ere
is one consolation he did not mention. His absorption in the Bill and
the slight deafness in one of his ears do not allow him to perceive so
plainly the rude noises and interruptions by which he is often assailed
from the Tory Benches. Moreover, the native chivalry of his disposition,
the curious simplicity which has remained his central characteristic, in
spite of all the experiences of the baser side of human nature which
must have been crowded into all that half a century of official and
Parliamentary life--that unwillingness to see anything but deplorable
error in his most rancorous, meanest, and most malignant opponent--all
these things make it difficult for him to understand the ugly realities
whose serpent heads show themselves plainly to almost every other eye
but his.

There is a dispute among the authorities as to the incidents of that
Thursday night--some, even among those friendly to the Prime Minister,
declaring that there was nothing unusual in the interruptions of that
night. My own recollection is clear that there was a great deal of
noise, and that it was so bad that Mr. Chamberlain tried to explain it
away, and was careful to absolve himself and his friends from all
responsibility for it. In the general body of the Liberal party there is
no doubt whatsoever about that business. Liberal after Liberal came up
to me afterwards, in allusion to a few remarks I felt it my duty to
make, to declare their entire agreement with the view I had put
forward--that the description of the _Daily News_, though consciously
and obviously written in the vein of parody, was a fair and just
description of what had taken place. Sir Henry Roscoe is not an
excitable politician, though no man holds to the Liberal faith more
firmly. He was met on the following Sunday by a friend, and when asked
how he viewed the situation, declared that he was rather "low!" Why? he
was asked. Because his heart was saddened and enraged by the treatment
of the splendid Old Man by Mr. Chamberlain and the Tories. To a leading
Liberal Minister, two Tories privately declared that their pain and
shame and disgust with the conduct of their own side to Mr. Gladstone
was so profound, that they had to get up and leave the House to control
their feelings.

[Sidenote: A complex situation.]

When, therefore, Mr. Chamberlain came forward with his audacious
complaint, this was the curious situation: that the bulk of the Liberal
party, and many even of t