Page:Eminent English liberals in and out of Parliament.djvu/11



HESE brief sketches of eminent Radicals were originally contributed to the London "Weekly Dispatch."

They were each written at a single spell, and it was not at first intended that they should be republished.

They, however, attracted an attention gratifying to me in proportion to its unexpectedness.

Many brother journalists and several distinguished members of the legislature, whose judgment I was bound to respect, urged reproduction. Hence this volume, which owes much to the enterprise of the publishers.

As regards the sketches themselves, their chief merit, if they have any, consists in this, that they have not been "written to order," but express as nearly as possible the sentiments of the writer regarding twenty-four representative Radicals, with most of whom he is personally acquainted.

These "Men of the Left" I regard as the salt of our