ich have made our country of England a practical, and
therefore a great and prosperous, and a powerful country. It is this
untiring, unresting industry which Mr. Lister possesses, this practical
understanding, this determination to carry out any object which he is
convinced ought to be carried out, and his determination to fear no
opposition and to care for no obstacle--it is these practical faculties
that have made England what she is. What is it especially that we are
honouring? It is the pluck which this man has shown; it is the feeling
that, having to do with the worsted trade, he said to himself, 'Here is
something which ought to be done; I will not rest until I have found out
how it can be done; and having found out how it can be done, where is
the man who shall stop my doing it?' Now it was upon that principle that
he fought his long struggle; and so when we read the story of his
struggles, ever since 1842, in those two great inventions, we raise this
statue to the man who has successfully fought the battle, and hope that
our sons and the sons of all, rich and poor together, will come in
after-days to admire it, not merely because it gives them the form and
features of a rich and successful man, but because it gives them the
form and features of a man who was endowed with industry, with
intellect, with energy, with courage, with perseverance,--who spared
himself no pains in first ascertaining the conditions of the problems he
had to solve,--and then whose heart never fainted, whose will never
relaxed, in determining to carry out those conditions."

Great men are wise savers and wise spenders. Montesquieu has said of
Alexander: "He found the first means of his prosperity and power in the
greatness of his genius; the second, in his frugality and private
economy; and the third, in his immense liberality to accomplish great
objects. He spent but little on himself; but for public purposes his
hand was always open." It was also said of the first Napoleon, that he
was economical like Charlemagne, because he was great like Charlemagne.
Napoleon was by no means a spendthrift, except in war; but he spent
largely in accomplishing great public undertakings. In cases such as
these, economy and generosity are well combined. And so it is in the
cases of all men possessed of energy, industry, and great powers of
organization.

It may seem out of keeping to compare great producers with great
commanders. Yet the manufacturer ofte