The House of Lords had unusual experiences on Tuesday. It
listened-_ to a comic poem which had been composed for the occasion by Lord Arnold, and a speech by Lord Snowden so frank, so bitter in its personalities, and so utterly contrary to the traditions of the Upper House that Noble Lords, according to one account, appeared to be frozen by horror or astonishment in their seats. Members of the last House of Commons would be less astonished by such a speech. They hive heard more than one such vitriolic utterance from Lord Snowden, and will remember the duels between him and Mr. Churchill, who is the only politician capable of paying him back in kind. The point about Lord Snowden, when he is in this vein, is that he says in public those personal things which most people only express in private —or, perhaps I ought to add, in their memoirs. Here, in fact, was Lord Snowden, in his speech last Tuesday, giving away some of the best revelations in advance of his .autobiography—what the Prime Miniiter said to him, " with tears in his voice," when his Government was going back on his land tax policy, and what Mr, Chamberlain said to him. How far these and other confidences should have been regarded as privileged is a matter for Lord Snowden and his own conscience ; but they afford very entertaining reading.
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