The Senator of the House.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 5089, 26 September 1891, Page 1

The Senator of the House.

Mr W. P. Reeves describes Hie vocal powers of Mr Fergus as follows : —As for rivalling the honorable gentleman's vocal powers, I cannot. Who could ? They are peculiarly his own from beginning to end. The lion, gentleman, as an orator, is sui generis. He reminds me of John Bright. He reminds me of a story that wa- once told me by a gentleman who had the privilege of listening to 0110 of John Bright's gaeatest speeches. This gentleman described to nie how lie had onco heard him in a great public hall, packed by thousands of excited people, and how, when the orator lifted up his voice, ifc filled the whole building, and the people were hushed into silence. The great feature in connection with that immense assemblage was that you could not hear a sound in that vast chamber except tho sound of that mighty voice. VVell, sir, in that my honorable friend reminds mo of John Bright, but there the resemblance stops. John Bright's eloquence, the force of his reasoning power, so bewitched and held this ereat audience thar. he commanded absolute silence, and could bo heard in the remotest corner of tho vast structure. What John Bright did by his eloquence and his force of reasoning my honorable friend does by the force of liis lungs. You can hear the honorable gentleman, without an effort, anywhere in tho largest chamber in the colony—and you can hear nothing else. I venture to say you can hear nothing e se within a quarter of a mile. But let my honorable friend remember this : that if he will show us show us more logic and less lung power, more logic and less lung power, if he will shout less and think more, ho may some day regain his seat on this sido of the House, and may possibly regain his seat 011 these benches by the force of merit which he obtained before by favor of his chief.