Laudator Temporis Acti

The attempt by some to suppress quotations from Winston Churchill makes me want to read all of his speeches and to quote extensively from them. Here are excerpts from his very first political speech, delivered at Claverton Down, Bath, on July 26, 1897:

That is like a Radical — just the slap-dash, wholesale, harum-scarum policy of the Radical. It reminds me of the man who, on being told that ventilation is an excellent thing, went and smashed every window in his house, and died of rheumatic fever. That is not Conservative policy. Conservative policy is essentially a tentative policy — a look-before-you-leap policy; and it is a policy of don't leap at all if there is a ladder. It is because our progress is slow that it is sure and constant.

[....]

There are not wanting those who say that in this Jubilee year our Empire has reached the height of its glory and power, and that now we shall begin to decline, as Babylon, Carthage, Rome declined. Do not believe these croakers but give the lie to their dismal croaking by showing by our actions that the vigour and vitality of our race is unimpaired and that our determination is to uphold the Empire that we have inherited from our fathers as Englishmen, that our flag shall fly high upon the sea, our voice be heard in the councils of Europe, our Sovereign supported by the love of her subjects, then shall we continue to pursue that course marked out for us by an all-wise hand and carry out our mission of bearing peace, civilisation and good government to the uttermost ends of the earth.