of constant change must therefore
be bound always to stand still and see his country perish from
stagnation. It might be that there were gentlemen in that House whose
timid natures could not face the dangers of any movement; but for
himself he would say that no word had ever fallen from his lips which
justified either his friends or his adversaries in classing him among
the number. If a man be anxious to keep his fire alight, does he
refuse to touch the sacred coals as in the course of nature they are
consumed? Or does he move them with the salutary poker and add fresh
fuel from the basket? They all knew that enemy to the comfort of the
domestic hearth, who could not keep his hands for a moment from the
fire-irons. Perhaps he might be justified if he said that they had
been very much troubled of late in that House by gentlemen who could
not keep their fingers from poker and tongs. But there had now fallen
upon them a trouble of a nature much more serious in its effects than
any that had come or could come from would-be reformers. A spirit of
personal ambition, a wretched thirst for office, a hankering after
the power and privileges of ruling, had not only actuated men,--as,
alas, had been the case since first the need for men to govern others
had arisen in the world,--but had been openly avowed and put forward
as an adequate and sufficient reason for opposing a measure in
disapprobation of which no single argument had been used! The right
honourable gentleman's proposition to the House had been simply
this;--'I shall oppose this measure, be it good or bad, because I
desire, myself, to be Prime Minister, and I call upon those whom I
lead in politics to assist me in doing so, in order that they may
share the good things on which we may thus be enabled to lay our
hands!'"

Then there arose a great row in the House, and there seemed to be a
doubt whether the still existing Minister of the day would be allowed
to continue his statement. Mr. Gresham rose to his feet, but sat down
again instantly, without having spoken a word that was audible. Two
or three voices were heard calling upon the Speaker for protection.
It was, however, asserted afterwards that nothing had been said
which demanded the Speaker's interference. But all moderate voices
were soon lost in the enraged clamour of members on each side. The
insolence showered upon those who generally supported Mr. Daubeny had
equalled that with which he had exasperated thos