go very far--very far
indeed.

[Sidenote: Wearisome Wallace wit.]

Then there was the interval of the dinner-hour--wound up with a speech
from Mr. Wallace. The iniquity of the abandonment of the In-and-Out
clause of the Bill was again the burden of his theme. He brought to the
subject the same quaint, rich, but somewhat elaborate humour which made
the success of his previous speech; and the Tories were more than
delighted with some telling hits which he gave to Mr. Gladstone for the
change of front. But Mr. Wallace made two mistakes. It is not given to
any man to make a success twice over on the same theme; and he spoke at
much too great a length. In the end he somewhat wearied the House, and
altogether the second speech was not equal to the first, though it had a
great deal of ability in it, and _The Sun_ was obliged next day to
acknowledge with gratitude the great gratuitous advertisement which it
received by numerous quotations from its columns.

[Sidenote: Balfour at a disadvantage.]

It was half-past ten o'clock when Mr. Balfour rose. By this time the
heat, which had set in with quite tropical fervour, became almost
overpowering, and the House, which began by being tired, had become
almost exhausted. It was under these depressing circumstances that the
Leader of the Opposition started on what must have been to him something
of a corvee, and for a considerable time--although the speech was not
wanting in some very telling hits and bright sayings--he laboured very
heavily; he could not arouse the enthusiasm even of his own followers,
and was thus wire-drawn and ineffective.

[Sidenote: Honest John in fighting form.]

If Mr. Balfour was at his worst, Mr. Morley was at his best. The speech
which he delivered at Newcastle, during the previous week, placed Mr.
Morley definitely in the very front rank of platform orators. After his
speech of September 1st, he made a distinct and great advance in his
position as a Parliamentary debater. His great defect as a speaker has
been a certain want of nimbleness and readiness. He has infinitely wider
and larger resources than Mr. Chamberlain, who, nevertheless, excels in
the alertness which is often the accompaniment of shallowness. On this
occasion Mr. Morley was rapid, prompt, crushing. As thus: Mr. Balfour
had spoken of the people who denounced Dublin Castle as "third-rate
politicians." "Who is the third-rate politician?" asked Mr. Morley,
looking towards Mr. Chamberlain-