,,latter-,,day ,,pamphlets4 by ,thomas ,carlyle ,but as yet struggles the twelfth hour of the ,night4 ,birds of darkness are on the wing2 spectres uproar2 the dead walk2 the living dream4 ,thou1 ,eternal ,providence1 wilt make the ,day dawn6--,,jean ,,paul4 ,then said his ,lordship1 ,well4 ,god mend all6--,nay1 by ,god1 ,donald1 we must help him to mend it6 said the other4-- ,,rushworth 7,sir ,david ,ramsay and ,lord ,rea1 in #afcj74 ,,contents4 ,i4 ,,the ,,present ,,time ,,ii4 ,,model ,,prisons ,,iii4 ,,downing ,,street ,,iv4 ,,the ,,new ,,downing ,,street ,v4 ,,stump-,,orator ,,no4 ,i4 ,,the ,,present ,,time4 ,february #a1 #ahej4 ,the ,present ,time1 youngest-born of ,eternity1 child and heir of all the ,past ,times with their good and evil1 and parent of all the ,future1 is ever a ,new ,era to the thinking man2 and comes with new questions and significance1 however commonplace it look3 to know it1 and what it bids us do1 is ever the sum of knowledge for all of us4 ,this new ,day1 sent us out of ,heaven1 this also has its heavenly omens2--amid the bustling trivialities and loud empty noises1 its silent monitions1 which if we cannot read and obey1 it will not be well with us6 ,no2--nor is there any sin more fearfully avenged on men and ,nations than that same1 which indeed includes and presupposes all manner of sins3 the sin which our old pious fathers called judicial blindness2--which we1 with our light habits1 may still call misinterpretation of the ,time that now is2 disloyalty to its real meanings and monitions1 stupid disregard of these1 stupid adherence active or passive to the counterfeits and mere current semblances of these4 ,this is true of all times and days4 ,but in the days that are now passing over us1 even fools are arrested to ask the meaning of them2 few of the generations of men have seen more impressive days4 ,days of endless calamity1 disruption1 dislocation1 confusion worse confounded3 if they are not days of endless hope too1 then they are days of utter despair4 ,for it is not a small hope that will suffice1 the ruin being clearly1 either in action or in prospect1 universal4 ,there must be a new world1 if there is to be any world at all6 ,that human things in our ,europe can ever return to the old sorry routine1 and proceed with any steadiness or continuance there2 this small hope is not now a tenable one4 ,these days of universal death must be days of universal new-birth1 if the ruin is not to be total and final6 ,it is a ,time to make the dullest man consider2 and ask himself1 ,whence he came8 ,whither he is bound8--,a veritable ,new ,era1 to the foolish as well as to the wise4 ,not long ago1 the world saw1 with thoughtless joy which might have been very thoughtful joy1 a real miracle not heretofore considered possible or conceivable in the world1--a ,reforming ,pope4 ,a simple pious creature1 a good country-priest1 invested unexpectedly with the tiara1 takes up the ,new ,testament1 declares that this henceforth shall be his rule of governing4 ,no more finesse1 chicanery1 hypocrisy1 or false or foul dealing of any kind3 ,god's truth shall be spoken1 ,god's justice shall be done1 on the throne called of ,st4 ,peter3 an honest ,pope1 ,papa1 or ,father of ,christendom1 shall preside there4 ,and such a throne of ,st4 ,peter2 and such a ,christendom1 for an honest ,papa to preside in6 ,the ,european populations everywhere hailed the omen2 with shouting and rejoicing leading articles and tar-barrels2 thinking people listened with astonishment1--not with sorrow if they were faithful or wise2 with awe rather as at the heralding of death1 and with a joy as of victory beyond death6 ,something pious1 grand and as if awful in that joy1 revealing once more the ,presence of a ,divine ,justice in this world4 ,for1 to such men it was very clear how this poor devoted ,pope would prosper1 with his ,new ,testament in his hand4 ,an alarming business1 that of governing in the throne of ,st4 ,peter by the rule of veracity6 ,by the rule of veracity1 the so-called throne of ,st4 ,peter was openly declared1 above three hundred years1 ago1 to be a falsity1 a huge mistake1 a pestilent dead carcass1 which this ,sun was weary of4 ,more than three hundred years ago1 the throne of ,st4 ,peter received peremptory judicial notice to quit2 authentic order1 registered in ,heaven's chancery and since legible in the hearts of all brave men1 to take itself away1--to begone1 and let us have no more to do with it and its delusions and impious deliriums2--and it has been sitting every day since1 it may depend upon it1 at its own peril withal1 and will have to pay exact damages yet for every day it has so sat4 ,law of veracity8 ,what this ,popedom had to do by the law of veracity1 was to give up its own foul galvanic life1 an offence to gods and men2 honestly to die1 and get itself buried4 ,far from this was