DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

(24) It can be abundantly proved by statistics, that the internal economy of this country in all its branches has undergone a complete transformation within this century. Volumes could be filled with the history of the development of agriculture, of trade, of science, —in short, of every attribute of material progress, which space has allowed me but briefly to indi- cate. The agricultural, working, trading, and pro- fessional classes, owing to the vast interests they represent, to the facilities of communication and in- formation at their command, have the power to move public opinion by deputations to Ministers, by organi- zation, by public meetings, and by parliamentary influence. Education has enabled them to utilise the advantages of their position in making their influence felt and recognised. Notwithstanding their numerical superiority the sway of these classes over public opinion would be lost if their conduct or their aims ceased to be such as to entitle them to respect, con- fidence, and sympathy from the community at large. In other words, they must themselves act up to the standard which they contribute so largely to set, by which public opinion is guided in its decisions. Hand in hand with them, work those great and noble men, whose number is legion, whose energies are devoted to the extension of civilisation, and to enforcing the cardinal truth derived by human experience from the lessons of the past, that the