A MARVELLOUS SPEECH BY AN M.P

Westport Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1148, 6 February 1874, Page 4

A MARVELLOUS SPEECH BY AN M.P

A most puzzling incident lias occurred at Arbroath, (Scotland) when a Mr Baxter addressed a meeting of his constituents in the public hall at that place on the state of politial affairs. Mr Baxter was about to begin, when a flax-dresser in the hall called attention to the extraordinary fact that not only the address Mr Baxter was about to deliver, but also the Provost's introductory remarks had already appeared in an Edinburgh paper published on the same day, which had, in fact, prematurely printed a full account of the proceedings, thus rendering it unnecessary for Mr Baxter to take the trouble of addressing his constituents. Mr Baxter however, undisturbed by the uproar which followed this announcement, delivered his address without offering any explanation of the mystery referred to ; but unfortunately when he had concluded up jumped a bill-poster and inquired of the speaker how it happened that MiBaxter's speech appeared in the Review before it was delivered, " with cheers, loud applause, and everything else ?"' It was impossible to believe that MiBaxter himself could have furnished that journal with a copy of the undelivered speech, for "how," asked the bill-poster with not unnatural curiosity "could he know that the inhabitants of Arbroath were to receive him with cheers and loud applause," and here the speaker handed to Mr Baxter himself the miraculous report which occasioned so much bewilderment. Mr Baxter saicf he had written "a considerable portion " of a speech, but not exactly the same speech he had delivered that night, and sent it to a newspaper office in the county, but how it got into print on Saturday he could not for the life of him say. As to the appearance of the Provost's introductory remarks, he could give no explanation, and on the subject of the " cheers and applause " he was silent. The whole thing was, he said, " an awkward contretemps,' and there can be doubt that on this point Mr Baxter was perfectly correct.—News of the World.