Great Britain -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
I appeal to the noble Lord at the head of the Government and to this
House; I am not now complaining of the war—I am not now complaining of
the terms of peace, nor, indeed, of anything that has been done—but I
wish to suggest to this House what, I believe, thousands and tens of
thousands of the most educated and of the most Christian portion of the
people of this country are feeling upon this subject, although,
indeed, in the midst of a certain clamour in the country, they do
not give public expression to their feelings. Your country is not in
an advantageous state at this moment; from one end of the kingdom to
the other there is a general collapse of industry. Those members of
the House not intimately acquainted with the trade and commerce of
the country do not fully comprehend our position as to the diminution
of employment and the lessening of wages. An increase in the cost of
living is finding its way to the homes and hearts of a vast number of
the labouring population.
At the same time there is growing up—and, notwithstanding what some
hon. members of this House may think of me, no man regrets it more
than I do—a bitter and angry feeling against that class which has
for a long period conducted the public affairs of this country. I
like political changes when such changes are made as the result, not
of passion, but of deliberation and reason. Changes so made are safe,
but changes made under the influence of violent exaggeration, or of
the violent passions of public meetings, are not changes usually
approved by this House or advantageous to the country. I cannot but
notice, in speaking to gentlemen who sit on either side of this
House, or in speaking to any one I meet between this House and any
of those localities we frequent when this House is up—I cannot, I
say, but notice that an uneasy feeling exists as to the news which
may arrive by the very next mail from the East. I do not suppose that
your troops are to be beaten in actual conflict with the foe, or that
they will be driven into the sea; but I am certain that many homes in
England in which there now exists a fond hope that the distant one may
return—many such homes may be rendered desolate when the next mail
shall arrive. The Angel of Death has been abroad throughout the land;
you may almost hear the very beating of his wings. There is no one to
sprinkle with blood the lintels and the sideposts of our doors, that
he may spare and pass on; but he calls at the castle of the noble, the
mansion of the wealthy, equally as at the cottage of the humble, and it
is on behalf of all these classes that I make this solemn appeal.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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