Mazzini
is dead. I can hear now the hushed tone in which he spoke those words;
the pause that followed them; and the gradual rising of his voice to a
culmination at the words `inspired shout'; and then another pause
before that husky whisper `GOD AND THE PEOPLE.' There was no
discussion. We were petrified. We sat like stones; and presently, like
shadows, we drifted out into the evening air. The little society met
once or twice again; but any activity it still had was but the faint
convulsion of a murdered thing. Old wine had been poured into a new
bottle, with the usual result. Broken even so, belike, would be the
glass roof of the Commons if a member spouted up to it such words as
we heard that evening in Oxford. At any rate, the member would be
howled down. So strong is the modern distaste for oratory. The day for
oratory, as for toping, is past beyond redemption. `Debating' is the
best that can be done and appreciated by so abstemious a generation as
ours. You will find a very decent level of `debating' in the Oxford
Union, in the Balham Ethical Society, in the Pimlico Parliament, and
elsewhere. But not, I regret to say, in the House of Commons.
No one supposes that in a congeries of--how many?--six hundred and
seventy men, chosen by the British public, there will be a very high
average of mental capacity.
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