themselves in the public judgment with astounding rapidity,
and were now almost as strong in popular and parliamentary support as when
they first took office.(56) Another tory print declared Mr. Gladstone to
be stronger, more popular, more despotic, than at any time since the
policy to carry out which he was placed in office was disclosed.(57) The
session of 1882 had only been exceeded in duration by two sessions for
fifty years.

The reader has had pictures enough from friendly hands, so here is one
from a persistent foe, one of the most brilliant journalists of that time,
who listened to him from (M35) the gallery for years. The words are from
an imaginary dialogue, and are put into the mouth of a well-known whig in
parliament:--

Sir, I can only tell you that, profoundly as I distrusted him, and
lightly as on the whole I valued the external qualities of his
eloquence, I have never listened to him even for a few minutes
without ceasing to marvel at his influence over men. That
white-hot face, stern as a Covenanter's yet mobile as a
comedian's; those restless, flashing eyes; that wondrous voice,
whose richness its northern burr enriched as the tang of the wood
brings out the mellowness of a rare old wine; the masterly cadence
of his elocution; the vivid energy of his attitudes; the fine
animation of his gestures;--sir, when I am assailed through eye and
ear by this compacted phalanx of assailants, what wonder that the
stormed outposts of the senses should spread the contagion of
their own surrender through the main encampment of the mind, and
that against my judgment, in contempt of my conscience, nay, in
defiance of my very will, I should exclaim, "This is indeed the
voice of truth and wisdom. This man is honest and sagacious beyond
his fellows. He must be believed, he must be obeyed!"(58)

On the day of his political jubilee (Dec. 13), the event was celebrated in
many parts of the country, and he received congratulatory telegrams from
all parts of the world; for it was not only two hundred and forty liberal
associations who sent him joyful addresses. The Roumelians poured out
aloud their gratitude to him for the interest he constantly manifested in
their cause, and for his powerful and persistent efforts for their
emancipation. From Athens came the news that they had subscribed for the
erection of his statue, and from the Greeks also came a sp