Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 2.djvu/102

 72 CAUSES INVOLVING FliANCE AND KNGLAND CHAP, to be moderate for the nonce, and to propose to ' argue the question in a way which his hearers will recognise. In vain lie declares that for the sake of argument he will lay aside his own broad principles and mimic the reasonings of his hearers. Practical men know that his mind is under the sway of an antecedent determination which dispenses him from the more narrow but more important inquiry in which they are en- gaged. They vill not give ear to one who is striving to lay down the conclusions which ought, as he says, to follow from other men's principles. He who altogether abjures the juice of the grape cannot usefully criticise the vintage of any par- ticular year; and the man who is the steady adversary of wars in general, upon broad and paramount grounds, will never be regarded as a sound judge of the question whether any particu- lar war is wicked or righteous, nor whether it is foolish or wise. It must be added that there M-as another cause which tended to disqualify ]Ir Bright from taking an effective part in the maintenance of peace. For one who would undertake a task of that kind at a time when warlike ardour is prevailing in the country, it is above all things necessary that he should be a statesman so truly attached to what men mean when they talk of their country, and so jealous of its honour, that no man could ascribe his efforts in the cause of peace to motives which a warlike and high-spirited people would repudiate. INIr Briglit sincerely desired the wel-