What Lord George Bentinck appreciated most in a parliamentary speaker was brilliancy: quickness of perception, promptness of repartee, clear and concise argument, a fresh and felicitous quotation, wit and picture, and, if necessary, a passionate appeal that should never pass the line of high-bred sentiment.
From a biography of Lord George Bentinck, this passage details the qualities he most admired in effective parliamentary oratory.
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The cotemporary writer who is personally familiar with his theme has unquestionably a great advantage; but it is assumed that his pen can scarcely escape the bias of private friendship or political connection.
The support of an unconstitutional measure may be expedient, but it cannot be denied that it is the most indubitable evidence of confidence.
Such a tenet would sully and impugn the doctrine that is the corner-stone of our faith and hope.
All the fruits of his laborious investigations were always at the service of his friends without reserve or self-consideration.
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