement, and' watched on 'tip-,: toe and with eager faces and extraordinary ecene.f The Conservatives, utterly taken' aback; stood ' Btpok \ stillj' leaving , 'the camp, as it were, iri 'the, hands of ,tbe ( enemy. They had begun' the^ cheering, but now were beaten out of the field."