Excerpt from Mr. Chamberlain's Speeches, Vol. 1

Early this year the publishers of these volumes inquired Whether my father would be willing that they Should re produce a selection from his Speeches. The idea pleased him, and he was gratified by Mr. Boyd's ready consent to undertake the task of selection and presentation. He accordingly placed at Mr. Boyd's disposal the scrap books in which had been collected the newspaper reports of his speeches from the beginning to the end of his long public life. The choice made from this vast mass of material is Mr. Boyd's. NO restrictions or conditions of any kind have been imposed upon him. The principle which has guided his selection is explained in his prefatory note. It was to make the collection representative of the full sweep of a long and famous career.' It will, I think, be found that he has admirably fulfilled this promise.

It was my father's Wish that I should prefix a few words of introduction to the collection. The time has not yet come, nor in any case am I the proper person, to measure exactly all he did and all he was, but these Speeches will show something of the man, of his character, and of his achieve ments. He cared little about charges of inconsistency, and no attempt is made here to gloss over any change Of thought or method. But I believe with him that through all his years of unceasing growth and widening outlook on men and things there was an underlying consistency of spirit and of purpose which gives unity to the whole.

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