within this sea-girt realm. They have nothing to do with ideals: they
never trouble themselves to think about the Rights of Man. If you talk
to them (long enough) about the rights of the shopman, or the ploughman,
or the cat's-meat-man, they will lend ear, and, when the facts of any
such case have been examined, they will find a way of dealing with them.
This characteristic of theirs they call Common Sense. To them, all
things considered, it has been of vast service; one may even say that the
rest of the world has profited by it not a little. That Uncommon Sense
might now and then have stood them even in better stead is nothing to the
point. The Englishman deals with things as they are, and first and
foremost accepts his own being.

This Jubilee declares a legitimate triumph of the average man. Look back
for threescore years, and who shall affect to doubt that the time has
been marked by many improvements in the material life of the English
people? Often have they been at loggerheads among themselves, but they
have never flown at each other's throats, and from every grave dispute
has resulted some substantial gain. They are a cleaner people and a more
sober; in every class there is a diminution of brutality; education--stand
for what it may--has notably extended; certain forms of tyranny have been
abolished; certain forms of suffering, due to heedlessness or ignorance,
have been abated. True, these are mere details; whether they indicate a
solid advance in civilization cannot yet be determined. But assuredly
the average Briton has cause to jubilate; for the progressive features of
the epoch are such as he can understand and approve, whereas the doubt
which may be cast upon its ethical complexion is for him either
non-existent or unintelligible. So let cressets flare into the night
from all the hills! It is no purchased exultation, no servile flattery.
The People acclaims itself, yet not without genuine gratitude and
affection towards the Representative of its glory and its power. The