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thing in oratorical ease and power, although he has yet to shew that he possesses the resources and genius of his predecessor. Sir Charles Wood next starts up to defend the Admiralty. He would do so more effectively if he had not unfortunately selected a turkey-cock as his model of oratorical delivery. The result is, that instead of facts and figures, a sound as of gobble-gobble" reaches your ears, and you wonder whether the Speaker can make out what Sir Charles is saying. Mr. Labouchere, the new Colonial Minister, is an amiable and accomplished man; and so is Mr. Vernon Smith, the Minister for India, as the occupant of his office will some day be called. Mr. Labouchere is believed by those who know him best, to have in him the stuff out of which a good and effective debater may be made. His failing is an excessive tendency to impressiveness, which he would be as apt to resort to upon the dismissal of a policeman as the revolt of a colony. Mr. Vernon Smith, the gentlemanly and art-loving, not innocent of white kid gloves and a neat patent-leather boot, but whose hands will never be soiled by an Indian job, and who is earning golden opinions. for the pure and conscientious distribution of his Indian patronage,Mr. V. Smith, we say, has lost his bête noir in Mr. Bright, who used to bully him dreadfully upon Indian finance and administration, especially at the end of the session. Mr. Baines, with the voice of a very fat man, the frame of a tall and portly one, and manners at once dignified and affable;-Mr. Bouverie and Lord Duncan, peers' sons, who would have escaped the lanterne of the French Revolution by assuming plebeian disguise ;-Robert Lowe, the white-headed, well up in the American law of partnership and limited liability, and speculating upon the chances of his bills, with rueful reminiscences of past disasters;-Sir Benjamin Hall, with spectacles heavily charged with green, and a preciseness and positiveness of expression that betoken a minister who has a will of his own, and who feels that he is "the right man in the right place;"—Mr. W. F. Cowper, beloved of Exeter-hall, and as like Lord Palmerston as Lord Stanley is like the Earl of Derby ;-Sir R. Bethell, stout, bald, and placid, with speech more affected than any other man in the House, but the first Chancery lawyer of his day, and no unimportant member of the administration during a session in which measures of law reform will probably occupy an unusual share of attention;-Mr. Wilson, not prepossessing in countenance, but industrious, explanatory, and not unambitious; who has just refused a permanent post of £2,000 a-year, which would have withdrawn him from Parliament, and who bides his time;"-Mr. F. Peel, the sonorous and "exemplary defender of all the institutions of the country, good, bad, and indifferent;"-Mr. Massey, the mild-looking and not too vigorous-thinking Under-Secretary of Home affairs;-these, with a Lord of the Admiralty, and a Lord of the Treasury, sit as closely packed upon the Treasury-bench as slaves in the middle passage. Two or three subordinate members of the government seldom affect the Treasury-bench. Mr. Hayter, for example, finds it convenient now and then to drop into a seat beside some refractory adherent who wants a little talking over, or whose application in the matter of that paltry place under Government for some distant friend or teasing constituent has not been attended to. Upon such occasions, the admirers of the Patronage-Secretary pretend to discover a fine Mephistophilean expression in the pleasant smile that is habitual to his features. Sir Robert Peel is another knight-errant, who may be seen in every corner of the House except the ministerial bench, and the front bench below the gangway, where "old Charley" is usually to be found. Mr.

Bernal Osborne, once the bold of speech, but now seldom called upon to address the House, is another of the wanderers, who is not always to be found, even when he is wanted at a division. Behind the Treasury-bench are the rank and file of the ministerial party,-steady old Whig country gentlemen, and the representatives of manufacturing towns and large constituencies.-Mr. Hume was something more than a cheese-paring reformer. He latterly took rank as a statesman, although perhaps one of contracted ken; and something therefore ought to be done to rescue his memory from the slight put upon it by Mr. William Williams, the member for Lambeth, who sees danger in the Queen's visits to the officers' theatre at Aldershot, and who has had the pretension to usurp Mr. Hume's seat as his lawful and natural successor in the House of Commons.-Upon the third bench may be seen a little man of slender physique, with hat over his brows, and each hand grasping the elbow of the other arm, in an attitude which will be handed down among the traditions of Woburn. Lord John has no doubt been well primed by the Italian patriots, and will probably give notice of a motion on the condition of the countries beyond the Alps, unless he should previously join Lord Palmerston's ministry. Near him are Sir F. T. Baring, Mr. E. Ellice, sen., Mr. J. E. Denison, and other Whigs and exministers who give a steady support to Lord Palmerston, and from whose ranks the Premier, not ungrateful, occasionally draws a minister, when he