the thing the poor ,pope undertook in regard to it2--and yet1 on the whole1 it was essentially this too4 ,reforming ,pope8 said one of our acquaintance1 often in those weeks1 ,was there ever such a miracle8 ,about to break up that huge imposthume too1 by 'curing' it8 ,turgot and ,necker were nothing to this4 ,god is great2 and when a scandal is to end1 brings some devoted man to take charge of it in hope1 not in despair6--,but cannot he reform8 asked many simple persons2--to whom our friend in grim banter would reply3 ,reform a ,popedom1--hardly4 ,a wretched old kettle1 ruined from top to bottom1 and consisting mainly now of foul grime and rust3 stop the holes of it1 as your antecessors have been doing1 with temporary putty1 it may hang together yet a while2 begin to hammer at it1 solder at it1 to what you call mend and rectify it1--it will fall to sherds1 as sure as rust is rust2 go all into nameless dissolution1--and the fat in the fire will be a thing worth looking at1 poor ,pope6--,so accordingly it has proved4 ,the poor ,pope1 amid felicitations and tar-barrels of various kinds1 went on joyfully for a season3 but he had awakened1 he as no other man could do1 the sleeping elements2 mothers of the whirlwinds1 conflagrations1 earthquakes4 ,questions not very soluble at present1 were even sages and heroes set to solve them1 began everywhere with new emphasis to be asked4 ,questions which all official men wished1 and almost hoped1 to postpone till ,doomsday4 ,doomsday itself had come2 that was the terrible truth6 ,for1 sure enough1 if once the law of veracity be acknowledged as the rule for human things1 there will not anywhere be want of work for the reformer2 in very few places do human things adhere quite closely to that law6 ,here was the ,papa of ,christendom proclaiming that such was actually the case2--whereupon all over ,christendom such results as we have seen4 ,the ,sicilians1 ,i think1 were the first notable body that set about applying this new strange rule sanctioned by the general ,father2 they said to themselves1 ,we do not by the law of veracity belong to ,naples and these ,neapolitan ,officials2 we will1 by favor of ,heaven and the ,pope1 be free of these4 ,fighting ensued2 insurrection1 fiercely maintained in the ,sicilian ,cities2 with much bloodshed1 much tumult and loud noise1 vociferation extending through all newspapers and countries4 ,the effect of this1 carried abroad by newspapers and rumor1 was great in all places2 greatest perhaps in ,paris1 which for sixty years past has been the ,city of ,insurrections4 ,the ,french ,people had plumed themselves on being1 whatever else they were not1 at least the chosen soldiers of liberty1 who took the lead of all creatures in that pursuit1 at least2 and had become1 as their orators1 editors and litterateurs diligently taught them1 a ,people whose bayonets were sacred1 a kind of ,messiah ,people1 saving a blind world in its own despite1 and earning for themselves a terrestrial and even celestial glory very considerable indeed4 ,and here were the wretched down-trodden populations of ,sicily risen to rival them1 and threatening to take the trade out of their hand4 ,no doubt of it1 this hearing continually of the very ,pope's glory as a ,reformer1 of the very ,sicilians fighting divinely for liberty behind barricades1--must have bitterly aggravated the feeling of every ,frenchman1 as he looked around him1 at home1 on a ,louis-,philippism which had become the scorn of all the world4 ,ichabod2 is the glory departing from us8 ,under the sun is nothing baser1 by all accounts and evidences1 than the system of repression and corruption1 of shameless dishonesty and unbelief in anything but human baseness1 that we now live under4 ,the ,italians1 the very ,pope1 have become apostles of liberty1 and ,france is--what is ,france6--,we know what ,france suddenly became in the end of ,february next2 and by a clear enough genealogy1 we can trace a considerable share in that event to the good simple ,pope with the ,new ,testament in his hand4 ,an outbreak1 or at least a radical change and even inversion of affairs hardly to be achieved without an outbreak1 everybody felt was inevitable in ,france3 but it had been universally expected that ,france would as usual take the initiative in that matter2 and had there been no reforming ,pope1 no insurrectionary ,sicily1 ,france had certainly not broken out then and so1 but only afterwards and otherwise4 ,the ,french explosion1 not anticipated by the cunningest men there on the spot scrutinizing it1 burst up unlimited1 complete1 defying computation or control4 ,close following which1 as if by sympathetic subterranean electricities1 all ,europe exploded1 boundless1 uncontrollable2 and we had the year #ahdh1 one of the most singular1 disastrous1 amazing1 and1 on the whole1 humiliating years the ,european world