pe
bristling at this moment with arms,--prepared, as we must suppose,
for shortening life,--and why is there a hangman attached to the
throne of Great Britain as one of its necessary executive officers?
Why in the Old Testament was Joshua commanded to slay mighty kings?
And why was Pharaoh and his hosts drowned in the Red Sea? Because the
Almighty so willed it, our Governor will say, taking it for granted
that He willed everything of which a record is given in the Old
Testament. In those battles which have ravished the North-west of
India during the last half-century, did the Almighty wish that men
should perish miserably by ten thousands and twenty thousands? Till
any of us can learn more than we know at present of the will of the
Almighty, I would, if he will allow me, advise our Governor to be
silent on that head.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it would be a long task, and one not to be
accomplished before your bedtime, were I to recount to you, for his
advantage, a few of the arguments which have been used in favour of
the Fixed Period,--and it would be useless, as you are all acquainted
with them. But Sir Ferdinando is evidently not aware that the
general prolongation of life on an average, is one of the effects
to be gained, and that, though he himself might not therefore live
the longer if doomed to remain here in Britannula, yet would his
descendants do so, and would live a life more healthy, more useful,
and more sufficient for human purposes.

"As far as I can read the will of the Almighty, or rather the
progress of the ways of human nature, it is for man to endeavour to
improve the conditions of mankind. It would be as well to say that we
would admit no fires into our establishments because a life had now
and again been lost by fire, as to use such an argument as that now
put forward against the Fixed Period. If you will think of the line
of reasoning used by Sir Ferdinando, you will remember that he has,
after all, only thrown you back upon the old prejudices of mankind.
If he will tell me that he is not as yet prepared to discard them,
and that I am in error in thinking that the world is so prepared,
I may perhaps agree with him. The John Bright in our harbour is
the strongest possible proof that such prejudices still exist. Sir
Ferdinando Brown is now your Governor, a fact which in itself is
strong evidence. In opposition to these witnesses I have nothing to
say. The ignorance which we are told that we had exp