THE MARQUIS OF SALISBURY -AN ENGLISH WEBSTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 1731, 24 January 1885, Page 27

THE MARQUIS OF SALISBURY -AN ENGLISH WEBSTER.

A very big English gun is my lord, the Marquis of Salisbury, He is to-day a Daniel Webßter in English politics. Opponents style him a political wrecker, and characterise him as haughty, bitter, and aristocratic; yet all concede his surpassing abilities, especially as a parliamentary debater. When Salisbury is pitted against Gladstone— and when are they not pitted against each other?— we have a contest worth looking at. I saw Salisbury in the House of Lords ; and in wandering through the .magnificent rooms of his grand old baronial hall, Hatfield House, his face, with the faces of a long lino of his famous ancestors, looked down upon mo from their walls. This man is idolised — almost deified — by a wide circle of English Conservatives ; and his receptions at the great Conservative rallies in Parliament out of session are grand affairs. Stately committees meet him, made up of the^most powerful lords of the district; and nor'sea are dragged from his carriage by men "who consider it an honour to take their pa^eß. JSis speeches are strong, eloquent, lull of wHI, Ufe, and living interest-. Not'long ago ho held forth to a rally of many thousands at Plymouth. In front of the balcony from which he b&*anged, Shakespeare spoke thus in letters of blue upon a gold ground : IMb up thy noble brow, renowned Salisbury, And with a gre&t heart heave away this storm ; For honourable reecue, and delence, Crlea out upon the name of Salisbury.

It waa from thifj balcony that Salisbury uttered a peroration in defence of his course on the Egyptian question, which possesses a burning eloquence hard to match anywhere : •'I stand in a town which has witnesssed and been partner in the glorious deeds of Erigland, for centuries back. You have seen the. greatness of [England built up, as it were, $fciok by brick. It has cost many sacrifices, $c pouring <Sut of much precious blood, the squandering oi abundance of treasure, and the supreme efforts of many noble minds. Do you imagine that this is a mere chimera we have followed all these centuries as we are sometimes told? Do you imagine that we should ba the England that we are if our forefathers had not done the deeds which we admire, and which I am now exhorting you fco imitate? Do you tbiok that if you had never conquered India, or if you had never resisted Napoleon, you would be a happier, a more peaceful, a more prosperous, a more contented nation? ['' No, no," and cheers.] It is no mere chimera that you follow. No doubfc, the impulse which leads men to heroic deeds, and which leads n^ople to great exertions and great sacrifices, f& fc# founded on calculation ; it is the 'peculiarity of heroic sentiments and noble 'characters. But it J3 a false philosophy to %ay that it is a thin and shallow sentiment. Sentiment is a noble thing in itself. Sentiment in itself makes men better citizens —the belief that they belong to a fcreafc empire with great traditions, with great lopes, ornamented by distinguished name's and splendid exertions, that belief, I think, flakes every citizen' himself work better in his own sphere, and impresses' and purifies the national QJ)&Yaste? by which we all exist. But it does more than ti^is, Undoubtedly we should avoid any thing .like an uaaajqessary intermeddling, adventurous policy, But yourempire, if Wemean it to live, must grow— must steadily gtow. If it ceases to grow it will begin to de- ) fcay. (Loud cheers.) That empire rests not Jbersly 6n the vainglorious spirit' of a hollow imagination, but it rests upon the sound basis t>f the extension of intercourse between 'the fiivmsed and £j^B uncivilised portion of the jrorldj.ana it jis.the foundation and the'nec^sfary condition of .that commercial prosperity fid o,f tihat /ndußtrial activity wjiicb are the read, of #fe to millions of our people."— Ogs\ 9ftfi°j9 .Commercial^Bulletin. ' ' '' '