ever saw4 ,not since the irruption of the ,northern ,barbarians has there been the like4 ,everywhere immeasurable ,democracy rose monstrous1 loud1 blatant1 inarticulate as the voice of ,chaos4 ,everywhere the ,official holy-of-holies was scandalously laid bare to dogs and the profane3--,enter1 all the world1 see what kind of ,official holy it is4 ,kings everywhere1 and reigning persons1 stared in sudden horror1 the voice of the whole world bellowing in their ear1 ,begone1 ye imbecile hypocrites1 histrios not heroes6 ,off with you1 off6 and1 what was peculiar and notable in this year for the first time1 the ,kings all made haste to go1 as if exclaiming1 ,we are poor histrios1 we sure enough2--did you want heroes8 ,don't kill us2 we couldn't help it6 ,not one of them turned round1 and stood upon his ,kingship1 as upon a right he could afford to die for1 or to risk his skin upon2 by no manner of means4 ,that1 ,i say1 is the alarming peculiarity at present4 ,democracy1 on this new occasion1 finds all ,kings conscious that they are but ,play-actors4 ,the miserable mortals1 enacting their ,high ,life ,below ,stairs1 with faith only that this ,universe may perhaps be all a phantasm and hypocrisis1--the truculent ,constable of the ,destinies suddenly enters3 ,scandalous ,phantasms1 what do you here8 ,are 'solemnly constituted ,impostors' the proper ,kings of men8 ,did you think the ,life of ,man was a grimacing dance of apes8 ,to be led always by the squeak of your paltry fiddle8 ,ye miserable1 this ,universe is not an upholstery ,puppet-play1 but a terrible ,god's ,fact2 and you1 ,i think1--had not you better begone6 ,they fled precipitately1 some of them with what we may call an exquisite ignominy1--in terror of the treadmill or worse4 ,and everywhere the people1 or the populace1 take their own government upon themselves2 and open kinglessness1 what we call anarchy1--how happy if it be anarchy plus a street-constable6--is everywhere the order of the day4 ,such was the history1 from ,baltic to ,mediterranean1 in ,italy1 ,france1 ,prussia1 ,austria1 from end to end of ,europe1 in those ,march days of #ahdh4 ,since the destruction of the old ,roman ,empire by inroad of the ,northern ,barbarians1 ,i have known nothing similar4 ,and so1 then1 there remained no ,king in ,europe2 no ,king except the ,public ,haranguer1 haranguing on barrel-head1 in leading article2 or getting himself aggregated into a ,national ,parliament to harangue4 ,and for about four months all ,france1 and to a great degree all ,europe1 rough-ridden by every species of delirium1 except happily the murderous for most part1 was a weltering mob1 presided over by ,m4 de ,lamartine1 at the ,hotel-de-,ville2 a most eloquent fair-spoken literary gentleman1 whom thoughtless persons took for a prophet1 priest and heaven-sent evangelist1 and whom a wise ,yankee friend of mine discerned to be properly the first stump-orator in the world1 standing too on the highest stump1--for the time4 ,a sorrowful spectacle to men of reflection1 during the time he lasted1 that poor ,m4 de ,lamartine2 with nothing in him but melodious wind and soft sawder1 which he and others took for something divine and not diabolic6 ,sad enough2 the eloquent latest impersonation of ,chaos-come-again2 able to talk for itself1 and declare persuasively that it is ,cosmos6 ,however1 you have but to wait a little1 in such cases2 all balloons do and must give up their gas in the pressure of things1 and are collapsed in a sufficiently wretched manner before long4 ,and so in ,city after ,city1 street-barricades are piled1 and truculent1 more or less murderous insurrection begins2 populace after populace rises1 ,king after ,king capitulates or absconds2 and from end to end of ,europe ,democracy has blazed up explosive1 much higher1 more irresistible and less resisted than ever before2 testifying too sadly on what a bottomless volcano1 or universal powder-mine of most inflammable mutinous chaotic elements1 separated from us by a thin earth-rind1 ,society with all its arrangements and acquirements everywhere1 in the present epoch1 rests6 ,the kind of persons who excite or give signal to such revolutions--students1 young men of letters1 advocates1 editors1 hot inexperienced enthusiasts1 or fierce and justly bankrupt desperadoes1 acting everywhere on the discontent of the millions and blowing it into flame1--might give rise to reflections as to the character of our epoch4 ,never till now did young men1 and almost children1 take such a command in human affairs4 ,a changed time since the word ,senior 7,seigneur1 or ,elder7 was first devised to signify lord1 or superior2--as in all languages of men we find it to have been6 ,not an honorable document this either1 as to the spiritual condition of our epoch4 ,in times when men love wisdom1 the old man will ever be venerable1 and be venerated1 