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An Address

modern examples. The United States is an
example of an honest and well-considered attempt
at democracy on a large scale. Its isolation from
the Old World and the wide territories that were
at its disposal allowed it an exceptional term of
prosperity ; but its present condition is not such
as to convert me. And we can look nearer home :
our own democracy : our Parliament in those
years before the war broke out : it was a spectacle
to justify all the patriotic fear that reasonable
people felt. Iwill spare you the picture. Enough
to say that the Prussian statesmen, who were
observing us with jealous attention, thought
that it was impossible that we could pull ourselves
 together ; so they set off on the warpath.
And they are still exhibiting to us the very
superior organization of an autocracy.
But the unexpected happened. The British
democracy slowly, slowly, slowly awoke to the
situation. I confess that I did not expect this ;
much as I hoped for it. I did not think that
the working-men of England would perceive that
the strife was between democracyand militarism;
that, if Prussia won, then the hope of democracy