2-2Z THE HISTORY OF THE SOUTH-WESTERN at Trafalgar, -will never be forgotten by Englishmen ; long may this ship be kept in Hampshire waters as a monument of those times, and may Nelson's noble name be as well re- presented in future generations as it is at present. Hampshire men will associate ^ith Strathfiehlsaye the memory of more than lioman greatness — that of one whoso equal we have never seen, and probably never shall see in our day. None of us that ever saw the Iron Duke could forget him ; he is a pattern to us all of devotion to his comitry aiul duty to his sovereign, and when England is again assailed, may we again fmd one like him to stej) forward in defence of her greatness and honour. Nor can we forget our llamji- shirc poet, who now lies in the churchyard at Hursley, and whose writings have shed such a ha})iv religious innuence in our own land and beyond the Atlantic. His house and grave are even now places of pilgrimage, and should not bo forgotten in enumerating the most illustrious localities in our county. There is .a saying of one whose memory is clierished in Hampshire, one who but yesterday passed away from us, one who seemed to link us with those great men whom we liave lost. It was this : that " t/ic fir.^t strp towards loving ones country was to love one's counfi/." Such were the words of the late Lord ralmerston, and truer Avords were never spoken. Our Constitution happily has made each count}^ into an independent self-governing community for many pur- poses, and yet all are tied together as one nation. Our counties, however, speak to us of family associations, local traditions and interests, around which grow our human aiVec- tions. To us, therefore, these histories and these associa- tions are realities ; tiny form our ))art of our country's life, they find their place in our country's history, they bring us toirether in that common interest in our country's welfare which under Cod's blessing has mad(> us a haj)py and con- tented people. Every age leaves its mark in the history of a country, and so of the w(»rl<l, and in like manner the histoi-y of a county leaves its mark on the history' of its country — the buildings we rear, the monuments we raise, speak of the social and religious life of the age and of the men who lived in it. Let us then remendnr that upon each one of us rests the responsibility of making our countiy's liistory, and that by oiu' actions, individually as v<II as (Collectively, it will be judged whether we have fuHilled the high mission that Cod lias set before us as a nation.
