- pathy toward the Union in the Civil War, demanded
to know by what right had the Russian Minister's position in Washington been made untenable—and that too, at the time of the visit of a member of the Czar's family—and was this the return the United States Government made for the Czar's extreme friendliness? Then Pembroke stood up in his place, at a considerable distance from the Speaker. This gave him a great advantage, for it showed the fine resonant quality of his voice, clear and quite free from rant and harshness. Olivia Berkeley, who watched him from the front row in the gallery, saw that he was pale, but perfectly self-possessed. As he caught her eye, in rising, he smiled at her.
"Mr. Speaker."
The Speaker fixed his piercing eyes upon him, and with a light tap of the gavel, said "The gentleman from Virginia has the floor."
Pembroke used no notes. He began in a clear and dignified manner to recite the part taken by him in Volkonsky's case—his suspicions, his demand for documents from the State Department, Volkonsky's compromising letters, of which he read copies—the dilemma of the Department, anxious not to offend Russia but indignant at the baseness of Volkonsky—the further complication of the Grand Duke's visit, and all which followed. He then read his statement of what had occurred at his interviews with Volkonsky, and which he had filed at the State Department.
