Page:Eminent English liberals in and out of Parliament.djvu/161

 of sense and truth." In the first place, apart from the fact that an advanced Radical might reasonably be expected to be ashamed of having a monarchy of any kind, cheap or dear, Mr. Mundella knew, as every other member knew, that the reasons set forth for the prince's trip were not the true reasons. In the second place, as a friend of the people, and knowing, as he so well knows, the sore privations of the masses, how could he, with a clear conscience, hint that a royal family, which directly costs the nation five million dollars per annum, is either cheap or shabby? The presidency of the United States costs fifty thousand dollars a year; and no impartial observer has ever yet affirmed that the simple courtesies and hospitalities of the White House compare unfavorably with the ridiculous tomfooleries of the Court of St. James. In the third place, it is not the part of a good Radical, as Mr. Mundella seems to think, implicitly to follow the multitude, even if the multitude consist of one's constituents. There is a following of the multitude to do evil which the true Radical will resist, when necessary, at all hazards, in the interest of the people themselves. When great principles are at stake, the genuine Radical must ever be ready to go out into the wilderness, if need be, alone.

Mr. Mundella has likewise a curious disposition to adorn his conversation with quite unnecessary allusions