"‘Trust the people’—I have long tried to make that my motto; but I know, and will not conceal, that there are still a few in our party who have that lesson yet to learn and who have yet to understand that the Tory party of to-day is no longer identified with that small and narrow class which is connected with the ownership of land; but that its great strength can be found, and must be developed, in our large towns as well as in our country districts. Yes, trust the people. You, who are ambitious, and rightly ambitious, of being the guardians of the British Constitution, trust the people, and they will trust you—and they will follow you and join you in the defence of that Constitution against any and every foe. I have no fear of democracy. I do not fear minorities; I do not care for those checks and securities which Mr. Goschen seems to think of such importance. Modern checks and securities are not worth a brass farthing. Give me a fair arrangement of the constituencies, and one part of England will correct and balance the other."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Politicians from EnglandPeople from LondonConservative Party (UK) politiciansChancellors of the ExchequerSecretaries of State for India (United Kingdom)
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Speech in Birmingham (16 April 1884), quoted in Winston Churchill, Lord Randolph Churchill, Vol. I (1906), pp. 295-296
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lord_Randolph_Churchill
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Lord Randolph Churchill
Lord Randolph Henry Spencer-Churchill (13 February 1849 – 24 January 1895) was a British statesman.
42 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Lord Randolph Churchill →
Related Quotes
"The great bulk of the Tory party throughout the country is composed of artisans and labouring classes. They are direc…"
"Now some of our friends in the party have a lesson to learn which they do not seem disposed to learn. The Conservativ…"
"Your iron industry is dead; dead as mutton; your coal industries, which depend greatly upon the iron industries, are …"
"The Prime Minister [William Ewart Gladstone] is the greatest living master of the art of personal advertisement."
"For the purposes of recreation he has selected the felling of trees, and we may usefully remark that his amusements, …"
"How many more of England's heroes—how many more of England's best and bravest—are to be sacrificed to the Moloch of M…"
"My chief reason for supporting the Church of England I find in the fact that, when compared with other creeds and oth…"
"Mr. Chamberlain, a pinchbeck Robespierre."
"To tell the truth I don't know myself what Tory Democracy is. But I believe it is principally opportunism."
"In reply to your letter I have to remark that members who sit below the gangway have always acted in the House of Com…"