But though we are bound to point this out, and
to express our condemnation of the action of those who refused to hear Mr. Lyttelton, we fully realise the almost intolerable provoca- tion afforded by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister's evasions and tergiversations have been so many and so suce,essful this Session that plain men may almost be excused for losing their self-control when they believe that they are to be treated to another example. It was very generally feared, it is alleged, that Mr. Lyttelton would be put up to defend the Prime Minister, as an able counsel defends a client who has got into a difficulty by making an agreement which he finds it inconvenient to keep. After a good deal of heat had been engendered by the debate, and a good many side. issues had been thus raised, the Prime Minister would rise in the last half-hour and deal chiefly with the side-issues, and end without having said in plain terms whether he meant, or did not mean, to stick to his Edinburgh speech, and if he did not mean to do so, how he excused his action. Two wrongs can never make a right, and therefore what we have said cannot excuse the disorder in the House, but un- questionably it explains it.
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