And, verily, I could have wept as I saw the House that night.
It was not that the passion was greater than I have ever seen, or the noise even, or the dramatic excitement, it was that for hours, there was nothing but sheer downright chaos, drivel, and anarchy.
[Sidenote: The unloosing of anarchy.] It began when Mr.Mellor accepted the motion for closure.

At once there arose from the Tory Benches wild, angry, insulting cries of "Shame! shame! scandalous! the gag! the gag!" This would have been all right if it had been addressed to Mr.Gladstone.Party leaders have to give and take, and in moments of excitement they must not complain if their political opponents denounce them.

But closure is the act of the presiding officer of the House, and it has been an almost unbroken rule and tradition of Parliament that the presiding officer shall be safeguarded against even an approach to attack or insult.

It is a tradition that has its weak side; but, on the whole, it is in accordance with that great national English characteristic of subordination to necessary authority and the maintenance of order, decency, and self-control as the trinity of public virtues and personal demeanour.

If Mr.Peel had been in the chair he would have called those Tories to order; and if they had persisted as they did, he would have promptly named the highest among them.