rain. He did not temporise. He did not leave a way
of retreat open for the Prime Minister, who would probably wind up the
debate. He fought with skill, but he fought without gloves, and the
House needed gentle handling. He had the gift of effective speech to a
rare degree, and when he liked he could be insinuating and witty, but he
had not genuine humour or good feeling, and the House knew it. In debate
he was biting, resourceful, and unscrupulous. He made the fatal mistake
of thinking that intellect and gifts of fence, followed by a brilliant
peroration, in which he treated the commonplaces of experienced minds
as though they were new discoveries and he was their Columbus, could
accomplish anything. He had never had a political crisis, but one had
come now.

In his reply he first resorted to arguments of high politics,
historical, informative, and, in a sense, commanding; indeed, the House
became restless under what seemed a piece of intellectual dragooning.
Signs of impatience appeared on his own side, and, when he ventured on a
solemn warning about hampering ministers who alone knew the difficulties
of diplomacy and the danger of wounding the susceptibilities of foreign
and friendly countries, the silence was broken by a voice that said
sneeringly, "The kid-glove Government!"

Then he began to lose place with the Chamber. He was conscious of it,
and shifted his ground, pointing out the dangers of doing what the other
nations interested in Egypt were not prepared to do.

"Have you asked them? Have you pressed them?" was shouted across the
House. Eglington ignored the interjections. "Answer! Answer!" was called
out angrily, but he shrugged a shoulder and continued his argument. If
a man insisted on using a flying-machine before the principle was fully
mastered and applied--if it could be mastered and applied--it must not
be surprising if he was killed. Amateurs sometimes took preposterous
risks without the advice of the experts. If Claridge Pasha had asked
the advice of the English Government, or of any of the Chancellories of
Europe, as to his incursions into the Soudan and his premature attempts
at reform, he would have received expert advice that civilisation had
not advanced to that stage in this portion of the world which would
warrant his experiments. It was all very well for one man to run
vast risks and attempt quixotic enterprises, but neither he nor his
countrymen had any right to expect Europe to embroil i