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SPEECH-FRIGHT IN THE
HOUSE OF COMMONS.
THE ,MOST.CHILLING, AUDIENCE
'; IN THE WORLD. .. :
S'". D.izzy -is ,the swetcst-t cmptered ,of
*men,.' the great State-man's .wile
used, to say, " but he is always; irrit
able .when he is going.to spe -'rat
Westminster.' . .. ..,..i
, Burke pleaded guilty tlothe esame
"horrible nervoiusiess,"' and- C n
ning d:clared that he 'never rose-to
speak at Westminster" withoat a
chill running through hiim, aid aan al
most uncontrollable impulse to run
away ";' while Lord Macaulay wrote,
" I das' surprised' to heir Stanley
say that he nerer rose without great
uneasiness. ' My throat and lips,'
he said, * when I am going to speak,
are as dry as those of a man who is
going to l-c hanged. "
As for Macaulay himself, lborn ora
tor and man of iron nerves as he
seemed to be, he declared " there is
no more terrible audience in the
world than the House of Commons..
A place where Walpole s cceeded and
Addison failed; where Erskine anil
Scarlett were dinner-bells ; where
Lawrence and Jekyll, thie wo wit
tiest men of their time, were
thought bores, is surely a very
strange place. It is certainly the
most nerve-trying place in the world
in which to speak."
Even Gladstone, after fifty years of
experience such as probably no other
Statesman has ever had, almitted
that the House of Comrmons always
made him as nervous as whln.lhe
first addressed it. "Ever' great
orator from Demonthun:s.,to, Uerke,"
he once said, " has. suffered from. ner
vousness on the eve.of ,an. inp3rtant
specch; and although I c:nnot claim
to, share their gift of golden. sp'ech,
I can claim more than a. fair hare of
their defect of -nerves.", .; -.;. :
Occa-ionally, however, a Mmber
has been.able to turn such a tiilure
into success by a happy ncciJ nt or
inspiration. . When Steele was once
attacked vlrupently in Parliament,
'his )oung friend, Lord Finch, rose
gallantly to defend him. To his dis
may, however, he found he could not
apeak a word. Memory and suebch
had ali''e failed him. After uttering
a few incoherent sounds he sat d wn
in !di:c.jm imture exclnairin:m . " I I.
strange that I cannot spta' for this
man when I would so readily fight
for him."
This chivalrous outburst made such
an appeal to the House that volley
of cheers broke , out; and, thus en
couraged, the young chba-plon rose
again to his feet, to make the most
eloquent and successful spe:ch of his
life,
When Lord Ashley once rose in
support of a Bill to allow legal as
sistance to prisoners charged with
high treason, he was struck with a
similar dumbness. Although the
House cieered sympathetically his (t
forts to begin his speech, not a word
would pass his parched and quiver
ing lips. At last, abandoning the
ittempt in despair, he exclaimed, as
he prerarcd to resume his seat, " If,
sir, I who now rose only to give my
opinion on the Bill now pending am
so confounded that I am unable to
express the least of what I proposed
to say, what must be the condition
of that- man who, without any as
sistance, is pleading for his life, and
is apprehensive of being deprived of
it ?" This single sentence, the fruit
of a happy inspiration, was greeted
with thunders of cheers, and proved
more effective than an hour of faqlt
less oratory.
A better-known story of a Parlia
mentary fiasco is perhaps that of
Joseph Addison, , who opened his
maiden speech with the. words, " Mr.
Speaker, I conceive." Here he came
to a full stop, only to beinu again
in a louder tone .as if to stimulate his
courage, "I conceive, Mr.: Speaker."
Again came a horrible pause, broken
by ironical cheers. ".Sir, I con
ceive," he resumed-this time in a
still louder voice; whereupon. the
House burst into such shrieks of
laughter that Addison in disgust
plumped down in his seat. When the
laughter had subsided, a waggish
Member rose, and with a solemn f?ce
and grave voice, said, " Sir, the
honourqble 'Manber has conceived
three time s nd brought forth no
WSK." ^yz* ^ ^^ *^^*,'^t't
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