In fact, he alone of all the speakers of the evening rose to “the height of the great argument.”  He alone seemed to feel that the temporary success of this or that party or faction was as nothing compared with the duty of settling definitely and for all posterity this conflict of rights between the two Houses.  Surveying the question from this high vantage-ground, what wonder that in dignity and grandeur he towered above his fellows?  Here was a great mind grappling with a great subject,—­a mind above temporary expedients for present success, superior to the fear of possible defeat.  To denounce the Conservatives for not attacking the Ministerial resolutions may have been indiscreet.  He may have been guilty of an apparent breach of Parliamentary etiquette, when he practically condemned the passive policy of the Cabinet, of which he was himself a leading member.  But may we not pardon the natural irritation produced by the defeat of his favorite measure, in view of the noble and patriotic sentiments of his closing sentences?

“I regard the whole rights of the House of Commons, as they have been handed down to us, as constituting a sacred inheritance, upon which I, for my part, will never voluntarily permit any intrusion or plunder to be made.  I think that the very first of our duties, anterior to the duty of dealing with any legislative measure, and higher and more sacred than any such duties, high and sacred though they may be, is to maintain intact that precious deposit.”

The effect of this speech was indescribable.  The applause with which he was frequently interrupted, and which greeted him as he took his seat, was such as I have never heard in a deliberative assembly.  And not the least striking feature of this display of enthusiasm was that it mainly proceeded from the extreme Liberal wing of the Ministerial party, with which Mr. Gladstone, representing that most conservative of all English constituencies, Oxford University, had hitherto been by no means popular.  For several days the rumor was rife that the Chancellor of the Exchequer would resign his place in the Cabinet, and be the leader of the Radicals!  But Mr. Gladstone had other views of his duty, and probably he was never more firmly intrenched in the confidence of the nation, and more influential in the councils of the Government, than he is at this moment.

Mr. Gladstone had hardly taken his seat, when the long and significant silence of the Opposition was broken by Mr. Whiteside.  This gentleman represents Dublin University, has been Attorney-General and Solicitor-General for Ireland, and was one of the most able and eloquent defenders of O’Connell and his friends in 1842.  He is said to be the only Irishman in public life who holds the traditions of the great Irish orators,—­the Grattans, the Currans, and the Sheridans.  I will not detain my readers with even a brief sketch of his speech.  It was very severe upon Mr. Gladstone, very funny at the expense of the Radicals, and very