wants one.

If we look beyond the gangway on the ministerial side, we shall find a swarm of celebrities. The "gangway," as some of our readers may not object to be reminded, is that narrow passage below the Treasury-bench, through which members walk to take their seats in the second, third, and fourth benches behind. Members who sit below the gangway are not considered ministerial adherents, although in the main they sympathise with the government upon the great principles of their policy. The first seat, which used to be filled by the venerated and beloved Sir R. H. Inglis, is now usually occupied by Mr. Henry Drummond, the eccentric but clever and amusing member for West Surrey, whose bald head, prominent forehead, and intellectual expression always attract the attention of strangers. Mr. Roebuck, who walks into the house with a tottering step, leaning upon a thick stick, usually sits next to Mr. Drummond. Beyond them, Mr. Layard's fine features, indicative of eloquence and enthusiasm, eagerness and impetuosity, are thrust forward; and next to him are Sir De Lacy Evans, Mr. Bowyer, the organ of the Papacy in the House of Commons, Mr. Walter, of the "Times," Lord Goderich, Sir Joseph Paxton, and one or two others.

Behind them, on the second bench below the gangway, sit the men who during the late war exercised an influence in the House of Commons so singularly disproportioned to their numbers, and who possess more debating power, perhaps, than either the ministry or the opposition, singly. Sir James Graham, the experienced administrator, the friend of Peel, the minister of many governments, the elected of many constituencies, the veteran debater-is the leader of this formidable little phalanx. Next him sits Mr. Gladstone, most persuasive of orators, whose broad brow and deep-set, piercing eyes, betray the fire, capacity, and intellectual resources which make him, perhaps, the most remarkable member of the House of Commons. Mr. Sidney Herbert, rich, well-meaning, and a general favourite, but cursed with the gift of fluency;-Mr. Cardwell, who tabulates his opinions with great force and clearness, but who looks down upon his

audience from rather too lofty a height of superiority;-Mr. Roundell Palmer, who, with great ingenuity and much legal lore, has been brought up in the same vicious school of oratory as Mr. S. Herbert and the Duke of Newcastle, and speaks as if he were talking for a wager-fill the next seats of the Peelite bench. They are generals without an army, but men of such power if not daring, that they seem equal in their own persons to storm a camp and seize the spoil. Next to them come the Manchester school of politicians:-Mr. Cobden, still languid and weak, and Milner Gibson, vivacious and intelligent, with a sly, insinuating manner when he has a point to gain against a minister. Mr. Bright's burly form and Anglo-Saxon sturdiness will be seriously missed in this little group-the more so, that he will probably represent Manchester no more, and may never return to share in that political excitement which he loved too well. Behind this bench are seated the Nonconformists :-George Hadfield, whose grating voice, resembling the sharpening of a Sheffield saw, is never wearied of proclaiming that there is one member of that house who is indubitably right upon all manner of subjects-Edward Miall, the editor of the Nonconformist," who will never win converts by any outward signs that his creed, whether political or religious, is pleasant and genial ;—W. J. Fox, who would stoutly repudiate the narrowness of creed of the party in whose company he finds himself, and whose speeches and writings in the cause of education must be mentioned with respect;-Alderman Challis, Apsley Pellatt, &c., &c. The awful countenance of Mr. Muntz, "bearded like the pard," may usually be seen on this bench; and near him Mr. Montague Chambers, Sir Joshua Walmsley, Mr. L. Heyworth, Mr. Fagan, and an Irish member or two.

