rbed by the mother country, in accordance with what I
cannot but call the pusillanimous conduct of certain of our elder
Britannulists, it has not been from any failure on the part of the
island, but from the opposition with which the Fixed Period has been
regarded.

I think I must begin my story by explaining in moderate language a
few of the manifest advantages which would attend the adoption of the
Fixed Period in all countries. As far as the law went it was adopted
in Britannula. Its adoption was the first thing discussed by our
young Assembly, when we found ourselves alone; and though there were
disputes on the subject, in none of them was opposition made to the
system. I myself, at the age of thirty, had been elected Speaker of
that Parliament. But I was, nevertheless, able to discuss the merits
of the bills in committee, and I did so with some enthusiasm. Thirty
years have passed since, and my "period" is drawing nigh. But I am
still as energetic as ever, and as assured that the doctrine will
ultimately prevail over the face of the civilised world, though I
will acknowledge that men are not as yet ripe for it.

The Fixed Period has been so far discussed as to make it almost
unnecessary for me to explain its tenets, though its advantages may
require a few words of argument in a world that is at present dead to
its charms. It consists altogether of the abolition of the miseries,
weakness, and _faineant_ imbecility of old age, by the prearranged
ceasing to live of those who would otherwise become old. Need I
explain to the inhabitants of England, for whom I chiefly write, how
extreme are those sufferings, and how great the costliness of that
old age which is unable in any degree to supply its own wants? Such
old age should not, we Britannulists maintain, be allowed to be. This
should be prevented, in the interests both of the young and of those
who do become old when obliged to linger on after their "period" of
work is over. Two mistakes have been made by mankind in reference to
their own race,--first, in allowing the world to be burdened with the
continued maintenance of those whose cares should have been made to
cease, and whose troubles should be at an end. Does not the Psalmist
say the same?--"If by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet
is their strength labour and sorrow." And the second, in requiring
those who remain to live a useless and painful life. Both these
errors have come from an ill-judged