But what are these woes compared to those that
other peoples have endured, when it has been said to the sword,
"Sword, go through the land," and the dread word has been obeyed;
when war has slain its thousands, and want its tens of thousands; or
when terrible convulsions of nature have shaken down cities, and
turned the fruitful land into a wilderness?
Events have moved fast since the already distant day when the
Colonial and Industrial Exhibition was ministering exultation to many
a British heart by its wonderful display of the various wealth of our
distant domains and their great industrial resources. We were even
then tempted--as have been nations that are no more--to pride
ourselves on having reached an unassailable height of grandeur. Since
then our territory has expanded and our wealth increased; but with
them have increased the evils and the dangers inseparable from great
possessions, and the responsibilities involved in them. We can only
"rejoice with trembling" in this our second year of Jubilee.
Remembering with all gratitude how we have been spared hitherto, and
mindful of the perils that wait on power and prosperity, let it be
ours to offer such sacrifices of thanksgiving as can be pleasing to
the almighty Ruler of the ways of men, whom too often in pride of
power, in selfish satisfaction with our own achievements, we forget.
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