He complains with a sorrowful indignation of people who
"appear to have no proper estimate of the value of the franchise"; he
leads his disciples to believe--what the Englishman is always too ready
to believe--that the having a vote, like the having a large family, or
a large business, or large muscles, has in itself some edifying and
perfecting effect upon human nature. Or else he cries out to the
democracy,--"the men," as he calls them," upon whose shoulders the
greatness of England rests,"--he cries out to them: "See what you have
done! I look over this country and see the cities you have built, the
railroads you have made, the manufactures you have produced, the cargoes
which freight the ships of the greatest mercantile navy the world has
ever seen! I see that you have converted by your labors what was once a
wilderness, these islands, into a fruitful garden; I know that you have
created this wealth, and are a nation whose name is a word of power
throughout all the world." Why, this is just the very style of laudation
with which Mr.
Pages:
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448