Wolf burst out again with a motion to adjourn.  Refused by the Chair.  Wolf said the whole Parliament wasn’t worth a pinch of powder.  The Chair retorted that that was true in a case where a single member was able to make all parliamentary business impossible.  Dr. Lecher continued his speech.

The members of the Majority went out by detachments from time to time and took naps upon sofas in the reception-rooms; and also refreshed themselves with food and drink—­in quantities nearly unbelievable—­but the Minority stayed loyally by their champion.  Some distinguished deputies of the Majority stayed by him too, compelled thereto by admiration of his great performance.  When a man has been speaking eight hours, is it conceivable that he can still be interesting, still fascinating?  When Dr. Lecher had been speaking eight hours he was still compactly surrounded by friends who would not leave him, and by foes (of all parties) who could not; and all hung enchanted and wondering upon his words, and all testified their admiration with constant and cordial outbursts of applause.  Surely this was a triumph without precedent in history.

During the twelve-hour effort friends brought to the orator three glasses of wine, four cups of coffee, and one glass of beer—­a most stingy re-enforcement of his wasting tissues, but the hostile Chair would permit no addition to it.  But, no matter, the Chair could not beat that man.  He was a garrison holding a fort, and was not to be starved out.

When he had been speaking eight hours his pulse was 72; when he had spoken twelve, it was 100.

He finished his long speech in these terms, as nearly as a permissibly free translation can convey them: 

’I will now hasten to close my examination of the subject.  I conceive that we of the Left have made it clear to the honourable gentlemen of the other side of the House that we are stirred by no intemperate enthusiasm for this measure in its present shape....

’What we require, and shall fight for with all lawful weapons, is a formal, comprehensive, and definitive solution and settlement of these vexed matters.  We desire the restoration of the earlier condition of things; the cancellation of all this incapable Government’s pernicious trades with Hungary; and then—­release from the sorry burden of the Badeni ministry!

’I voice the hope—­I know not if it will be fulfilled—­I voice the deep and sincere and patriotic hope that the committee into whose hands this bill will eventually be committed will take its stand upon high ground, and will return the Ausgleich-Provisorium to this House in a form which shall make it the protector and promoter alike of the great interests involved and of the honour of our fatherland.’  After a pause, turning towards the Government benches:  ’But in any case, gentlemen of the Majority, make sure of this:  henceforth, as before, you find us at our post.  The Germans of Austria will neither surrender nor die!’