Thus in the present instance two nights'
animated conversation upon Turkey and
Russia, the Delays of Government, the
French Alliance, the Sinope Massacre, the
Preparations for War, was all supposed to be
bearing upon the question that "the Speaker
do now leave the chair."

By this ingenious device the House of
Commons contrives to ventilate a subject by
discussion, and yet not to compromise itself
by any overt resolution.

And so with regard to the Speaker's leaving
the chair. Mr. Layard is of opinion that
Government should have made the Russian
occupation of the Principalities a casus belli.
Sir James Graham looks at the question of
the right honourable gentleman's being
allowed to go to dinner in quite a different
light;he maintains that Government put
themselves in the best possible position by
strengthening their continental alliances, and
at last preparing to strike a blow all the
more terrible for the long forbearance which
preceded it.

About half-past ten, however, matters begin
to mend. It is known that Lord Dudley
Stuart must be nearly "down." Members
who have been dining come flocking back;
it is evident that no small man will obtain
a hearing to-night.

At last Lord Dudley Stuart is "down."
Several members rise, but there is a general
call for one of them—Roebuck!In a few
sensible manly words he calls upon Government
for information—upon the House and
the country to act with united vigour, and
sits down amidst that repeated "Hear, hear,
hear, hear!" which, uttered in a rapidly
increasing key, constitutes the "Loud cheers"
which relieve our eye in the long debate-
columns of the Times. Then the Speaker,
catching the eye of the Leader of the House,
calls upon "Lord John Russell!" and Lord
John being thus in undisputed possession of
his audience, the Speaker himself takes a
short practical cut to the solution of the
question which has been so long occupying
the legislators, and leaves the House—which,
ipso facto, ceases to be a House. Great joy
to the strangers!They and the Speaker
alone have been obliged to sit without
moving since four o'clock, and it is now
eleven. They rise, stretch themselves, yawn,
talk, and put themselves into all those
contraband but comfortable attitudes, which,
upon the Speaker's return, will instantly
become high treason, and excite the ready
ire of the messengers, who are now looking
on with a grim permission.

In about ten minutes the Speaker returns,
and taking the chair, exclaims "Order,
order!" Everybody forthwith becomes
orderly;dead silence prevails, and all eyes are
turned towards the Treasury bench, where
Lord John Russell is not to be seen. In a
minute, however, he comes hastily in from
behind the chair, with an orange in his hand;
it is clear that he has been to the refreshment
rooms to arm himself for the coming effort;
he sits down for a moment, takes a suck at
his orange, deposits it upon the table before
him, and then rises amidst intense silence to
express his opinion upon the Speaker's
leaving the chair. And really his sentiments
upon this question are very remarkable
indeed. With his arms folded, with a stern
countenance, with an air of real dignity which
makes him (as it made another great little
man, though no senator) "six feet high," the
most important Minister of the Crown, in
a clear manly tone, repeatedly cheered on by
the hearty, and, for the time, unanimous
concurrence of the House of Commons, in
language of no unbecoming exultation, but
of regretful serious uncompromising firmness,
declares the rupture of the great European
peace; with just severity denounces the
Emperor of Russia as the wanton disturber
of that peace; with wisdom well worthy
of a statesman, exhorts the country to count
well the cost of the coming struggle; and
with an animating patriotism, the sincerity
of which no honest man can for a moment
doubt, professes his readiness to bear his own
share of the common burden. In short, he
makes a fine speech in the best sense of the
word, and I love and honor him!

It was now past midnight:the House could
not yet make up its mind to let the Speaker
go, so the Debate was adjourned. I went
down stairs and found my poor friend Green
bewailing his destiny in the Lobby. After
sitting out Lord Dudley Stuart, he had
suddenly recollected that he had not dined.
What could be easier than to step down into
the refreshment-room—recruit nature—and
then come up again? What slow fellows
we must have been not to think of it.
Poor Green! No opposition was made to his
departure: the occupants of the gallery
squared their elbows with great ease; the
janitor let him down as readily as a spider
admits a fly into his web; but when Green
tried to go up again into the gallery, he
discovered too late the regulation adhered to
with rigid strictness by the delighted
doorkeeper, that a stranger who vacates his seat
forfeits it. So he had heard Lord Dudley
Stuart and missed Lord John Russell.

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