[Sidenote: Still the seats.]

Nevertheless, there was still room for excitement and drollery in the
perennial question of the seats. Mr. Chamberlain is not a man to whom
people are inclined to make concessions; he is so little inclined to
give up anything himself; and, accordingly, there arose a very serious
question as to the first seat on the third bench below the Gangway,
which he had taken all defiantly for his own. He counted without one of
the oldest and most respected, but also one of the firmest, men in the
House. Mr. T.B.--or, as everybody calls him, Tom Potter--sits for
Rochdale; he was the life-long friend, and for years he has been the
political successor of Cobden in the representation of Rochdale, and he
is likewise the founder and the President of the Cobden Club. Every man
has his weakness, and the weakness of Mr. Potter is to always occupy the
first seat on the third bench above the Gangway. Everyone loves the
good, kindly old man, the survivor of some of the fiercest conflicts of
our time, and everybody is willing to give way to him. When the Liberals
were in Opposition, there was a general desire among the Irish members
to take possession of the third seat above the Gangway; and the first
seat has enormous advantages--tactically--for anyone anxious to catch
the Speaker's eye. But whenever the sturdy form of the member for
Rochdale appeared, the fiercest of the Irishry were ready to give way;
and from his coign of vantage, he beamed blissfully down on the House of
Commons.

[Sidenote: Strong, but Merciful.]

Mr. Chamberlain had the boldness to challenge what hitherto had remained
unchallenged; and Mr. Potter's wrath was aroused. He is not one of those
people who require the spiritual sustenance of the Chaplain's daily