eptional, and we hope they will be final. We
take no delight in tinkering the constitution. The mechanism of
government we recognize to be only a means; the test of the statesman
is his power to govern. And remaining, as we do, inaccessible to that
gospel of liberty of which our opponents have had a special revelation,
we find in the existing state of England much that appears to us to
need control. We are unable to share the optimism which animates
Remenham and his friends as to the direction and effects of the new
forces of industry. Above the whirr of the spindle and the shaft we
hear the cry of the poor. Behind our flourishing warehouses and shops
we see the hovels of the artisan. We watch along our highroads the
long procession of labourers deserting their ancestral villages for the
cities; we trace them to the slum and the sweater's den; we follow them
to the poorhouse and the prison; we see them disappear engulfed in the
abyss, while others press at their heels to take their place and share
their destiny. And in face of all this we do not think it to be our
duty to fold our arms and invoke the principle of liberty. We feel
that we owe it to the nation to preserve intact its human heritage, the
only source of its greatness and its wealth; and we are prepared, with
such wisdom as we have, to legislate to that end, undeterred by the
fear of incurring the charge of socialism.

"But while we thus concern ourselves with the condition of these
islands, we have not forgotten that we have relations to the world
outside. If, indeed, we could share the views to which Remenham has
given such eloquent expression, this is a matter which would give us
little anxiety. He beholds, as in a vision, the era of peace and
good-will ushered in by the genius of commerce. By a mysterious
dispensation of Providence he sees cupidity and competition furthering
the ends of charity and peace. But here once more I am unable to
follow his audacious flight. Confined to the sphere of observation, I
cannot but note that in the long and sanguinary course of history there
has been no cause so fruitful of war as the rivalries of trade. Our
own annals at every point are eloquent of this truth; nor do I see
anything in the conditions of the modern world that should limit its
application. We have been told that all nations will adopt our fiscal
policy. Why should they, unless it is to their interest? We adopted
it because we thought it