[A]s I have been challenged and pressed so closely by Mr. Gladstone upon this subject, I will venture to say that I do not believe you can have economical government in a country in where the Chief Minister piques himself upon disregarding the interests of the country abroad... [T]he most economical Government we ever had in England was the Government of the Duke of Wellington. Why was that Government so economical? Because the Duke of Wellington paid the greatest possible attention of any Minister who ever ruled in this country to the interests and business of England abroad. (Hear, hear.) He attended to them so successfully and so sedulously that during his administration we were not involved in expensive wars; we did not get into difficulties in which we were obliged to have recourse to expensive arbitration...and I repeat it was essentially by his attention to foreign affairs, and by his knowledge of foreign affairs...that he was able to make his an economical Government and had not to appeal, as has been our custom of late, for increased armaments. (Hear, hear.) Now, Mr. Gladstone's view of economy, or, rather, the view of his party and of the school he represents, is of another kind. He says, "The English people do not care for their affairs abroad—I do not much care for them myself—but I must have economy (laughter); I must discharge dockyard workmen; I must reduce clerks; I must sell the Queen's stores (laughter); I must starve the Queen's services; I must sell the accumulations of timber in the dockyards and arsenals; I must sell all the anchors belonging to the Navy (laughter); I must sell"—we were selling them off last year—"half the ships of Her Majesty's Navy." (Cheers and laughter.) ... Now, gentlemen, that is the economy of which Mr. Gladstone is so proud.

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "[A]s I have been challenged and pressed so closely by Mr. Gladstone upon this subject, I will venture to say that I do not believe you can have economical government in a country in where the Chief Minister piques himself upon disregarding the interests of the country abroad... [T]he most economical Government we ever had in England was the Government of the Duke of Wellington. Why was that Government so economical? Because the Duke of Wellington paid the greatest possible attention of any Minister who ever ruled in this country to the interests and business of England abroad. (Hear, hear.) He attended to them so successfully and so sedulously that during his administration we were not involved in expensive wars; we did not get into difficulties in which we were obliged to have recourse to expensive arbitration...and I repeat it was essentially by his attention to foreign affairs, and by his knowledge of foreign affairs...that he was able to make his an economical Government and had not to appeal, as has been our custom of late, for increased armaments. (Hear, hear.) Now, Mr. Gladstone's view of economy, or, rather, the view of his party and of the school he represents, is of another kind. He says, "The English people do not care for their affairs abroad—I do not much care for them myself—but I must have economy (laughter); I must discharge dockyard workmen; I must reduce clerks; I must sell the Queen's stores (laughter); I must starve the Queen's services; I must sell the accumulations of timber in the dockyards and arsenals; I must sell all the anchors belonging to the Navy (laughter); I must sell"—we were selling them off last year—"half the ships of Her Majesty's Navy." (Cheers and laughter.) ... Now, gentlemen, that is the economy of which Mr. Gladstone is so proud." in the context of "Speech in the Farmers' Ordinary at the Swan Hotel, Newport Pagnell (4 February 1874), quoted in The Times (5 February 1874), p. 5" to mean that wisdom is timeless.