HIS "TRUST THE PEOPLE" SPEECH[1]
(1884)
Born in 1849, died in 1895; entered Parliament in 1874; Secretary for India in 1885; Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1886.
What is the great and wide difference which
distinguishes the two great political parties who
endeavor to attract the support of the English
people? It has been well and wisely said—but I
do not think it can be too often repeated—that the
Tory party cling with veneration and affection
to the institutions of our country. The Radicals
regard them with aversion and distrust and will
always give multitudinous and specious reasons
for their destruction.
But can we, the Tory party, give no good convincing reasons to the people for the faith which is in us? We do not defend the Constitution from mere sentiment for the past, or from any infatuated superstition about divine right or hereditary excellence. We defend the Constitution solely on the ground of its utility to the
- ↑ From a speech delivered at Birmingham on April 16, 1884, in aid of the formation of workingmen's clubs to support the Conservative organization. These clubs have since become quite general in England. By kind permission of the Right Honorable Winston Churchill, the London Times, and Messrs. Longmans, Green & Co.
