A Looker on in London Author:Mary Hannah Krout Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: had snatched this much of victory from the jaws of defeat. Furthermore, they stated boldly that, while the Conservatives had come into power with an unprecedente... more »d majority, the vote which really turned the tide in the elections was so small that they perceived the wisdom of reasonable conciliation. Long lines of people, men and women of all classes and conditions, filled the corridors leading to the House of Commons. These were kept in order by the omnipresent policemen whose demeanor might be described as polite but firm. There was almost as much scrambling and elbowing as might be witnessed on similar occasions at home, but it was immensely good-natured. With all our protestations of equality and with the familiarity that seems bred of democracy, the personality, blunt, downright and of th sledge-hammer order, which is permitted upon the floor of the House of Commons, is something to which the visiting American can never become quite accustomed. It is so at variance with the ordinary reserve and self- control of the Englishman, and especially of the Englishman in office, that the remarks and comments which occasionally interrupt a member in the midst of a speech have something the effect of audible and flippant irreverence during a church service. I had observed this in an Australian parliament, where it had been introduced, no doubt, as a mark of reverence for "home" and its institutions, although, with the socialistic tendencies that are fast growing in that remote region, reverence for anything that savors of conservatism cannot long survive. This spirit was very apparent when Mr. Chamberlain, who, having renounced the principles and professions of many years, entered and seated himself by Mr. Balfour in a way that but a few short months before would have recalled the lion...« less