Page:Eminent English liberals in and out of Parliament.djvu/299

 Smothering in their lioly ashes &emsp;&emsp;Freedom's new-lit altar fires. Shall we make their creed our jailer? &emsp;&emsp;Shall we, in our haste to slay, From the tombs of the old prophets &emsp;&emsp;Steal the funeral lamps away To light up the martyr fagots &emsp;&emsp;Round the prophets of the day?"

The religious provisions of the Scotch Education Bill of 1872 Mr. Herbert criticised with commendable candor, and a rare appreciation of the evil effects of ecclesiastical uniformity on the character of the Scottish people. The justice of his strictures, to which no member from Scotland dared give expression, was gratefully acknowledged by enlightened Scottish opinion.

In 1873, in criticising the army estimates, Mr. Herbert took occasion to impugn the organization and question the efficiency of our standing army. He proved by irrefutable statistics that the British army is consumed by loathsome disease, and thinned by incessant desertion to an extent that is almost incredible. "Officers and gentlemen," needless to say, were horrified, more especially when they were told by a member, who might be regarded as one of themselves, that a territorial citizen force, a simple extension of the volunteer system, would be more effective in the field than a standing army, and incomparably less costly to the British taxpayer.

Mr. Herbert's kindly nature was never seen to greater advantage than in the untiring efforts he made "to provide for the protection of wild birds during the breeding-season." He set forth the virtues of thrushes, blackbirds, jays, and sparrows with something like pa-