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.
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