As usual the recess has seen the final going over to the majority of old
members of the House of Commons. Two who have died since the prorogation
were distinct types of utterly divergent classes. There was nothing in
common between the Earl of Winchilsea and Mr. T. B. Potter, except that
they both sat in the 1880 Parliament, saw the rise of the Fourth Party,
and the crumbling away of Mr. Gladstone's magnificent majority. Mr.
Potter was by far the older member, having taken his seat for Rochdale
on the death of Mr. Cobden in 1865. Except physically, he did not fill a
large place in the House, but was much esteemed on both sides for his
honest purpose and his genial good temper.
This last was imperturbable. It was not to be disturbed even by a double
misfortune that accompanied one of the Cobden Club's annual dining
expeditions to Greenwich. On the voyage out, passing Temple Pier, one of
the guests fell overboard. At the start on the return journey, another
guest, a distinguished Frenchman, stepping aboard as he thought, fell
into the gurgling river, and was fished out with a boat-hook. Yet Mr.
Potter, President of the Club, largely responsible for the success of
the outing, did not on either occasion intermit his beaming smile.