3-082-554 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Speaker's Farewell to the House of Commons, [London], April 8, 1895. 'The House of Commons never appears to such supreme advantage as on an occasion when its dignity is suffused with emotion. On April 8 it had to receive from the Right Hon. Arthur Wellesley Peel his resignation of the great office of Speaker. The familiar voice which members of Parliament have heard during the last eleven years had an added pathos in it as Mr. Peel spoke of the changes which had come during his term of service, and in the thirty years of his membership. It was a brief speech - for Mr. Peel has always set the example of brevity. And it was eloquent - the eloquence of heartfelt words coming from a man who had done his duty. Into his retirement, so well earned, Mr. Peel will be followed by the best wishes of the House of Commons and his countrymen, who hope that, released from his stately toil, he may yet serve the Empire with the same earnestness and success'. From "Illustrated London News", 1895.