ance, which
even yet cannot easily imagine a great country sacrificing the
substance of "glory" to the shadow of wisdom--this was the most
striking element in the drama into which, as I said just now, the
situation had resolved itself. The Liberal party at the present hour
is broken, disfigured, demoralized, the mere ghost of its former self.
The opposition to the government has been, in many ways, factious and
hypercritical: it has been opposition for opposition's sake, and it
has met, in part, the fate of such immoralities. But a good part of
the cause that it represented appeared at times to be the highest
conscience of a civilized country. The aversion to war, the absence
of defiance, the disposition to treat the emperor of Russia like a
gentleman and a man of his word, the readiness to make concessions, to
be conciliatory, even credulous, to try a great many expedients
before resorting to the showy argument of the sword,--these various
attributes of the peace party offered, of course, ample opportunity to
those scoffers at home and abroad who are always prepared to cry out
that England has sold herself, body and soul, to "Manchester." It was
interesting to attempt to feel what there might be of justice in such
cries, and at the same time feel that this looking at war in the face
and pronouncing it very vile was the mark of a high civilization. It
is but fair to add, though it takes some courage, that I found myself
very frequently of the opinion of the last speaker. If British
interests were in fact endangered by Russian aggression--though, on
the whole, I did not at all believe it--it would be a fine thing to
see the ancient might of this great country reaffirm itself. I did
not at all believe it, as I say; yet at times, I confess, I tried to
believe it, pretended I believed it, for the sake of this inspiring
idea of England's making, like the lady in _Dombey & Son_, "an
effort." There were those who, if one would listen to them, would
persuade one that that sort of thing was quite out of the question;
that England was no longer a fighting power; that her day was over;
and that she was quite incapable of striking a blow for the great
empire she had built up--with a good deal less fighting, really, than
had been given out--by taking happy advantage of weaker states. (These
hollow reasoners were of course invidious foreigners.) To such talk as
this I paid little attention--only just enough to feel it quicken my
desi