words, "the special debt of gratitude that was due to
him for the immense public service he had performed in fostering and
keeping alive the great traditions of the House of Commons." The day after
that (March 1) was his last cabinet council, and a painful day it (M184)
was. The business of the speech and other matters were discussed as usual,
then came the end. In his report to the Queen--his last--he said:--

Looking forward to the likelihood that this might be the last
occasion on which Mr. Gladstone and his colleagues might meet in
the cabinet, Lord Kimberley and Sir William Harcourt on their own
part and on that of the ministers generally, used words
undeservedly kind of acknowledgment and farewell. Lord Kimberley
will pray your Majesty to appoint a council for Saturday, at as
early an hour as may be convenient.

Mr. Gladstone sat composed and still as marble, and the emotion of the
cabinet did not gain him for an instant. He followed the "words of
acknowledgment and farewell" in a little speech of four or five minutes,
his voice unbroken and serene, the tone low, grave, and steady. He was
glad to know that he had justification in the condition of his senses. He
was glad to think that notwithstanding difference upon a public question,
private friendships would remain unaltered and unimpaired. Then hardly
above a breath, but every accent heard, he said "God bless you all." He
rose slowly and went out of one door, while his colleagues with minds
oppressed filed out by the other. In his diary he enters--"A really moving
scene."

A little later in the afternoon he made his last speech in the House of
Commons. It was a vigorous assault upon the House of Lords. His mind had
changed since the day in September 1884 when he had declared to an
emissary from the court that he hated organic change in the House of
Lords, and would do much to avert that mischief.(306) Circumstances had
now altered the case; we had come to a more acute stage. Were they to
accept the changes made by the Lords in the bill for parish councils, or
were they to drop it? The question, he said, is whether the work of the
House of Lords is not merely to modify, but to annihilate the whole work
of the House of Commons, work which has been performed at an amount of
sacrifice--of time, of labour, of convenience, and perhaps of health--but at
any rate an amount of sacrifice totally unknown to the House of Lords. The
governme