“Liberalism was a plant which did not thrive in stagnant waters, and the waters of London, to their shame be it spoken, were stagnant. Where there was a want of active zeal all the worse and baser instincts which had power in politics told against the Liberal party. (Cheers.) The money power was against the Liberal party, and so was the liquor power.”

Speech to the London Liberal and Radical Union at St. James's-hall (11 January 1887), quoted in The Times (12 February 1887), p. 7.
1880s

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James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce 19
British academic, jurist, historian and Liberal politician 1838–1922

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