almost to bursting, the new wine in the old bottles, the new
society under the old institutions. It is now time for us to pay
a decent, a rational, a manly reverence to our ancestors, not by
superstitiously adhering to what they, in other circumstances,
did, but by doing what they, in our circumstances, would have
done. All history is full of revolutions, produced by causes
similar to those which are now operating in England. A portion
of the community which had been of no account expands and becomes
strong. It demands a place in the system, suited, not to its
former weakness, but to its present power. If this is granted,
all is well. If this is refused, then comes the struggle between
the young energy of one class and the ancient privileges of
another. Such was the struggle between the Plebeians and the
Patricians of Rome. Such was the struggle of the Italian allies
for admission to the full rights of Roman citizens. Such was the
struggle of our North American colonies against the mother
country. Such was the struggle which the Third Estate of France
maintained against the aristocracy of birth. Such was the
struggle which the Roman Catholics of Ireland maintained against
the aristocracy of creed. Such is the struggle which the free
people of colour in Jamaica are now maintaining against the
aristocracy of skin. Such, finally, is the struggle which the
middle classes in England are maintaining against an aristocracy
of mere locality, against an aristocracy the principle of which
is to invest a hundred drunken potwallopers in one place, or the
owner of a ruined hovel in another, with powers which are
withheld from cities renowned to the furthest ends of the earth,
for the marvels of their wealth and of their industry.

But these great cities, says my honourable friend the Member for