cause was already lost. That which would have disheartened
and disarmed other men, seemed only to animate him with all Macbeth's
wild courage of despair. Never did his gift of satire, of invective, and
of epithet show to more splendid effect than in the speech with which he
closed his part of the debate, and mercilessly assailed his opponents.
Mr. Disraeli sat down at two o'clock in the morning, and then Mr.
Gladstone rose to reply to him. Most men in the House, even on the
opposition side, were filled with the belief that it would be impossible
to make any real impression on the House after such a speech as that of
Mr. Disraeli. Long before Mr. Gladstone had concluded, everyone admitted
that the effect of Mr. Disraeli's speech had been outdone and outshone.
From that hour Mr. Gladstone was recognized as one of the great historic
orators of the English Parliament--a man to rank with Bolingbroke and
Chatham and Pitt and Fox. With that speech began the long parliamentary
duel between these two great masters of debate, Mr. Gladstone and Mr.
Disraeli, which was carried on for four and twenty years.

On the fall of the short-lived Tory administration, Lord Aberdeen came
into office. He formed the famous Coalition Ministry. Lord Palmerston
took what most people would have thought the uncongenial office of Home
Secretary. Lord John Russell became Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Mr.
Gladstone, who with others of the "Peelites," as they were called, had
joined the new administration, was Chancellor of the Exchequer. His
speech on the introduction of his first budget was waited for with great
expectation, but it distanced all expectation. It occupied several hours
in delivery, but none of those who listened to it would have wished it
to be shortened by a sentence. It may be questioned whether even the
younger Pitt, with all his magic of voice, and style, and phrase, could
lend such charm to each successive budget as Mr. Gladstone was able to
do. A budget speech from Mr. Gladstone came to be expected with the
same kind of keen, artistic longing as waits the first performance of a
new opera by some great composer. A budget speech by Mr. Gladstone was a
triumph in the realm of the fine arts.

The Crimean War broke up the Coalition Ministry; but the year 1859 saw
Lord Palmerston back again in office, and Mr. Gladstone in his old place
as Chancellor of the Exchequer. The budget of 1860 was remarkable, as it
contained the provisions for