POLITICS AT THE CHORAL HALL.

Observer, Volume 3, Issue 62, 19 November 1881, Page 148

POLITICS AT THE CHORAL HALL.

A DULL EVENING

Ichabod ! The old days are no more. The time when the Grey Central* Committee was a thing of lifo and activity has passed. Nothing is left but a namc,^and the melancholy memories of former triumphs. Time was when the word " Greyite " was a shibboleth, when the Central Committee was a mighty lever of public opinion, when its mysterious fiats went out into distant electorates, and its standard rallied hosts with a common battle cry at the polling places. Ichabod ! The scene at the Choral Hall on Monday night offered a melancholy contrast to the old and wellremembered scenes in the Theatre Royal, the dress-circle crowded with the fashion and beauty of the city, the packed masses in the pit and stalls, and the crowds standing in the passages, or surging outside the doors, the waving of handkerchiefs, the whole audience rising to its feet and cheering enthusiastically. The muster began long before the appointed hour, but the hall was never inconveniently full. Amongst the firstcomers were many of the veteran Greyites, Eyre, Staines, and others in the front seats, a few ladies on the platform and one in the body of the hall. The crowd filed in slowly in twos and threes up to a quarter to 8 when 'the place was not more than half filled: Mr J. M. Clark modestly took his place among the crowd. When Mr J. T. Boylan entered by a side door, a faint cheer greeted him. He" was followed to the platform by Messrs. Tole, Dignan, Moss, Walhs, Harris, Farnall, Kelly, C. O. Davis, J. 0. Young, and other Liberal candidates. Sir George G-rey, who was attired in the customary white vest, black coat and grey trousers, was received with general clapping of hands, but not the wild enthusiasm of old. Mr Boylan, the regular dustman, took the chair, and to the great relief of the reporters, omitted his usual preliminary flourish of trumpets. Sir G-eorge Grey began slowly, almost painfully, amidst deep silence, but warmed to his subject as he got into the old familiar groove on the land question, exciting now a ch.eer or a laugh ; but he suffered from a cold orhuskiness of throat, and evidently thepassivencss of the audience had a depressing effect upon him, accustomed as he has been to the stimulous of popular enthusiasm. Still he proceeded with masterly skill, method, and logical force to develop his arguments. The great feature about his speeches is the capacity they display for coming down to the mental platform of the i great mass of his hearers, and the faculty of being always intelligible without ever descending to the common-place. The audience caught some of its old fire when the veteran declared Of course, 1 mean to struggle and fight. Ido not care about temporary defeats. So long as I live I shall fight " He might have added that birth, natural combativeness early training, and the chances of fate have endowed him with rather a preference for the war and turmoil of politics. _ It is his most congenial element. To our mind a good soldier has been spoiled in making him a politician Mr Eyre smiled in content of soul, and directed a suggestive glance at the reporters when he succeeded in interjecting the word ' lords, and attracted Sir George Grey's notice and the remark " The Lord deliver us from such lords.

The speaker was at liis best when he came to introduce historical references, and comparisions. It is here that his erudition constitutes him a teacher, and the mere political talker is lost for the nonce in the scholar, On the whole the tone of the speech was characterised by greater moderation than on previous occasions, but it contained little that was new or striking, and nothing as to the policy of the future. Mr T. B. Hill's prepared oration was curtailed, and poor Mr Gee, who became flushed and flustered at the very first interruption, could get out little more than many repetitions of the fact that ho admired the candidate as " a gentleman." Some one in the body of the hall suggested the word "Landleaguer," and this raised a deprecatory yell, which quickly subsided, as did also Mr Gee. The resolution of thanks and confidence having been carried the meeting dispersed with the customary " Three cheers for Sir G-eorge Grey."