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 the world ? Of what are we proudest ? Is it of beating a few Tartar troops^ and getting a new island of Hong Kong that we may call our own ? Is it of destroying cities, burn- ing bazaars, desecrating mosques, despoiling tombs beyond the Indus, — and bringing back for trophy a pair of rotten old gates — sham relics of the abominations of dying idola- tries ? Parliamentary votes of thanks may pass for such things : but not for such things does a people^s heart rejoice. England^s glory is in quite other things than these : in the extension of her commerce, and of all that naturally accom- panies extended commerce — ^in the diffusion to remotest lands of her institutions, her arts, her language, her literature, her religion. One single piece of calico-print of Manchester make, that is borne on the wings of commerce to some semi- barbarous hut or tent, in some half-unknown, out-of-the-way comer of the world where England was never heard of and nothing English ever seen before — is a fitter topic of national glorying and rejoicing, does more for the honour and the power of England, does more to advance British interests and consolidate and extend British empire, than all the victories and trophies of Affghanistan, sandal-wood gates included.

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