y above them
all,--he was a "man of the world;" and no one, either in Parliament or
out of it, knew so well when it was wrong to say "the right thing." But
let us resume our quotation:--

"For more than three hours did the House listen with breathless
attention to a narrative which in no parliamentary experience has been
surpassed for the lucid clearness of its details, the unbroken flow of
its relation. The orator up to this time had strictly devoted himself
to explanation; he now proceeded to what might be called reply. If
the House was charmed and instructed before, it was now positively
astonished and electrified by the overwhelming force of the speaker's
raillery and invective. Not satisfied with showing the evil consequences
that must ensue from any adoption of the measures recommended by the
Opposition, he proceeded to exhibit the insufficiency of views always
based upon false information.

"'We have been taunted,' said he, 'with the charge of fomenting discords
in foreign lands; we have been arraigned as disturbers of the world's
peace, and called the firebrands of Europe; we are exhibited as parading
the Continent with a more than Quixotic ardor, since we seek less the
redress of wrong than the opportunity to display our own powers
of interference,--that quality which the learned gentleman has
significantly stigmatized as a spirit of meddling impertinence,
offensive to the whole world of civilization. Let me tell him, sir, that
the very debate of this night has elicited, and from himself too, the
very outrages he has had the temerity to ascribe to us. His has been
this indiscriminate ardor, his this unjudging rashness, his this
meddling impertinence (I am but quoting, not inventing, a phrase),
by which, without accurate, without, indeed, any, information, he has
ventured to charge the Government with what no administration would
be guilty, of--a cool and deliberate violation of the national law of
Europe.

"'He has told you, sir, that in our eagerness to distinguish ourselves
as universal redressers of injury, we have "ferreted out"--I take his
own polished expression--the case of an obscure boy in an obscure corner
of Italy, converted a commonplace and very vulgar incident into a tale
of interest, and, by a series of artful devices and insinuations based
upon this narrative, a grave and insulting charge upon one of the
oldest of our allies. He has alleged that throughout the whole of those
proceedings we h