We must now direct our glance to the opposite side of the House, and see whom we can recognise on the left of the Speaker's chair. A compact and thickly serried mass are "her Majesty's Opposition"-the squirearchy of the United Kingdom, the representatives of broad acres, owners of parks, fertile meads, breezy uplands, pleasant vales, and country mansions; great in quarter sessions, the terror of poachers, dispensers of law and justice in country villages; who have left off being a factious opposition, if they ever were open to that imputation, and are now as gentlemanly, moderate, and well-behaved a body of men as Lord Palmerston could desire to see opposite to him. They have by no means, at present, the sour look of disappointed place-hunters. They are not dissatisfied with the price of wheat and fat cattle, and probably think that Lord Palmerston is as Conservative a minister as they could expect to receive from the other side of the House. The central figure on the front bench opposite to the ministry is easily recognised. Not a curl has been sacrificed in deference to the exaggeration of the caricaturist. The eye is as bright as ever, but the once animated features have been toned down to the passivity becoming the leader of a party. It would never do for a leader of opposition to "wear his heart upon his sleeve for daws to peck at," and the ministerial orator can never detect by any emotion or change of expression, the conception of the witty repartee or the stinging sarcasm that will turn the tables upon him, and elicit a roar of laughter at his expense. Mr. Disraeli is no longer

"The wondrous boy That wrote Alroy,"

but a grave and thoughtful politician, who has rescued his party from the imputation that they were opposed to all reform and improvement, and GENT. MAG. VOL. XLVII.

E

whose influence is wisely exercised in preventing his followers from adopting mischievous and reactionary party cries. The leader of the country party is not inattentive to dress, does not eschew fancy waistcoats, and during the progress of debate has to look down for so many hours upon his trowsers and boots, that he likes to see them well cut and symmetrical. The candid observer who regards the other chiefs of opposition-Pakington, Henley, Walpole, Napier, Fitzroy Kelly, and Thesiger-may haply rejoice, whatever his politics, that these men have been called to her Majesty's councils, since he may trace the influence of the responsibilities of office in a more largely-developed conscientiousness, a more enlightened patriotism, and a more candid appreciation of the difficulties of government. Some very small Ministerialist may, perhaps, in the course of the debate, taunt the opposition with the differences existing among their leaders on the subject of national education; but who thinks the worse of either Sir John Pakington or Mr. Henley, because they avow different opinions on this momentous subject? Mr. Henley's speeches have evinced a practical good sense and knowledge of human nature which have won the applause of those who differ from him in the conclusions to which he has arrived. Sir John Pakington has been usefully employed in collecting evidence to shew the need of education among the lower classes, and has shewn so much liberality and superiority to the prejudices of his caste, that he is at the present moment the most popular member of the opposition among the gentlemen on the right of the Speaker's chair. Sir John is clear and distinct as a speaker, and addresses the House with ease, self-possession, and all the advantages of a good elocution. Mr. Henley, with less polish and a somewhat abrupt manner, has a native shrewdness which secures a respectful attention for everything he says. Whether his faculty of perception is wide and extended may be matter for discussion, but the bee does not see more clearly whatever comes within the range of its vision. Mr. Walpole's highly educated intellect and courteous demeanour give him a leading place among the opposition chiefs, but he scarcely occupies so high a position in the favour of the House as his two neighbours. Two other prominent men on this bench may be seen holding their hands to their ears, to assist a sluggish aural nerve. One of these is the greatest novelist of the day, upon the model of whose heroes the middle-aged men of 1857 fashioned themselves in their youth, and who, as poet, politician, brilliant pamphleteer, satirist, has exercised an amount of political, literary, and social influence upon his time, which must be left to a future generation impartially to estimate. The features are still handsome, intellectual, and thorough-bred; but the frame is weak and languid, and the utterance often so thick and indistinct, that some of the keenest shafts escape the hearer, and only hit their mark in the newspapers of the following day. Next to Sir Bulwer Lytton is Mr. Napier, with whose infirmity every one also sympathises, and whose interest in political debate is as unmistakeable as his personal amiability. Near them are Mr. Whiteside, tall in person and formidable in debate, the only oratorical Irishman left in St. Stephen's, who requires a whole chapter to himself;-Augustus Stafford, handsome and genial, whose hearty laugh in conversation with his friends cannot make even the Speaker look grave, and who has amply redeemed, in fever-ship and cholera-hospital,. the youthful escapades of his secretariat of the Admiralty;-Baillie, of Inverness, a speaker not inferior to Cardwell in force and clearness, and who has no favour to ask of fate and destiny, except the air and temperament of a happy man; Lord Stanley, tall, and "more like his father than