and reckoned noble3 in times that love something else than wisdom1 and indeed have little or no wisdom1 and see little or none to love1 the old man will cease to be venerated2 and looking more closely1 also1 you will find that in fact he has ceased to be venerable1 and has begun to be contemptible2 a foolish boy still1 a boy without the graces1 generosities and opulent strength of young boys4 ,in these days1 what of lordship or leadership is still to be done1 the youth must do it1 not the mature or aged man2 the mature man1 hardened into sceptical egoism1 knows no monition but that of his own frigid cautious1 avarices1 mean timidities2 and can lead no-whither towards an object that even seems noble4 ,but to return4 ,this mad state of matters will of course before long allay itself1 as it has everywhere begun to do2 the ordinary necessities of men's daily existence cannot comport with it1 and these1 whatever else is cast aside1 will have their way4 ,some remounting--very temporary remounting--of the old machine1 under new colors and altered forms1 will probably ensue soon in most countries3 the old histrionic ,kings will be admitted back under conditions1 under ,constitutions1 with national ,parliaments1 or the like fashionable adjuncts2 and everywhere the old daily life will try to begin again4 ,but there is now no hope that such arrangements can be permanent2 that they can be other than poor temporary makeshifts1 which1 if they try to fancy and make themselves permanent1 will be displaced by new explosions recurring more speedily than last time4 ,in such baleful oscillation1 afloat as amid raging bottomless eddies and conflicting sea-currents1 not steadfast as on fixed foundations1 must ,european ,society continue swaying1 now disastrously tumbling1 then painfully readjusting itself1 at ever shorter intervals1--till once the new rock-basis does come to light1 and the weltering deluges of mutiny1 and of need to mutiny1 abate again6 ,for universal ,democracy1 whatever we may think of it1 has declared itself as an inevitable fact of the days in which we live2 and he who has any chance to instruct1 or lead1 in his days1 must begin by admitting that3 new street-barricades1 and new anarchies1 still more scandalous if still less sanguinary1 must return and again return1 till governing persons everywhere know and admit that4 ,democracy1 it may be said everywhere1 is here3--for sixty years now1 ever since the grand or ,first ,french ,revolution1 that fact has been terribly announced to all the world2 in message after message1 some of them very terrible indeed2 and now at last all the world ought really to believe it4 ,that the world does believe it2 that even ,kings now as good as believe it1 and know1 or with just terror surmise1 that they are but temporary phantasm ,play-actors1 and that ,democracy is the grand1 alarming1 imminent and indisputable ,reality3 this1 among the scandalous phases we witnessed in the last two years1 is a phasis full of hope3 a sign that we are advancing closer and closer to the very ,problem itself1 which it will behoove us to solve or die2 that all fighting and campaigning and coalitioning in regard to the existence of the ,problem1 is hopeless and superfluous henceforth4 ,the gods have appointed it so2 no ,pitt1 nor body of ,pitts or mortal creatures can appoint it otherwise4 ,democracy1 sure enough1 is here2 one knows not how long it will keep hidden underground even in ,russia2--and here in ,england1 though we object to it resolutely in the form of street-barricades and insurrectionary pikes1 and decidedly will not open doors to it on those terms1 the tramp of its million feet is on all streets and thoroughfares1 the sound of its bewildered thousand-fold voice is in all writings and speakings1 in all thinkings and modes and activities of men3 the soul that does not now1 with hope or terror1 discern it1 is not the one we address on this occasion4 ,what is ,democracy2 this huge inevitable ,product of the ,destinies1 which is everywhere the portion of our ,europe in these latter days8 ,there lies the question for us4 ,whence comes it1 this universal big black ,democracy2 whither tends it2 what is the meaning of it8 ,a meaning it must have1 or it would not be here4 ,if we can find the right meaning of it1 we may1 wisely submitting or wisely resisting and controlling1 still hope to live in the midst of it2 if we cannot find the right meaning1 if we find only the wrong or no meaning in it1 to live will not be possible6--,the whole social wisdom of the ,present ,time is summoned1 in the name of the ,giver of ,wisdom1 to make clear to itself1 and lay deeply to heart with an eye to strenuous valiant practice and effort1 what the meaning of this universal revolt of the ,european ,populations1 which calls itself ,democracy1 and decides to continue permanent1 may be4 ,certainly it