ngdoms, perhaps not to an easy, but to a
certain and to a not far distant victory."

(M58) A drama, as good critics tell us, is made not by words but by
situations. The same is the truth of the power of the orator. Here the
speaker's trope was a sounding battle-cry, not a phrase; it disclosed both
a cause and a man. For the hour neither man nor cause prospered. Neither
fervour nor force of argument prevailed against the fears and resentments
of the men of what Mr. Bright called the Cave of Adullam, "to which every
one was invited who was distressed, and every one who was discontented."
After eight nights of debate (April 27) Lord Grosvenor was beaten, and
ministers were saved--but only by the desperate figure of five. Some thirty
of the professed supporters of government voted against their leaders. A
scene of delirious triumph followed the announcement of the numbers, and
Mr. Lowe believed for the moment that he had really slain the horrid
Demogorgon. Two men knew much better--the leader of the House and the
leader of the opposition.

The cabinet, which was not without an imitation cave of its own, hesitated
for an hour or two, but the two chief men in it stood firm. Mr. Gladstone
was as resolute as Lord Russell, that this time nobody should say reform
was only being played with, and they both insisted on going on with the
bill. The chances were bad, for this was a Palmerstonian parliament, and
the Gladstonian hour had not yet struck. As an honourable leader among the
conservatives admitted, not one of the divisions against the bill was
taken in good faith. If Mr. Gladstone gave way, he was taunted with
cringing; if he stood his ground, it was called bullying; if he expressed
a desire to consult the views of the House, Mr. Disraeli held up ministers
to scorn as unhappy men without minds of their own. In introducing the
bill, says Mr. Gladstone, "I struggled with studious care to avoid every
word that could give offence." The only effect of this was to spread the
tale that he was not in earnest, and did not really care for the bill.
Such was the temper in which ministers were met. And the whole operation
was conducted upon the basis of a solemn, firm, and formal understanding
between the regular opposition and the cave men, that were it proposed to
reduce the ten pound qualification no lower than nine pounds nineteen
shillings and sixpence, even that change should be resisted.

Meanwhile, for the leader of the House ve