of my most interesting studies. The
events of February, 1885, were still present to my memory, though the
Councillor for Battersea had probably forgotten them. The change which
four years had wrought was extraordinary. He spoke constantly and
effectively, but always with moderation, good feeling, and common sense.
At the same time, he maintained a breezy independence, and, when he
thought that the Chair ought to be defied, defied it. This was awkward,
for the Chairman had no disciplinary powers, and there was no executive
force to compel submission to his rulings. As far as I could observe,
Mr. Burns never gave way, and yet he soon ceased to enter into conflict
with the Chair. What was the influence which tamed him? I often
wondered, but never knew.

The Council had got itself duly divided into Committees, and it was
noticeable that there was an enormous rush of Councillors anxious to
serve on the Housing Committee. The "Bitter Cry of Outcast London" had
not been raised in vain, and every man in the Council seemed anxious to
bear his part in the work of redressing an intolerable wrong. The weekly
Session of the Council was fixed for Tuesday afternoon, to the disgust
of some Progressives who hankered after the more democratic hour of 7
p.m. The main part of the business was the discussion of the Reports
brought up from the various Committees, and, when those were disposed
of, abstract motions could be debated. Some earnest Liberals were always
trying to raise such questions as Home Rule, Land Law, Enfranchisement
of Leaseholds, and other matters which lay outside the purview of the
Council; and it was delightful to see Lord Rosebery damping down these
irregular enthusiasms, and reminding his hearers of the limits which
Parliament had set to their activities. Those limits were, in all
conscience, wide enough, and included in their scope Housing, Asylums,
Bridges, Fire-Brigades, Highways, Reformatory Schools, Main Drainage,
Parks, Theatres, and Music-Halls, besides the complicated system of
finance by which all our practice was regulated. The Committees dealing
with these subjects, and several others of less importance, were manned
by able, zealous, and conscientious servants of the public, who gave
ungrudgingly of their time (which in many cases was also money),
thought, and labour. The Council as a whole displayed a voracious
appetite for work, and rendered, without fee or reward, a service to
Greater London which no mo