The Liberal Duke of Argyll demolished the government case, with perhaps unnecessary fire, according to Lady Frederick Cavendish who was a witness to the occasion & wrote about it admiringly in her diary as “a most brilliant, condensed, and perfect little speech,” which lasted “only of an hour.”
Mind you, even in those days of oratory, their Lordships found it hard going:
The House much interested and edified, I believe, but as usual quite incapable of showing its feelings at all; it must be like speaking to people "hard of hearing" and asleep.