is a drama full of action1 event fast following event2 in which curiosity finds endless scope1 and there are interests at stake1 enough to rivet the attention of all men1 simple and wise4 ,whereat the idle multitude lift up their voices1 gratulating1 celebrating sky-high2 in rhyme and prose announcement1 more than plentiful1 that now the ,new ,era1 and long-expected ,year ,one of ,perfect ,human ,felicity has come4 ,glorious and immortal people1 sublime ,french citizens1 heroic barricades2 triumph of civil and religious liberty--,o ,heaven6 one of the inevitablest private miseries1 to an earnest man in such circumstances1 is this multitudinous efflux of oratory and psalmody1 from the universal foolish human throat2 drowning for the moment all reflection whatsoever1 except the sorrowful one that you are fallen in an evil1 heavy-laden1 long-eared age1 and must resignedly bear your part in the same4 ,the front wall of your wretched old crazy dwelling1 long denounced by you to no purpose1 having at last fairly folded itself over1 and fallen prostrate into the street1 the floors1 as may happen1 will still hang on by the mere beam-ends1 and coherency of old carpentry1 though in a sloping direction1 and depend there till certain poor rusty nails and worm-eaten dovetailings give way3--but is it cheering1 in such circumstances1 that the whole household burst forth into celebrating the new joys of light and ventilation1 liberty and picturesqueness of position1 and thank ,god that now they have got a house to their mind8 ,my dear household1 cease singing and psalmodying2 lay aside your fiddles1 take out your work-implements1 if you have any2 for ,i can say with confidence the laws of gravitation are still active1 and rusty nails1 worm-eaten dovetailings1 and secret coherency of old carpentry1 are not the best basis for a household6--,in the lanes of ,irish cities1 ,i have heard say1 the wretched people are sometimes found living1 and perilously boiling their potatoes1 on such swing-floors and inclined planes hanging on by the joist-ends2 but ,i did not hear that they sang very much in celebration of such lodging4 ,no1 they slid gently about1 sat near the back wall1 and perilously boiled their potatoes1 in silence for most part6-- ,high shouts of exultation1 in every dialect1 by every vehicle of speech and writing1 rise from far and near over this last avatar of ,democracy in #ahdh3 and yet1 to wise minds1 the first aspect it presents seems rather to be one of boundless misery and sorrow4 ,what can be more miserable than this universal hunting out of the high dignitaries1 solemn functionaries1 and potent1 grave and reverend signiors of the world2 this stormful rising-up of the inarticulate dumb masses everywhere1 against those who pretended to be speaking for them and guiding them8 ,these guides1 then1 were mere blind men only pretending to see8 ,these rulers were not ruling at all2 they had merely got on the attributes and clothes of rulers1 and were surreptitiously drawing the wages1 while the work remained undone8 ,the ,kings were ,sham-,kings1 play-acting as at ,drury ,lane2--and what were the people withal that took them for real8 ,it is probably the hugest disclosure of falsity in human things that was ever at one time made4 ,these reverend ,dignitaries that sat amid their far-shining symbols and long-sounding long-admitted professions1 were mere ,impostors1 then8 ,not a true thing they were doing1 but a false thing4 ,the story they told men was a cunningly devised fable2 the gospels they preached to them were not an account of man's real position in this world1 but an incoherent fabrication1 of dead ghosts and unborn shadows1 of traditions1 cants1 indolences1 cowardices1--a falsity of falsities1 which at last ceases to stick together4 ,wilfully and against their will1 these high units of mankind were cheats1 then2 and the low millions who believed in them were dupes1--a kind of inverse cheats1 too1 or they would not have believed in them so long4 ,a universal ,bankruptcy of ,imposture2 that may be the brief definition of it4 ,imposture everywhere declared once more to be contrary to ,nature2 nobody will change its word into an act any farther3--fallen insolvent2 unable to keep its head up by these false pretences1 or make its pot boil any more for the present6 ,a more scandalous phenomenon1 wide as ,europe1 never afflicted the face of the sun4 ,bankruptcy everywhere2 foul ignominy1 and the abomination of desolation1 in all high places3 odious to look upon1 as the carnage of a battle-field on the morrow morning2--a massacre not of the innocents2 we cannot call it a massacre of the innocents2 but a universal tumbling of ,impostors and of ,impostures into the street6-- ,such a spectacle1 can we call it joyful8 ,there is a joy in it1 to the wise man too2 yes1 but a joy full of awe1 and as it were sadder