Preston. 2 1 1 



a cause which they felt to be their own and held as 

 sacred. The ruling classes of the land were naturally 

 against the Republic. This we must always expect till 

 the day comes in Britain (and it is coming) when all forms 

 of hereditary privilege are swept away and the people 

 are equal politically one with another. Nothing could 

 possibly please the aristocracy of Britain, or any aristoc- 

 racy, more than the failure of a nation which ignores 

 aristocracy altogether. That is obvious. Human nature 

 would not be what it is were this not so, and they are 

 not blarriable for it, but, resisting every temptation, the 

 working men of Britain — those to whom a Republic 

 promises so much, for it gives all men political equality 

 — these stood firm from first to last, the staunch and 

 unflinching friends of the Republic. Some day, perhaps, 

 it may be in the power of America to show that where 

 the interests of the masses of Britain are concerned, she 

 has not forgotten the deep debt she owes to them ; no 

 matter what the provocation, the people of America 

 must remember it is their turn to forbear for the sake, 

 not of the ruling classes, but for the sake of the masses 

 of Britain who were and are her devoted friends, 



Preston, that is, Priest's Town, for it received its 

 name from the many ecclesiastics resident there as early 

 as the eighth century, was once the principal port of 

 Lancashire ; and when Charles I. collected ship-money 

 it was assessed for nearly twice the amount of Liver- 

 pool. 



