State. These Societies had branches in various towns, and held frequent meetings in London, where fervent uncompromising resolutions were* passed, and hearts beat high with intense conviction and earnestness. Have they left even a trace of their work?
I do not refer to the blank results which followed these hopeful times, or to the failure of generous efforts with a view to disheartening you. I am happy to think that
"Hope springs eternal in the human breast."
I only wish to call your attention to a prodigious waste of splendid energy, and ask you to consider whether there may not have been some error of method in the course which has been pursued by reformers hitherto. May it not be well to blend some sagacity with our ardour? Should we not take into consideration the character of the social material by which we are surrounded? Is it not necessary when we are agreed in the main as to object, to endeavour to combine instead of dividing our strength? Have we not a duty towards the poor, whose brief we hold, and whose case we may mismanage?
The Electoral Reform Association has been started at considerable cost and trouble to the promoters. Public spirit is so rare in this country, that every motive except that of public spirit will in all probability be attributed to us. If you only knew by experience in practical agitation how difficult it is to interest people in a subject that they do not find mentioned in Reuter's telegrams, or discussed in the daily journals, you would indeed wonder that any public movement is started at all—much more that any Radical movement is started—for Radical movements do not attract wealth. There are many people to whom a public meeting affords a means of agreeable excitement and who are ready to applaud; but the number of those who are prepared to put their hands in their pockets or to assist in the labour of organization is extremely small. I am sure I shall be borne out in this statement by every public-spirited man who is present.
I do not intend to indulge in any boastful prediction as to the probable success of our movement. It is one which the Moderates regard with unconcealed aversion; it would create a really National House, and would substitute a Liberal party founded upon principle for a Liberal party founded upon phrases. There is not one ex-Minister who would have anything to do with us; they have to cultivate popularity with the governing minority, and the governing minority, by whatever title it may label its respective factions, is essentially
