No man with the vast responsibility that
devolves upon an English minister can afford to treat with
indifference a suggestion that has not occurred to him, or
information with which he had not been previously supplied. But,
gentlemen, pursue this view of the subject. The longer the reign,
the influence of that sovereign must proportionately increase. All
the illustrious statesmen who served his youth disappear. A new
generation of public servants rises up, there is a critical
conjunction in affairs--a moment of perplexity and peril. Then it
is that the sovereign can appeal to a similar state of affairs that
occurred perhaps thirty years before. When all are in doubt among
his servants, he can quote the advice that was given by the
illustrious men of his early years, and, though he may maintain
himself within the strictest limits of the constitution, who can
suppose, when such information and such suggestions are made by the
most exalted person in the country, that they can be without effect?
No, gentlemen; a minister who could venture to treat such influence
with indifference would not be a constitutional minister, but an
arrogant idiot.

Gentlemen, the influence of the crown is not confined merely to
political affairs. England is a domestic country. Here the home is
revered and the hearth is sacred. The nation is represented by a
family--the royal family; and if that family is educated with a
sense of responsibility and a sentiment of public duty, it is
difficult to exaggerate the salutary influence they may exercise
over a nation. It is not merely an influence upon manners; it is not
merely that they are a model for refinement and for good taste--
they affect the heart as well as the intelligence of the people; and
in the hour of public adversity, or in the anxious conjuncture of
public affairs, the nation rallies round the family and the throne,
and its spirit is animated and sustained by the expression of public
affection. Gentlemen, there is yet one other remark that I would
make upon our monarchy, though had it not been for recent
circumstances, I should have refrained from doing so. An attack has
recently been made upon the throne on account of the costliness of
the institution. Gentlemen, I shall not dwell upon the fact that if
the people of England appreciate the monarchy, as I believe they do,
it would be painful to them that their royal and representative
family should not be maintained with be