Another memorable passage in Sir Edward Grey's speech was his
description of the British elector. Sir Edward Grey has not hitherto been regarded as an inspiring orator, but we remember nothing in modern speeches which shows greater insight, truth, and originality than the following :—
"I wish there was time on your visit to this country for you to make the acquaintance of the average British elector. It is not very easy to get at him ; he is a very solid person, not like the ephemeral people who are on the platform at this moment ; he is very reticent and most retiring; it is not easy for all of us, even in our constituencies, to know what he is thinking ; he does not necessarily take an active part on political committees or write or speak himself. I think he likes good speaking and good writing when it is not too eloquent. If it is too eloquent he begins to be afraid that he may be taken in. I think I would sum him up by saying that be is a man who often makes mistakes, but who has a solid foundation of enduring good sense which prevents men cleverer than himself from making much greater mistakes than he would make, or at all events, turns them out of office when they do, and that is the man who has made the Empire what it is, and it is through him that the Empire has
been, and must be, maintained. It comes to this, that by character the Empire has boon made, and by character the Empire must be maintained."
We abound in every word here used by Sir Edward Grey, and
we would go so far as to say that no man who does not realise the facts he sets forth can hope to understand the British Empire.
