as still
compactly surrounded by friends who would not leave him, and by foes (of
all parties) who could not; and all hung enchanted and wondering upon
his words, and all testified their admiration with constant and cordial
outbursts of applause. Surely this was a triumph without precedent in
history.

During the twelve-hour effort friends brought to the orator three
glasses of wine, four cups of coffee, and one glass of beer--a most
stingy re-enforcement of his wasting tissues, but the hostile Chair
would permit no addition to it. But, no matter, the Chair could not beat
that man. He was a garrison holding a fort, and was not to be starved
out.

When he had been speaking eight hours his pulse was 72; when he had
spoken twelve, it was 100.

He finished his long speech in these terms, as nearly as a permissibly
free translation can convey them:

'I will now hasten to close my examination of the subject. I conceive
that we of the Left have made it clear to the honourable gentlemen
of the other side of the House that we are stirred by no intemperate
enthusiasm for this measure in its present shape....

'What we require, and shall fight for with all lawful weapons, is a
formal, comprehensive, and definitive solution and settlement of these
vexed matters. We desire the restoration of the earlier condition of
things; the cancellation of all this incapable Government's pernicious
trades with Hungary; and then--release from the sorry burden of the
Badeni ministry!

'I voice the hope--I know not if it will be fulfilled--I voice the deep
and sincere and patriotic hope that the committee into whose hands this
bill will eventually be committed will take its stand upon high ground,
and will return the Ausgleich-Provisorium to this House in a form which
shall make it the protector and promoter alike of the great interests
involved and of the honour of our fatherland.' After a pause, turning
towards the Government benches: 'But in any case, gentlemen of the
Majority, make sure of this: henceforth, as before, you find us at our
post. The Germans of Austria will neither surrender nor die!'

Then burst a storm of applause which rose and fell, rose and fell, burst
out again and again and again, explosion after explosion, hurricane
after hurricane, with no apparent promise of ever coming to an end; and
meantime the whole Left was surging and weltering about the champion,
all bent upon wringing his hand and congratulating him and g