. Peace followed,
but it was 'peace with honour.' The American colonies were lost; but
England kept her West Indies; her flag still floated over Gibraltar; the
hostile strength of Europe all combined had failed to twist Britannia's
ocean sceptre from her: she sat down maimed and bleeding, but the wreath
had not been torn from her brow, she was still sovereign of the seas.

The bow of Ulysses was strung in those days. The order of recall arrived
when the work was done. It was proudly obeyed; and even the great Burke
admitted that no honour could be bestowed upon Rodney which he had not
deserved at his country's hands. If the British Empire is still to have
a prolonged career before it, the men who make empires are the men who
can hold them together. Oratorical reformers can overthrow what deserves
to be overthrown. Institutions, even the best of them, wear out, and
must give place to others, and the fine political speakers are the
instruments of their overthrow. But the fine speakers produce nothing of
their own, and as constructive statesmen their paths are strewed with
failures. The worthies of England are the men who cleared and tilled her
fields, formed her laws, built her colleges and cathedrals, founded her
colonies, fought her battles, covered the ocean with commerce, and
spread our race over the planet to leave a mark upon it which time will
not efface. These men are seen in their work, and are not heard of in
Parliament. When the account is wound up, where by the side of them will
stand our famous orators? What will any one of these have left behind
him save the wreck of institutions which had done their work and had
ceased to serve a useful purpose? That was their business in this world,
and they did it and do it; but it is no very glorious work, not a work
over which it is possible to feel any 'fine enthusiasm.' To chop down a
tree is easier than to make it grow. When the business of destruction is
once completed, they and their fame and glory will disappear together.
Our true great ones will again be visible, and thenceforward will be
visible alone.

Is there a single instance in our own or any other history of a great
political speaker who has added anything to human knowledge or to human
worth? Lord Chatham may stand as a lonely exception. But except Chatham
who is there? Not one that I know of. Oratory is the spendthrift sister
of the arts, which decks itself like a strumpet with the tags and
ornaments wh