July 29, 1878, "to express public appreciation of the services of the Earl of Beaconsfield in the settlement of the Eastern Question," unless there had been a very large amount of public sentiment in support of it. This was undoubtedly the case. Nearly every grown man in the place was an admirer of Lord Beaconsfield, the only exceptions being those who had no patriotic feeling, and were too utterly stupid to have any opinions on Imperial politics, and those "cranks" (to use an admirable American term) whose cleverness furnishes them with paradoxical reasons for differing with their fellow-creatures. Such being the condition of the public mind, it was not difficult to organise a Beaconsfield demonstration in Melbourne. The necessary preliminary formalities having been observed, the Mayor called a public meeting, which, although held in the afternoon, was attended by some 3000 persons, and the two chief speakers had both been Premiers of the colony. The Melbourne Argus was quite justified in asserting that it was "one of the most interesting and enthusiastic that Melbourne has ever witnessed." The speech of Mr. James Service,[1] the ex-Premier of Victoria (who won
- ↑ See Appendix F, "A Typical Australian Statesman."
