[Sidenote:  An awkward situation.]

It was curious to watch the House of Commons during this debate.  There is no doubt that a very awkward situation was before that assembly.  On the one hand, there were the interests of the country—­as they are understood by the Tory party; on the other, there was a very difficult party situation—­a situation difficult enough to tempt even the most patriotic, self-denying, and impartial Tory to gaze on the Liberal leaders opposite with a certain amount of mischievous curiosity.  How was Mr. Gladstone going to make a speech which would fulfil those extremely diverse purposes?  First, leave the door open for a continued stay for some time longer, and at the same moment for final evacuation; secondly, please Sir Wm. Harcourt on the one side, and Lord Rosebery on the other; thirdly, keep together a party which ranges from the strong foreign policy of moderate men to the ultra-nonintervention of Mr. Labouchere.  Mr. Gladstone had, however, to do a good deal more than this.  For it was easy to see from the condition of the Tory seats, and especially from the attitude of the front Opposition Bench, that party instinct had suggested that this was just one of the occasions on which the Government might be put in a very tight place.  Let Mr. Gladstone say something which would satisfy Mr. Labouchere, and immediately Mr. Goschen would be down upon him—­the late Chancellor of the Exchequer had the air of a man who was thoroughly primed for damaging criticism and ardent attack—­with a philippic charging him with abandoning the most sacred interests of the country.  Indeed, it was quite evident that Mr. Gladstone had to face a very ugly little question, and that his political foes had come down in full force to enjoy the spectacle of a Christian flung to the lions.

[Sidenote:  A historic triumph.]

I cannot tell you how it was done—­I have read the speech in the Times report—­and I know that some people brought away from the speech no other impression than that it was delivered in a low tone of voice, and was not easily grasped; but the fact is, that judged by results this little speech, not much above half-an-hour in duration, was one of the most extraordinary triumphs of Mr. Gladstone’s long oratorical life.  What constitutes the greatest of all Parliamentary triumphs?  It is that without abandoning your own principles, you shall so state a case that even your bitterest political opponents will rest contented with, and be ready to accept, your speech as the expression of their views.  And this is just what occurred.  Mr. Goschen, I have said, came down to the House chock-full of attack—­I have, indeed, heard that he has confessed to having been prepared to make a speech of some length.  On the other side of the House there sat Labby—­full of that dogged, immutable Radicalism which will make no distinction between Liberal and Tory when his principles of foreign policy are at stake; and he was ready to pounce upon the