Page:Eminent English liberals in and out of Parliament.djvu/186

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172
EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT.

and virtue; but men will long feel the presence of his character about them, making them ashamed of what is indolent or selfish, and encouraging them to all disinterested labor, both in trying to do good and in trying to find out what the good is, which is harder."

Ever ready to do battle in the front rank of Liberalism, Mr. Morley chivalrously undertook to edit "The Morning Star" at a time when, for reasons chiefly connected with the commercial management, success was no longer possible. Through no fault of his, it was permitted to expire, and Radicalism thus lost a most faithful and competent advocate. From that day till the moment when he recently assumed the editorship of "The Pall Mall Gazette," that loss remained unrepaired, and it has been one of no ordinary seriousness to the party and to the country; for since that time metropolitan Radicalism can hardly be said to have been represented in the daily press.

In 1867 Mr. Morley succeeded Mr. Lewes in the editorship of "The Fortnightly," and in his hands a hitherto colorless magazine soon became the recognized medium of all manner of new and, not unfrequently, very unpopular ideas. And this bold, uncompromising policy, I am glad to think, has met with a gratifying measure of success. "The Fortnightly" is a tower of strength to Radicalism in all its higher walks, and its editor is ever vigilant and resolute to "hold the fort" against all comers.

In the same year that Mr. Morley became the editor of "The Fortnightly," he paid a short visit to the United States, and was introduced at the White House to the then President, Andrew Johnson. He did not, like certain weak-minded travellers, with whom we are