This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1904 edition. Excerpt: ... there was a crowd of standers, unable to sit or squat, and another above the bar. In the peers' gallery and above the clock you might see princes, ambassadors, archbishops, bishops, and peers of all ranks--the one-half of them obliged to stand in the passage because there was no room for them to sit; whilst ...
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1904 edition. Excerpt: ... there was a crowd of standers, unable to sit or squat, and another above the bar. In the peers' gallery and above the clock you might see princes, ambassadors, archbishops, bishops, and peers of all ranks--the one-half of them obliged to stand in the passage because there was no room for them to sit; whilst every part of the House allotted to strangers was crammed. Then, outside, what a mob there used to be--filling all corridors, jamming the doorways, perplexing the chief authorities, bewildering the police, and so annoying and impeding the doorkeepers that they had not infrequently to summon Mr. Inspector and get him to muster his force and sweep the mob of gentlemen clear out of the lobby into the central hall. Such was the scene when Gladstone was about to open his Budget. But the scene on Thursday night was all different. When Mr. Hunt stepped on to the boards the House was not full; there were few peers present below; the Ambassadors' gallery above was nearly empty; there were gaps of vacancy in the strangers' galleries, whilst the lobby and corridors were vacant, silent, and even desolate. What was the cause of this change? Are the people now less interested in our financial position and prospects than they used to be? If the truth must be told, the people never were at any time in our recollection profoundly interested in these annual financial statements. It is, and always was, the performer in these dramas that draws or repels. When crowds come down on Budget nights, it was because a great orator or man of genius was Chancellor of the Exchequer. They failed to come on that Thursday night because the gentleman who was then to open the Budget is not a man of genius and has no oratorical power. The Budget itself is not an interesting...
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