The Week in Parliament Our Parliamentary correspondent writes : Mr.
Baldwin's farewell speech on Wednesday afternoon was quite unex- pected. Few had realised his intention of intervening in the debate on the Harworth Colliery dispute. He himself admitted in a gay aside that it was Mr. Attlee's reference a few days ago to his frequent dissertations on democracy which had roused "the old war horse." He certainly could have taken no more fitting opportunity for closing his career in Parliament than a debate on the subject of peace in indus- try. It was his speech on this theme twelve years ago, when he prayed for "Peace in our time, 0 Lord," that lifted him from the ranks of the ordinary party politician to a height of statesmanship from which he never afterwards descended. On Wednesday afternoon he displayed to the full his incom- parable gift of bringing the best out of his audience. He created in his peroration about the Coronation ceremony the atmosphere of a cathedral, so that when he sat down his supporters, who on any other occasion would have leapt to their feet to bid farewell to the greatest Parliamentary figure of this generation, felt that such a demonstration would be misplaced, and hardly even dared to break the spell with a cheer.
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