Of course, Mr. Disraeli had to move that the honourable
Member for Derby be reprimanded by the Speaker for his dis- orderly and violent conduct ; and the Speaker remarking that Mr. Plimsoll would be heard in his own defence, and should then with- draw, Mr. Plimsoll left the House at once in a state of violent agita- tion, after lodging a very excited protest, "in the name of God," against the delay of the Bill, in which protest the resolve "to unmask the villains" sitting in this House,—" fit representatives of the more numerous, but not greater villains outside it,"— is repeated, and the Government are charged with playing " wit- tingly and unwittingly" into the hands of "maritime murderers inside and outside the House," and the blood of all the victims of delay is laid on the head of the Prime Minister, and his colleagues. Mr. Sullivan and others having given very strong testi- mony to the uneasiness which Mr. Plimsoll's health has recently caused to his friends, the Speaker's reprimand was not delivered to him, but the debate was adjourned for a week, to give him time for recovering himself. Later in the evening, the order for resuming the Committee on the Merchant Shipping Bill was dis- charged on Mr. Disraeli's motion, amidst general lamentation, and after Sir Charles Adderley, who had charge of it, had spoken with considerable feeling of the services rendered to the discussion by Mr. Plimsoll.
