He accordingly was fixed on, both for filling the President's chair and for making the first speech.

The important day arrived; the benches were crowded; all our great speakers were present, to judge of, but not to help our efforts.

The Oxford orator's speech was a complete failure.
This threw a damp on the whole concern: the speakers who followed were few, and none of them did their best: the affair was a complete _fiasco_; and the oratorical celebrities we had counted on went away never to return, giving to me at least a lesson in knowledge of the world.

This unexpected breakdown altered my whole relation to the project.

I had not anticipated taking a prominent part, or speaking much or often, particularly at first, but I now saw that the success of the scheme depended on the new men, and I put my shoulder to the wheel.