Page:Eminent English liberals in and out of Parliament.djvu/204

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190
EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OP PARLIAMENT.

He has visited Egypt, the Sinaitic Desert, and Palestine. His American wanderings, however, have borne the most valuable fruit. His published "Impressions" of the States are the best compliment to Sir Charles Dilke's "Greater Britain" with which I am acquainted. They suppl}^ exactly the sort of information one desires with regard to that mighty theatre of new social and political experiments. That so many competent observers are now turning their footsteps towards the far West is a subject for unqualified congratulation.

"Was 'The Mayflower' launched by cowards?
 Steered by men behind their time?
 Turn those paths towards past, or future,
 That make Plymouth Rock sublime?"

It is a Western and not an Eastern policy of which England stands most in need. Overthrow the aristocracy of this country, and there will be no insuperable barrier to a grand re-union of the two great branches of the English-speaking race.

When the pressure of Mr. Dale's pastoral and political duties is considered, the tale of his literary labors is immense. They include a "Life of John Angell James," a volume of "Week-Day Sermons," "The Atonement," which ran through seven editions in four years, "Lectures on Preaching," "Discourses on Special Occasions," "The Ten Commandments," "Lectures on the Epistle to the Hebrews," an "Essay on Lacordaire," another on "George Dawson," "A Reply to Mr. Matthew Arnold's Attack on Puritanism," "The Necessity for an Ethical Revival," &c. Besides contributing to "The British Quarterly," "The Fortnightly," "The Contemporary," and "The Nineteenth