71, when there was a great struggle
between him and Disraeli over the Parliamentary and Municipal
Elections Bill. I visited the House with Thomas Hughes, to
whom I was indebted for much courtesy while in London, and
had a seat on the floor just below the gallery, where a few
strangers are, or were then, admitted by special card from
the Speaker.

Bernal Osborne, Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, Sir Stafford Northcote,
Gladstone, and Disraeli took part in the debate. The bill
was introduced by Mr. Gladstone's Government. The question
that night was on a motion to strike out the provision for
the secret ballot; so the opponents of the Government had
to close in support of the motion. The report of Hansard
purports to be in the first person. But I can testify from
memory that it is by no means verbally accurate. I have no
doubt the speeches were taken down in short-hand. The phonetic
system was then used. But the report seems to be about like
those which our good short-hand reporters used to make before
that invention. The speeches are well worth studying by a
person who wishes to get an idea of the intellectual and literary
quality of these champions. There is no great passage in
any one of them. But the capacity and quality of power appear
distinctly. Osborne was full of a shrewd and delightful wit,
without the vitriolic flavor which often appears in the sarcasm
of Disraeli. Gladstone showed his power of elevating the
discussion to a lofty plane, which his opponent never reached,
although Disraeli launched at him many a keen shaft from
below. Mr. Hughes sat by me most of the night, and occasionally
brought and introduced to me some eminent person whom he thought
I would like to know.

The members of our National House of Representatives, however
turbulent or disorderly, never would submit to the fashion
of treating a speaker whom they do not want to hear which
prevails in the House of Commons. When Mr. Gladstone got
through, the night was far spent, and the House evidently
wanted to hear Disraeli, then vote and go home. Mr. Plunket,
a member for the University of Dublin, who seemed an intelligent
and sensible man, rose, wishing to correct a statement of
Mr. Gladstone's, which he thought had done him an injustice.
Disraeli rose about the same time, but bowed and gave way.
The House did not like it. Poor Plunket's voice was drowned
in the storm of shouts--"Sit down. Sit down. Dizzy, Dizzy,"
in which my fr