_Mrs. B._--"I want to speak at once...." _The President._--"I tell you that...." _Mrs. B._--"I protest. It's a shame!" _The President._--"But I tell you, you shall...." _Mrs. B._--"I will speak all the same. You make a grand mistake, if you think my mouth is to be closed in that fashion. I can tell you all, that we shall obtain nothing by persuasion. Here, as well as in the world we have left, it is by strong measures and threats that one obtains one's ends." (_Order, order._) _The President._--"You have already despised my authority. If you use threats, I shall refuse you permission to speak further...." _Mrs. B._--"It is a swindle!" (_Order, order._) _The President_ (_rising_).--"Retract the word _swindle_. Do you imagine yourself in Seven Dials?" _Mrs. B._--"I shall retract nothing. If in a week's time, I am not placed on a throne resplendent with light, I shall make myself objectionable: I shall break the park railings, pull up the flowers, trample on the beds, and turn everything upside down.... I will keep you busy, I promise you. I have only just come.... I'll get up a meeting of my own, by-and-bye...." _The President._--"I order the expulsion of the interrupter." (_After a great struggle, in which the lady, looking like a destroying angel, strikes out right and left, she is turned out, not without difficulty._) _The President._--"Now that order is restored, I call upon the Reverend Mr. Goodman to address the meeting." _Rev. B. G._--"In place of the words, 'Considering that the British nation is the most virtuous on earth,' I propose that the following be substituted: 'Considering that the British nation is none other than the lost ten tribes of the House of Israel, the holy nation chosen of the Lord.' Ladies and gentlemen, I am thoroughly convinced that...." _A voice_ (_interrupting_).--"But, as the Lord reigns in these realms, would it not be much more simple to ask Him if we really are, as the reverend gentleman declares, His chosen people? It seems to me that, by adopting this course, a great deal of time and trouble might be saved." _Several voices._--"Let the amendment be put to the meeting." The amendment is voted almost unanimously. The President announces that thirty millions, four hundred and ninety-five thousand, nine hundred and sixty-four persons have expressed the desire to address the meeting for the purpose of enumerating the different virtues of the British people in general, and the meritorious deeds of each one in particular. But, seeing that the hour is advanced, and that, besides, the petition is agreed to, he proposes to declare the meeting at an end. After a unanimous vote of thanks to the President for the courtesy with which he acceded to the wishes of the Committee, and the kindness with which he promised to attend to the petition, the meeting broke up at a quarter to twelve. XXI. John Bull and his Island: Postscript.