SCENE--_The Chamber during a Debate of an exciting character.
Member with a newspaper occupying the Tribune._
_Member_. I ask if the report in this paper is true? It calls the
Minister a scoundrel! [_Frantic applause._
_President_. I must interpose. It is not right that such a document
should be read.
_Member_. But it is true. I hold in my hand this truth-telling sheet.
(_Shouts of_ "_Well done_!") This admirable journal describes
the Minister as a trickster, a man without a heart! [_Yells of
approbation._
_President_. I warn the Member that he is going too far. He is
outraging the public conscience. ["_Hear! hear_!"
_Member_. It is you that outrage the public conscience. [_Sensation._
_President_. This is too much! If I hear another word of insult, I
will assume my hat.
[_Profound and long-continued agitation._
_Member_. A hat is better than a turned coat! (_Thunders of
applause._) I say that this paper is full of wholesome things, and
that when it denounces the Minister as a good-for-nothing, as a
slanderer, as a thief--it does but its duty.
[_Descends from the Tribune amidst tumultuous applause, and is
met by the Minister. Grand altercation, with results._
_Minister's Friends_. What have you done to him?
_Minister_ (_with dignity_). I have avenged my honour--I have hit him
in the eye!
[_Scene closes in upon the Minister receiving hearty
congratulations from all sides of the Chamber._
* * * * *