Russel Wallace : Alfred Russell Wallace (sic) All I can say at the moment is that I feel myself privileged to have lived to see this grand uprising of the workers, and that I congratulate them upon the splendid body of men they have sent to represent them in Parliament. These men, so far as we can judge them at present, are not only distinguished for their intelligence and general knowledge, but are very largely gifted with the power of presenting any case which they support by means of well-arranged and powerful arguments, and with a considerable faculty of persuasive and even eloquent speech. They also seem imbued with that calm judgment and broad common-sense which will prevent them from rashly attempting the impossible, while at the same time not concealing the high ideals at which they aim. Such a body of men only need to work together to do much, even with their present small numbers. In future Parliaments, when it is to be hoped they will number some hundreds, they will possess the power--and I doubt not the wisdom--to move steadily on in a course of social reform which will gradually but surely abolish those deplorable evils which are the disgrace of our much boasted civilisation, and which, being all due to various forms of injustice and ignorance, are within the power of man to remedy. I wish them every success in this grand work for the good of humanity.
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