as
some of us have suffered in the turmoil and strife of life. You can
mould opinion, you can create political power. You cannot think a good
thought on this subject and communicate it to your neighbours, you
cannot make these points topics of discussion in your social circles
and more general meetings, without affecting sensibly and speedily the
course which the Government of your country will pursue. May I ask
you, then, to believe, as I do most devoutly believe, that the moral
law was not written for men alone in their individual character, but
that it was written as well for nations, and for nations great as this
of which we are citizens. If nations reject and deride that moral law,
there is a penalty which will inevitably follow. It may not come at
once, it may not come in our lifetime; but, rely upon it, the great
Italian is not a poet only, but a prophet, when he says:

The sword of heaven is not in haste to smite,
Nor yet doth linger.

We have experience, we have beacons, we have landmarks enough. We
know what the past has cost us, we know how much and how far we have
wandered, but we are not left without a guide. It is true we have not,
as an ancient people had, Urim and Thummim--those oraculous gems
on Aaron's breast--from which to take counsel, but we have the
unchangeable and eternal principles of the moral law to guide us, and
only so far as we walk by that guidance can we be permanently a great
nation, or our people a happy people.

WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE

AUGUST 8 AND 10, 1870

THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM

Sir, in view of the approaching prorogation of Parliament, I am
anxious to state at as early a period as possible that Her Majesty's
Government are not in a position to lay further papers upon the table
relating to the subject alluded to in the Question of the hon. member
for Wakefield (Mr. Somerset Beaumont). Knowing well the anxiety which
the House must feel with reference to the course which the Government
intend to follow, I will, in a few sentences, explain to them exactly
what we have done and what we have endeavoured to do. In so doing I
shall confine myself strictly to statements of fact, not mixing up
with them anything in the nature of explanation or defence, if,
indeed, defence be requisite, but will allow such explanation or
defence to stand over until the proper opportunity for making it shall
arrive. On Saturday, the 30th of July, the Government made a proposal
t