MR. DISRAELI'S FIRST SPEECH.
[To THR EDITOR OF THZ "SPECTATOR."] SIB,—In Sir M. E. Grant Duff's " Diary " the question is again raised as to the unfinished sentence in Mr. Disraeli's famous first speech, which has been so often, very incorrectly, said to have been a failure. When Mr. Disraeli had got as far as "when the Hurried Hudson rushed through the chambers of the Vatican, with the keys of Peter in one hand, and —" he was vociferously interrupted. It was not the speech that failed, but the good temper of the impatient House. The question is always asked,—What had Hudson in his other hand ? There seems to be no difficulty in making a completion for the sentence. Hudson was a King's messenger. He was in pursuit of Sir Robert Peel with a letter from the King summoning Peel to form a Govern- ment. I submit that the sentence which Disraeli left unfinished should end thus : "And the King's letter in the other," or, as Disraeli might have put it, "the magic missive of his Sovereign in the other." The circumstances, I think, justify this conclusion.—I am, Sir, dm, M. J. G.
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