Page:Eminent English liberals in and out of Parliament.djvu/298

 a good party man, too Radical all round both for Conservatives and Liberals. The cut and color of his coats, moreover, scandalized honorable members. They were light green when they ought to have been of a more sombre hue, and it was oftener than once debated by certain of the weaker brethren whether the speaker's attention might not with advantage be drawn to the irreverent attire of the member for Nottingham. This, however, was not Herbert's greatest enormity. In seconding Sir Charles Dilke's famous motion respecting the civil list, and commenting on the justly suspected frauds connected therewith, Mr. Herbert, while alluding to the actual occupant of the throne with all the superstitious reverence which a degraded public opinion could possibly exact, had yet the manhood to affirm his conviction that a republic is preferable to a monarchy in a community such as ours. Thereupon one honorable member "spied strangers in the gallery," and had the press ejected, while a noble lord manifested his loyalty to the crown by "cock-crowing"! So great was the uproar, raised chiefly by the "party of order," that for the space of an hour the member for Nottingham could scarcely ejaculate more than a word or two at a time. The speaker pronounced the scene the most "painful" he had ever witnessed; yet I have never heard any one allege that Herbert uttered one untrue or offensive syllable in his speech. The fault was entirely with the fault-finders. It was the old story,—Great is Diana of the Ephesians: the silversmiths were all in arms. Howbeit,—

"They have rights who dare maintain them: &emsp;&emsp;We are traitors to our sires,