leman himself, to point to any
period of his career in which he had been unwilling to succumb to a
majority when he himself had belonged to the minority.

He himself would regard the vote on this occasion as a vote of want
of confidence. He took the line he was now taking because he desired
to bring the House to a decision on that question. He himself had not
that confidence in the right honourable gentleman which would justify
him in accepting a measure on so important a subject as the union or
severance of Church and State from his hands. Should the majority of
the House differ from him and support the second reading of the Bill,
he would at once so far succumb as to give his best attention to
the clauses of the bill, and endeavour with the assistance of those
gentlemen who acted with him to make it suitable to the wants of the
country by omissions and additions as the clauses should pass through
Committee. But before doing that he would ask the House to decide
with all its solemnity and all its weight whether it was willing to
accept from the hands of the right honourable gentleman any measure
of reform on a matter so important as this now before them. It was
nearly ten when he sat down; and then the stomach of the House could
stand it no longer, and an adjournment at once took place.

On the next morning it was generally considered that Mr. Daubeny had
been too long and Mr. Gresham too passionate. There were some who
declared that Mr. Gresham had never been finer than when he described
the privileges of the House of Commons; and others who thought that
Mr. Daubeny's lucidity had been marvellous; but in this case, as in
most others, the speeches of the day were generally thought to have
been very inferior to the great efforts of the past.

CHAPTER XXXIV

The Universe

Before the House met again, the quidnuncs about the clubs, on both
sides of the question, had determined that Mr. Gresham's speech,
whether good or not as an effort of oratory, would serve its intended
purpose. He would be backed by a majority of votes, and it might
have been very doubtful whether such would have been the case had
he attempted to throw out the Bill on its merits. Mr. Ratler, by
the time that prayers had been read, had become almost certain of
success. There were very few Liberals in the House who were not
anxious to declare by their votes that they had no confidence in Mr.
Daubeny. Mr. Turnbull, the great Radical, and, per