Page:The World's Famous Orations Volume 5.djvu/287

 LOREBURN

ON THE POLICY OF THE ENGLISH LIBERALS »

(1906)

Born in 1846; became a Barrister in 1871; a Q. C. in 1882; elected to

Parliament in 1880; Solicitor-General in 1894; Attorney -General in

1894; decorated for service in the Venezuelan Boundary case; Lord

Chancellor in 1906.

The parliament which was returned in Jan- uary is more remarkable for intellectual power, for sincerity of purpose, and for a fixed deter- mination to achieve its ends, than any parlia- ment in this country for many long years. We have been told that this House of Commons was going to have a short, if not a merry, life, and that it would be replaced soon by something very much preferable. I have no such idea. I believe that this House of Commons represents a feeling and a force in this country which has been re- tarded already for about twenty years. The forces held back from 1885 have now reasserted themselves, and the spirit of progress will be lasting and durable. Therefore all those who

1 From a speech at the National Liberal Club, London, on July 11, 1906. By kind permission of Lord Loreburn and the London Tribune. This was originally a newspaper report of an impromptu speech printed in the third person. It has been altered here to the first person.

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