Slippery Sam was at that moment without a peer in the realm. Cleverness may not be a specially high attribute, and Mr. Williams, who was perfectly frank with himself, would have been the first to say so, but occasions do arise when it has its uses.
One of these now occurred. Midway through the speech of this rather simple but very gifted young man, there came the word China.
The prime minister, it seemed, had lately been paying a good deal of attention to China. His thoughts were in this wise. "In my pocketbook is the ukase that infernal fellow H. had the effrontery to hurl at me the other day in his own handwriting."
"Saint James's Square,
"Friday afternoon
"My Dear W. W.:
"Send the Fleet to Peking before Japan gets in, or forfeit all claim to thinking Imperially.
"Yours, in haste,
"S. H."
Mr. Williams' mind as it now reverted to China was
a complex of many things. Listening to that name
of ill omen on the lips of the member for Blackhampton,
listening to the burning scorn of his words, the
prime minister suddenly remembered the giants of his
youth. Above all, he remembered Gladstone's power
of carrying not only the House, but the country with
him on a live issue.
