THE SINGULARITY OP BRITAIN'S GREATNESS.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 10 March 1880, Page 2

THE SINGULARITY OP BRITAIN'S GREATNESS.

: » The following is from the Hon. W. E. Gladstone's speech at Edinburg, on 251h November, 1879 :— Depend upon it, you will find to your cost before you are five years older— you will know it better than you do to*day— that this empire is an empire is an empire the daily calls of whose immense responsibilities task and overtask tne energies of the ablest of her statesmen. There is not a country in (he history of the world that has undertaken what we have undertaken ; and when I say what we have undertaken, I do not mean what the present Government have undertaken— (hat I wi-11 come to by»and«by— bat what England in its traditional established policy and position has undertaken. There is no precedent in human history for a formation like the British Government. A small island at one extremity of the globe peoples the whole earth with its colonies, but it is not satisfied with tint. It goes amongst the ancient races of Asia and it subjects 249,000,000 to its rule Ihere, Along with all this it disseminates over the world a commerce ssjclj as no imagination ever conceived in former time;! and such as no poet ever painted, (Cheers.) And all this it has to do wi(h a strength that lies within the narrow limits of those shores ; not 3 strength tbat I disparage ; on the contrary, I wish 'o dissipate if I can the idle dreams of those who are always telling you tbat the strength of England depends — sometime?, they say, upon its extending its empire and upon what it possesses beyond these shores. Eely upon it, the strength of Great Britain and Ireland is within the United Kingdom,, (Loud Cheers.) Whatever is to be done in defending and governing these vast colonies, with their teemiog millions, in protecting that unmeasured commerce, in relation to the enormous responsibilities of India—whatever is to be done must be done by the force derived from you and from your children 5 derived from you and your fellow electors in (he land ; from you and the citizens and people of this country. (Cheers.) And where are they ? They are some three and thiity millions of per* sons : they are a population less than the population of France, less than the popu« lation of Austria, less than the population of Germany, less than the population of Russia. But the population of France, Austria, Germany and Russia find it quite hard enough <o setiie their own matters within their own limits. We have unders taken to settle the affairs of a fourth, or nearly a fourth, of the entire human rare scattered over the world, and is not that enough for the ambition of Lord Beacons.* field? (Laughter and Cheers.) It satis* fled Mr Pitt and SJr Canning, it satisfied Lord Grey and Sir Robert Peel.it satis» fied Lord Palmersfon and Lord Russell and the late Lord Derby, and why cannot it satisfy—l do not want to make any in." vidious distinction between lord Beaconsfield and his colleagues, for it seems to me that they are now very much of one mind, and they move with harmony among themselves— -why does not this satisfy the ambition of the members of the present Government ? I affirm, on the contrary, strive and labor as you will— l speak after the experience of a life-time, of which a fair portion has been spent in office— strive and labor as you will, in Parliament and in office, human strength and human thought are not equal to the discharge of the duties appertaining to Government in this great, wonderful, and world^wide Empire. (Cheers.)