, he retired from the hall, as
did the audience, and the speaking for the day, and the joint
discussion for the campaign, were closed.

III
AGAIN IN CONGRESS

CHANGES IN THE PERSONNEL OF THE HOUSE CONTRASTED WITH THOSE IN THE
BRITISH HOUSE OF COMMONS--LEVI P. MORTON--MR. COVERT AND MR. SHELLEY
--GEN. JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON--TWO NOTABLE SPEECHES BY JAMES A. McKENZIE
--JOHN E. KENNA--BENJAMIN BUTTERWORTH--MR. KEIFER OF OHIO--MR.
CARLISLE OF KENTUCKY--SPEAKER REED--PRESIDENT McKINLEY--THE WRITER'S
SPEECH AT THE PEACE JUBILEE BANQUET, 1898.

After an absence of two years I was returned to the forty-sixth
Congress. Circumstances over which I had no control had prevented
my taking a seat in the intervening Congress, my successful competitor
being the Hon. Thomas F. Tipton. In politics, however, as in
other things, "the whirligig of time brings in his revenges," and I
was in turn the successful competitor of my late opponent in his
candidacy for re-election.

Meanwhile, many changes had occurred in the personnel of the House.
Many familiar names had been dropped from its roll. Of these, nine
had been transferred to that of the Senate, a former member was
now in the Cabinet, and Mr. Wheeler of New York was Vice-President.
A significant fact in this connection, and one illustrating the
uncertainty of the tenure by which place is held in that body, was
that more than one-third of those with whom I had so recently served
were now in private life. Possibly no feature of our governmental
system causes more astonishment to intelligent foreigners than the
many changes biennially occurring in the membership of the House
of Representatives. There is marked difference between the British
House of Commons, and the popular branch of the American Congress.
A seat lost in the latter--it may be by a single unfortunate
utterance, or unpopular vote--is usually a seat lost forever; while
in the former, membership may continue for an almost indefinite
period, and until an "appeal to the country" by the Ministry upon a
new and vital issue. If defeated by one constituency, the member of
Parliament may soon be returned by another, the question of residence
having no significance. In fact if possessing superior talents,
the member is liable to be chosen by two or more constituencies at
the same election, the choice then resting with himself as to which
he will represent. Such has been the experience of the most eminent
of British state