Page:Notes on the Anti-Corn Law Struggle.djvu/41

 , has given a portrait of two men whose power, such as it was, lay in fluency of speech, one of whom has been selected for an example of patriotism by an eminent writer who, before his death, became Prime Minister of England. The two individuals characterized by Lord Macaulay are Sir Patrick Hume and Wildman.

"Sir Patrick Hume," says Lord Macaulay, "who had since his flight from Scotland lived humbly at Utrecht, now emerged from his obscurity, but fortunately his eloquence could, on this occasion, do little mischief, for the Prince of Orange was by no means disposed to be the lieutenant of a debating society such as that which had ruined the enterprise of Argyle. The subtle and restless Wildman, who had some time before found England an unsafe residence, and had escaped to Germany, repaired from his retreat to the Prince's court," But neither Hume nor Wildman succeeded in obtaining the smallest influence upon the enterprise of a man who was a statesman as well as a soldier.

Free discussion at public meetings, a free press, and a free parliament, although a vast amount of nonsense and worse than nonsense may be uttered or printed, are inseparable from a free people.