than any sorrow1--like the vision of immortality1 unattainable except through death and the grave6 ,and yet who would not1 in his heart of hearts1 feel piously thankful that ,imposture has fallen bankrupt8 ,by all means let it fall bankrupt2 in the name of ,god let it do so1 with whatever misery to itself and to all of us4 ,imposture1 be it known then1--known it must and shall be1--is hateful1 unendurable to ,god and man4 ,let it understand this everywhere2 and swiftly make ready for departure1 wherever it yet lingers2 and let it learn never to return1 if possible6 ,the eternal voices1 very audibly again1 are speaking to proclaim this message1 from side to side of the world4 ,not a very cheering message1 but a very indispensable one4 ,alas1 it is sad enough that ,anarchy is here2 that we are not permitted to regret its being here1--for who that had1 for this divine ,universe1 an eye which was human at all1 could wish that ,shams of any kind1 especially that ,sham-,kings should continue8 ,no3 at all costs1 it is to be prayed by all men that ,shams may cease4 ,good ,heavens1 to what depths have we got1 when this to many a man seems strange6 ,yet strange to many a man it does seem2 and to many a solid ,englishman1 wholesomely digesting his pudding among what are called the cultivated classes1 it seems strange exceedingly2 a mad ignorant notion1 quite heterodox1 and big with mere ruin4 ,he has been used to decent forms long since fallen empty of meaning1 to plausible modes1 solemnities grown ceremonial1--what you in your iconoclast humor call shams1 all his life long2 never heard that there was any harm in them1 that there was any getting on without them4 ,did not cotton spin itself1 beef grow1 and groceries and spiceries come in from the ,east and the ,west1 quite comfortably by the side of shams8 ,kings reigned1 what they were pleased to call reigning2 lawyers pleaded1 bishops preached1 and honorable members perorated2 and to crown the whole1 as if it were all real and no sham there1 did not scrip continue salable1 and the banker pay in bullion1 or paper with a metallic basis8 ,the greatest sham1 ,i have always thought1 is he that would destroy shams4 ,even so4 ,to such depth have ,i1 the poor knowing person of this epoch1 got2--almost below the level of lowest humanity1 and down towards the state of apehood and oxhood6 ,for never till in quite recent generations was such a scandalous blasphemy quietly set forth among the sons of ,adam2 never before did the creature called man believe generally in his heart that lies were the rule in this ,earth2 that in deliberate long-established lying could there be help or salvation for him1 could there be at length other than hindrance and destruction for him4 ,o ,heavyside1 my solid friend1 this is the sorrow of sorrows3 what on earth can become of us till this accursed enchantment1 the general summary and consecration of delusions1 be cast forth from the heart and life of one and all6 ,cast forth it will be2 it must1 or we are tending1 at all moments1 whitherward ,i do not like to name4 ,alas1 and the casting of it out1 to what heights and what depths will it lead us1 in the sad universe mostly of lies and shams and hollow phantasms 7grown very ghastly now71 in which1 as in a safe home1 we have lived this century or two6 ,to heights and depths of social and individual divorce from delusions1--of reform in right sacred earnest1 of indispensable amendment1 and stern sorrowful abrogation and order to depart1--such as cannot well be spoken at present2 as dare scarcely be thought at present2 which nevertheless are very inevitable1 and perhaps rather imminent several of them6 ,truly we have a heavy task of work before us2 and there is a pressing call that we should seriously begin upon it1 before it tumble into an inextricable mass1 in which there will be no working1 but only suffering and hopelessly perishing6 ,or perhaps ,democracy1 which we announce as now come1 will itself manage it8 ,democracy1 once modelled into suffrages1 furnished with ballot-boxes and such like1 will itself accomplish the salutary universal change from ,delusive to ,real1 and make a new blessed world of us by and by8--,to the great mass of men1 ,i am aware1 the matter presents itself quite on this hopeful side4 ,democracy they consider to be a kind of ,government4 ,the old model1 formed long since1 and brought to perfection in ,england now two hundred years ago1 has proclaimed itself to all ,nations as the new healing for every woe3 ,set up a ,parliament1 the ,nations everywhere say1 when the old ,king is detected to be a ,sham-,king1 and hunted out or not2 set up a ,parliament2 let us have suffrages1 universal suffrages2 and all either at once or by due degrees will be right1 and a real ,millennium come6 ,such is their way of construing the matter4 ,such1 alas1 is by no means my way