The decline and fall of the British Empire - University of Oregon

of the British Empire 33
or political Councillors paid the
barest attention to the common
laws which condition success in
commerce. Smitten with a false
philanthropy, or desirous of winning
cheap esteem, they succeeded only
in pauperising the masses and
plunging local and national finance
into a state akin to bankruptcy.
Mr. Gladstone was a man upon
whom many aspersions have been
cast, but few would deny that he was
a master in the art of finance. Now
it was a maxim of Mr. Gladstone's
that '*it is the business of a government
to govern and not to trade,''
Well had it been for England if her
citizens had realized the profound
truth contained in this crisp sentence.
For government in England meant
talking ; it meant placing the
interests of one's party before the
it meant
interests of one's country ;
fishing for votes and baiting one's