Book Description:
LIBERALISAM AND THE EMPIRE xavrwv 6 a6rGv airrov Apx j 616. nX ovc. fiav a i tXoripiav. T r., iii, 82. The ca. ri. sc of the 7cl o e cntn. st oplre 11. rc. q 73 n7yire ptrs. sz e J fo,. coretottssre. s n zlZ a z, lrifio. l i i k l o, itioti o f i 1 i 2 t i . it ill i s t l l lle tropolis ancl eelitre of a ollcl witle iesuxo f fi cc mltl Ilrosperous co l i iori isc onnltel o fs t he greatest features of contel111 orary histoi y. T t is a, niatter of just pride for I i yliblln etoi 1 eflcc. t tipoil. It is X fundarneilt tl col ciitioii i c tcor be lost xigllt of in any attempt at xouncl 1 oliticnl thinliii g. ur CO OII 1iCLeS , i iosto ther colonies, owe their origiilt l esibtelice, ill one sense or another, to inere ul eliture or the power of the x voril. They owe tlieii. vitality aiid strcngtl, ailcl lilost of the finer c11 ii ncterixtic v hichm ake tllclll almost unique in tllc hixtorj of coloilizatioll, to very c iffercnt causes to t11e policv of 11011 iiltertel er cet, o tlle studied oidai c o e f aggression, to tolerntioil nlltl generous aillit betwe ii coiitli tillg creeds and diverse races, to I , illera1 l rii cipla nsc i Libel. a, l iclcas. It 11ii. 3eelriecl to tile writers of t11e. c 1 ssny. that tl chrc i i pti c ent grave d l lgero f time 11igher considerations being almost forgotten, and of force and aggression becoming not only too often enlployed as means towards good or tolerable ends, but actually worshipped and glorified as ends in themselves. Authority, force, firmness, the detection of offences, the assertion of rightful claims and the punishment of enemies, are, no doubt, principles of great power and value in the world as it now stands but t, hey are not, and never have been, sufficient alone. Selfcriticism, persuasion, patience, a wise blindness to offences, a reluctance to stand on the outermost edge of every right, the appeasement of enmities, are principles also of great and, one used to hope, of increasing value. On practical questions of politics the difference between the two English parties has generally been about the degree in which the first or authoritarian principles should be tempered or even supplanted by the second. This difference of spirit has seldom come out more clearly than in the great speeches on the Parnell Commission. The Attorney General collected elaborately every inischievous speech, every discreditable and criminal act committed by Irish Nationalists during a whole generation. He produced a most iinpressive catalogue, seethed with virtuous indignation, and called aloud for the punishment of so wicked a race. Sir Charles Russell, taking all the same facts, pointed out that agrarian crime generally follows agricultural distress, was in that instance increased by landlord vi oppression and official misgovernment, and could only be diminished by reform. What make concessions to criminals cried the Coercionists in anger. Forego our just revenge Omit to assert our authority Certainly, if that will make things better, is the Liberal reply. What can be the feelings of so able and influential a Liberal as the Editor of the Daily New8 when he sees most English newspapers, and his own among them, filled day after day with statements, no doubt more or less well tested, intended to discredit, by hook or by crook, the whole race of South African Dutch, from reports of individual cruelties to natives, and explanations from adventurous financiers that their deficits are entirely due to bribes paid to the Volksraad, down to third hand repetitions of what somebody told somebody that Mr...
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