of construing the matter2 if it were1 ,i should have had the happiness of remaining silent1 and been without call to speak here4 ,it is because the contrary of all this is deeply manifest to me1 and appears to be forgotten by multitudes of my contemporaries1 that ,i have had to undertake addressing a word to them4 ,the contrary of all this2--and the farther ,i look into the roots of all this1 the more hateful1 ruinous and dismal does the state of mind all this could have originated in appear to me4 ,to examine this recipe of a ,parliament1 how fit it is for governing ,nations1 nay how fit it may now be1 in these new times1 for governing ,england itself where we are used to it so long3 this1 too1 is an alarming inquiry1 to which all thinking men1 and good citizens of their country1 who have an ear for the small still voices and eternal intimations1 across the temporary clamors and loud blaring proclamations1 are now solemnly invited4 ,invited by the rigorous fact itself2 which will one day1 and that perhaps soon1 demand practical decision or redecision of it from us1--with enormous penalty if we decide it wrong6 ,i think we shall all have to consider this question1 one day2 better perhaps now than later1 when the leisure may be less4 ,if a ,parliament1 with suffrages and universal or any conceivable kind of suffrages1 is the method1 then certainly let us set about discovering the kind of suffrages1 and rest no moment till we have got them4 ,but it is possible a ,parliament may not be the method6 ,possible the inveterate notions of the ,english ,people may have settled it as the method1 and the ,everlasting ,laws of ,nature may have settled it as not the method6 ,not the whole method2 nor the method at all1 if taken as the whole8 ,if a ,parliament with never such suffrages is not the method settled by this latter authority1 then it will urgently behoove us to become aware of that fact1 and to quit such method2--we may depend upon it1 however unanimous we be1 every step taken in that direction will1 by the ,eternal ,law of things1 be a step from improvement1 not towards it4 ,not towards it1 ,i say1 if so6 ,unanimity of voting1--that will do nothing for us if so4 ,your ship cannot double ,cape ,horn by its excellent plans of voting4 ,the ship may vote this and that1 above decks and below1 in the most harmonious exquisitely constitutional manner3 the ship1 to get round ,cape ,horn1 will find a set of conditions already voted for1 and fixed with adamantine rigor by the ancient ,elemental ,powers1 who are entirely careless how you vote4 ,if you can1 by voting or without voting1 ascertain these conditions1 and valiantly conform to them1 you will get round the ,cape3 if you cannot1 the ruffian ,winds will blow you ever back again2 the inexorable ,icebergs1 dumb privy-councillors from ,chaos1 will nudge you with most chaotic admonition2 you will be flung half frozen on the ,patagonian cliffs1 or admonished into shivers by your iceberg councillors1 and sent sheer down to ,davy ,jones1 and will never get round ,cape ,horn at all6 ,unanimity on board ship2--yes indeed1 the ship's crew may be very unanimous1 which doubtless1 for the time being1 will be very comfortable to the ship's crew1 and to their ,phantasm ,captain if they have one3 but if the tack they unanimously steer upon is guiding them into the belly of the ,abyss1 it will not profit them much6--,ships accordingly do not use the ballot-box at all2 and they reject the ,phantasm species of ,captains3 one wishes much some other ,entities--since all entities lie under the same rigorous set of laws--could be brought to show as much wisdom1 and sense at least of self-preservation1 the first command of ,nature4 ,phantasm ,captains with unanimous votings3 this is considered to be all the law and all the prophets1 at present4 ,if a man could shake out of his mind the universal noise of political doctors in this generation and in the last generation or two1 and consider the matter face to face1 with his own sincere intelligence looking at it1 ,i venture to say he would find this a very extraordinary method of navigating1 whether in the ,straits of ,magellan or the undiscovered ,sea of ,time4 ,to prosper in this world1 to gain felicity1 victory and improvement1 either for a man or a nation1 there is but one thing requisite1 ,that the man or nation can discern what the true regulations of the ,universe are in regard to him and his pursuit1 and can faithfully and steadfastly follow these4 ,these will lead him to victory2 whoever it may be that sets him in the way of these1--were it ,russian ,autocrat1 ,chartist ,parliament1 ,grand ,lama1 ,force of ,public ,opinion1 ,archbishop of ,canterbury1 ,m',croudy the ,seraphic ,doctor with his ,last-evangel of ,political ,economy1--sets him in the sure way to please the ,author of this ,universe1 and is his friend of