12
or another partially failed there; but to study them, as a whole—as one continuous, unbroken chain of events; for it is in that way, and in that way only, that you can ever fully realise the true grandeur of our policy. (Loud cheers.) Many of you whom I have now the honour of addressing, are, I am happy to know, living in well-earned and well-merited
EASE AND INDEPENDENCE.
The "Tempter" will, I understand, soon be amongst you, and you may be sure he will tell you that you owe not a little of this ease and independence, to the credit that attaches to staple institutions; to the absence of revolution at home; to the protection you have enjoyed under the British flag all over the world. He will say to you as the citizen of Seriphus said to Themistocles, "You have become great not by yourselves, but by the glory of your country;" and he will use this as an argument in defence of some of those many institutions that I consider it my high mission to destroy. I beseech you not to listen to him. "Let no man beguile you into a voluntary humility!" Honour to whom honour is due—the honour of your success is due to your noble selves. "You owe nothing, absolutely nothing whatever, to your institutions, to your citizenship. On the contrary,
YOU OWE EVERYTHING TO YOURSELVES;
To yourselves solely and entirely; to your energy, your thrift, your sobriety, your intelligence, your enterprise. Believe me, you are rich and prosperous, not on account of your institutions, but in spite of them!
ONE WORD MORE
and I have done; it is personal to myself. There was a time, about five years ago, when I felt the weight of advancing years, and thought that the hour had struck that warned me to concern myself about a future state; but you will be happy to hear it was a false alarm. Since my great rival passed away a great change has come over the spirit of my dreams. I never now feel fretful about the present, or anxious about the future; on the contrary, I grasp the present with perfect confidence, and leave the future with equal confidence to take care of itself. A woman, as you know, is as young as she looks, a man is as young as he feels! Well, dear friends, I will tell you a secret. I feel fifty, not a day older, I assure you; and as my friend Lord Rosebery reminds me. Blind Dandolo was ninety when he was elected Doge of Venice. I think, therefore, that you will agree with me that my work, instead of being finished, is in reality only now commencing. I have, it is true, the most enlightened, the most devoted, the most intellectual Parliament that ever sat in St. Stephen's, and with its assistance I can go far, very far; but with the Parliament of the future, the Parliament of my aspirations, when Mr. Parnell is at the head of eighty Home Rulers, and the opinions of my friends Mr. Bradlaugh and Mr. Labouchere are represented by scores and hundreds, I shall hope to see the realisation of the dearest wish of my heart, "Great Britain disunited, but free." (Loud and prolonged cheering, during which the right hon. gentleman resumed his seat.)
Printed at "ENGLAND" OFFICE, 291, STRAND, LONDON, W.C.
