ccurred? It is only a few weeks since that in the
House of Commons I heard the naval statement made by a new First
Lord [Mr. Goschen], and it consisted only of the rescinding of all
the revolutionary changes of his predecessor, the mischief of every
one of which during the last two years has been pressed upon the
attention of Parliament and the country by that constitutional and
necessary body, the Opposition. Gentlemen, it will not do for
me--considering the time I have already occupied, and there are
still some subjects of importance that must be touched--to dwell
upon any of the other similar topics, of which there is a rich
abundance. I doubt not there is in this hall more than one farmer
who has been alarmed by the suggestion that his agricultural
machinery should be taxed.

I doubt not there is in this hall more than one publican who
remembers that last year an act of Parliament was introduced to
denounce him as a "sinner." I doubt not there are in this hall a
widow and an orphan who remember the profligate proposition to
plunder their lonely heritage. But, gentlemen, as time advanced it
was not difficult to perceive that extravagance was being
substituted for energy by the government. The unnatural stimulus
was subsiding. Their paroxysms ended in prostration. Some took
refuge in melancholy, and their eminent chief alternated between a
menace and a sigh. As I sat opposite the treasury bench the
ministers reminded me of one of those marine landscapes not very
unusual on the coast of South America. You behold a range of
exhausted volcanoes. Not a flame flickers on a single pallid crest.
But the situation is still dangerous. There are occasional
earthquakes, and ever and anon the dark rumbling of the sea.

But, gentlemen, there is one other topic on which I must touch. If
the management of our domestic affairs has been founded upon a
principle of violence, that certainly cannot be alleged against the
management of our external relations. I know the difficulty of
addressing a body of Englishmen on these topics. The very phrase
"Foreign Affairs" makes an Englishman convinced that I am about to
treat of subjects with which be has no concern. Unhappily the
relations of England to the rest of the world, which are "Foreign
Affairs," are the matters which most influence his lot. Upon them
depends the increase or reduction of taxation. Upon them depends
the enjoyment or the embarrassment of his industry.