Does not the honourable member for the second
chair on the right, in supporting the claims of
government, do so because he believes that
government to be able and willing to protect the
rights of—of—the gentleman who so ably fills
our third chair right, while the last-named
gentleman himself speaks strongly against the—as
he thinks—extravagance of the government,
from a strong feeling for his opponent's pocket,
and because he believes that undue claims are
made on that gentleman's means? Ah, gentlemen,
this is indeed a Mutual Union. Viewed in this
way, what an additional interest is communicated
to a discussion such as that to which we
have just listened! And such, I am persuaded, is
the real state of the case. "When, for instance,
the honourable member who defended the
governing powers of this country so ably,
expressed himself to the effect that"—(Here Mr.
Brogg consulted the notes  of the Reverend
Smear)—"that government was the trustee of the
people, what did he mean, what could he mean,
except that it was the trustee of the gentleman,
who was on the other side of the table and also
of the argument, and that therefore such trustee
must be looked after strictly, but at the same
time defended against unjust accusation? And
again, on the other side, when the gentleman
who mistrusts government, speaking with great
indignation, says, 'And this—this is the way in
which the public money is wasted!' is it not
virtually the money of his opponent of which he
speaks, and as to the economising of which he is
so anxious? Gentlemen, believe me, everything
is as it should be. Even those nine gardeners
engaged in mowing that small piece of ground of
which our opposition member has spoken, were
surely not too many. Think of the joy with
which the ninth of those men announced to his
family that he had been 'taken on' by government.
Think of that man's salary. Will it not
give an impetus to trade in the small neighbourhood
in which it will be spent? The local baker,
the chandler, nay, the very costermonger who
pervades the streets, will rejoice in the sums of
money which will reach them in consequence of
the gardener's good fortune. Disputes, gentlemen
nay,—not disputes—say, rather, debates,
should be conducted as this has to which I have
listened this evening with so much gratification.
Hardly ever, if ever, have I enjoyed any
experience of my life as much as this. To see such
evidences of harmony of feeling, such marked
unselfishness, such anxiety, as it were, for each
other's good and each other's welfare, is to be
refreshed by one of the most agreeable sights
which a human being can behold, and it is for
this that I now beg to thank this honourable
assembly, as I do also for the permission which
has been so liberally accorded to me to write
myself one of its members."

There was a low murmur of approval as Mr.
Brogg resumed his seat. His speech gave
enormous satisfaction, and was pronounced on
all hands to be perfectly mutual. The two
gentlemen, however, to whom more special allusion
had been made, Messrs. Best and Carpew, seemed
not a little astonished at the discovery of their
own philanthropical intentions as revealed to
them by our new member. Some of us, who
happened to know that there was no love lost
between these two gentlemen, could not help
smiling when we heard such loving motives
attributed to them; nor was I, for one, in the least
surprised when Mr. Carpew rose from his seat
and expressed himself to this effect; "While
admiring," he said, "the general tendency of the
speech of the newly-elected member, he could not
allow one portion of that speech to be entered on
our records"—here he looked hard at Mr. Smear
—"without qualifying it with a word of protest.
The honourable member for a chair which had
not yet been numbered had stated that he (the
honourable member for the third chair right) had,
in making some recent remarks, had the interest
of another gentleman at heart, and that he had
made those remarks simply and solely with the
desire to save that gentleman's pocket. Now, he
wished this to be corrected promptly. He had
said what he had said in obedience to his own
convictions. He had condemned certain
proceedings because he believed them to be
condemnable, and the desire to benefit any member
of that company, he could honestly say, had never
once entered his head."

Mr. Best (second chair left) rose and stated
"that he wished, on his own behalf, to enter a
protest similar to that of his honourable friend
who had just spoken. He (Mr. Best) had never
once thought of his honourable friend during
the delivery of his speech. When he (Mr. Best)
had said that 'government was the trustee of the
people,' he never meant that it was in any special
way the trustee of his honourable friend. The
honourable and newly-elected member had
misunderstood both himself and his honourable
friend, and had given them credit for motives by
which they were not actuated."

C. J. Brogg begged leave to explain himself.
"Human motive was hard to follow. There were
few who could read it, few who could trace out
its hidden intricacies. But especially were our
own motives hard to find out. They could often
be judged of better by others than by ourselves.
In what men said or wrote, they frequently had
meanings which they really were ignorant of
themselves. The poet Shakespeare, the artist Turner:
Had not intentions, had not meanings been
discovered in the works of those great men of which
they themselves had been ignorant? Undoubtedly
such had been the case, and undoubtedly such
had also been the case with the two distinguished
gentlemen who had lately spoken. Those gentlemen
did not fully know their own meaning."

Mr. Carpew was on his legs in an instant. He
begged to say "that he did know his own
meaning."

Mr. Best knew his own meaning perfectly. It
was not that attributed to him by the honourable
and newly-elected member.