The insular arrogance of the English character is a commonplace joke.

A Liberal he opposed Benjamin Disraeli and was a strong supporter of Irish Disestablishment but refused to follow Gladstone in accepting Home Rule. ” As a historian indeed he left no abiding work; the multiplicity of his interests prevented him from concentrating on any one subject. He always maintained that Canada separated by great barriers running north and south into four zones each having unimpeded communication with the adjoining portions of the United States was a profoundly artificial and badly-governed nation that was destined by its natural configuration to enter into a commercial union with the US.

D. LL. (August 13 1823 – June 7 1910) was a British historian and journalist active in the United Kingdom and Canada.