his father himself," as somebody (doubtless an Irishman) averred;-Sir Fitzroy Kelly and Sir Frederick Thesiger, accomplished advocates, who have seen their rivals promoted over their heads to the "cushions" of the law-courts, until they must begin to believe that they are changelings, who were born Chief Justices, but have never come into their rights, and are doomed to wander about for an indefinite period in search of the judicial ermine.

The opposition benches behind are not less thickly occupied. Here may be found Mr. Malins, sometimes verbose on questions of law reform; -Lord Robert Cecil, who has shewn cleverness to mark him out, in the opinion of some, for the future leadership of a party;-the Marquis of Granby, who cannot fail to be respected as a high-minded nobleman, in whichever House he may sit, and whether his opinions meet with popular concurrence or not;-Mr. Miles, whose emancipation from the prejudices of his youth, and present outspoken honesty and candour, make us proud of our English country gentlemen, when they give their intellects fair play; -Sir J. Y. Buller, one of Sir R. Peel's model county members;-Mr. Edward Ball, an honest man, with a loud, full voice ;-Mr. Spooner, not so good-looking, perhaps, as Colonel Forester, nor so picturesque as Sir R. Peel, but whose white neckerchief and solemn and imposing voice the House would be sorry to miss, and who has made immense advances of late in its good graces;-Mr. Newdegate, still more heavy and solemn, but beginning to be listened to;-Sir Charles Burrell, the venerable father of the House of Commons, tall, active, and in the enjoyment of a green old age, who was returned for Shoreham as soon as he was of age, and has continued to represent the same borough without a single interval for more than half a century;-Col. Dunne, who claims no descent from Solon, but who, having been for a short time clerk to the Ordnance, has much to say on military subjects, and looms especially large on the discussion of the army estimates;-Lord Claud Hamilton, who speaks with a fervour that ought to be highly moving at a champagne dinner-party, when the guests are sure the orator means more than he can express, and give him uproarious credit for his good intentions ;-Mr. George Hudson, seldom seen in the House, and uneasily conscious that he is under a cloud ;-Dr. Samuel Warren, who would give "ten thousand a-year" to know why the House sometimes laughs at him, and is never so grave as he.

But we must hasten to the benches below the gangway on the opposition side; and here we shall probably encounter Sir W. Heathcote, Mr. Gladstone's colleague in the representation of Oxford;-the Marquis of Blandford, an authority upon Church questions;-Mr. Deedes, a sensible and judicious county member;-Mr. Cayley, great upon a silver currency, and with strong views upon the malt-tax ;-Mr. Beckett Denison, shrewd and long-headed, but reproaching himself for not having sooner suspected the gigantic forgeries of the Great Northern ;- Mr. Fitzstephen French, an Irish member, whose bark at Lord Palmerston is worse than his bite ;— Sir Stafford Northcote, a new member, of philanthropic aims and unprepossessing manner;-Mr. Adderley, who will not unlikely raise his fluent voice and well-balanced periods on the first night of the session against any renewal of transportation to colonies that refuse to take our convicts ;and Mr. Brady, once a surgeon in the Blackfriars-road, and who, like other Irishmen, had a far better chance of finding himself a member of Parliament than men in the same position in life on this side the Channel. Upon the bench behind them will be found the Irish brigade, whom Pal