be said that these
achievements are due to the race that inhabited the land, and not to
its institutions. Gentlemen, in political institutions are the
embodied experiences of a race. You have established a society of
classes which give vigor and variety to life. But no class
possesses a single exclusive privilege, and all are equal before the
law. You possess a real aristocracy, open to all who desire to
enter it. You have not merely a middle class, but a hierarchy of
middle classes, in which every degree of wealth, refinement,
industry, energy, and enterprise is duly represented.

And now, gentlemen, what is the condition of the great body of the
people? In the first place, gentlemen, they have for centuries been
in the full enjoyment of that which no other country in Europe has
ever completely attained--complete rights of personal freedom. In
the second place, there has been a gradual, and therefore a wise,
distribution on a large scale of political rights. Speaking with
reference to the industries of this great part of the country, I can
personally contrast it with the condition of the working classes
forty years ago. In that period they have attained two results--
the raising of their wages and the diminution of their toil.
Increased means and increased leisure are the two civilizers of man.
That the working classes of Lancashire and Yorkshire have proved not
unworthy of these boons may be easily maintained; but their progress
and elevation have been during this interval wonderfully aided and
assisted by three causes, which are not so distinctively
attributable to their own energies. The first is the revolution in
locomotion, which has opened the world to the working man, which has
enlarged the horizon of his experience, increased his knowledge of
nature and of art, and added immensely to the salutary recreation,
amusement, and pleasure of his existence. The second cause is the
cheap postage, the moral benefits of which cannot be exaggerated.
And the third is that unshackled press which has furnished him with
endless sources of instruction, information, and amusement.

Gentlemen, if you would permit me, I would now make an observation
upon another class of the laboring population. This is not a civic
assembly, although we meet in a city. That was for convenience, but
the invitation which I received was to meet the county and all the
boroughs of Lancashire; and I wish to make a few observations upon