friends4 ,and again1 whoever does the contrary is1 for a like reason1 his enemy of enemies4 ,this may be taken as fixed4 ,and now by what method ascertain the monition of the gods in regard to our affairs8 ,how decipher1 with best fidelity1 the eternal regulation of the ,universe2 and read1 from amid such confused embroilments of human clamor and folly1 what the real ,divine ,message to us is8 ,a divine message1 or eternal regulation of the ,universe1 there verily is1 in regard to every conceivable procedure and affair of man3 faithfully following this1 said procedure or affair will prosper1 and have the whole ,universe to second it1 and carry it1 across the fluctuating contradictions1 towards a victorious goal2 not following this1 mistaking this1 disregarding this1 destruction and wreck are certain for every affair4 ,how find it8 ,all the world answers me1 ,count heads2 ask ,universal ,suffrage1 by the ballot-boxes1 and that will tell4 ,universal ,suffrage1 ballot-boxes1 count of heads8 ,well1--,i perceive we have got into strange spiritual latitudes indeed4 ,within the last half-century or so1 either the ,universe or else the heads of men must have altered very much4 ,half a century ago1 and down from ,father ,adam's time till then1 the ,universe1 wherever ,i could hear tell of it1 was wont to be of somewhat abstruse nature2 by no means carrying its secret written on its face1 legible to every passer-by2 on the contrary1 obstinately hiding its secret from all foolish1 slavish1 wicked1 insincere persons1 and partially disclosing it to the wise and noble-minded alone1 whose number was not the majority in my time6 ,or perhaps the chief end of man being now1 in these improved epochs1 to make money and spend it1 his interests in the ,universe have become amazingly simplified of late2 capable of being voted on with effect by almost anybody8 ,to buy in the cheapest market1 and sell in the dearest3 truly if that is the summary of his social duties1 and the final divine message he has to follow1 we may trust him extensively to vote upon that4 ,but if it is not1 and never was1 or can be8 ,if the ,universe will not carry on its divine bosom any commonwealth of mortals that have no higher aim1--being still a ,temple and ,hall of ,doom1 not a mere ,weaving-shop and ,cattle-pen8 ,if the unfathomable ,universe has decided to reject ,human ,beavers pretending to be ,men2 and will abolish1 pretty rapidly perhaps1 in hideous mud-deluges1 their markets and them1 unless they think of it8--,in that case it were better to think of it3 and the ,democracies and ,universal ,suffrages1 ,i can observe1 will require to modify themselves a good deal6 ,historically speaking1 ,i believe there was no ,nation that could subsist upon ,democracy4 ,of ancient ,republics1 and ,demoi and ,populi1 we have heard much2 but it is now pretty well admitted to be nothing to our purpose2--a universal-suffrage republic1 or a general-suffrage one1 or any but a most-limited-suffrage one1 never came to light1 or dreamed of doing so1 in ancient times4 ,when the mass of the population were slaves1 and the voters intrinsically a kind of kings1 or men born to rule others2 when the voters were real aristocrats and manageable dependents of such1--then doubtless voting1 and confused jumbling of talk and intrigue1 might1 without immediate destruction1 or the need of a ,cavaignac to intervene with cannon and sweep the streets clear of it1 go on2 and beautiful developments of manhood might be possible beside it1 for a season4 ,beside it2 or even1 if you will1 by means of it1 and in virtue of it1 though that is by no means so certain as is often supposed4 ,alas1 no3 the reflective constitutional mind has misgivings as to the origin of old ,greek and ,roman nobleness2 and indeed knows not how this or any other human nobleness could well be originated1 or brought to pass1 by voting or without voting1 in this world1 except by the grace of ,god very mainly2--and remembers1 with a sigh1 that of the ,seven ,sages themselves no fewer than three were bits of ,despotic ,kings1 ,gr4 ,turannoi1 ,tyrants so called 7such being greatly wanted there72 and that the other four were very far from ,red ,republicans1 if of any political faith whatever6 ,we may quit the ,ancient ,classical concern1 and leave it to ,college-clubs and speculative debating-societies1 in these late days4 ,of the various ,french ,republics that have been tried1 or that are still on trial1--of these also it is not needful to say any word4 ,but there is one modern instance of ,democracy nearly perfect1 the ,republic of the ,united ,states1 which has actually subsisted for threescore years or more1 with immense success as is affirmed2 to which many still appeal1 as to a sign of hope for all nations1 and a ,model ,republic4 ,is not ,america an instance in point8 ,why should not all ,nations subsist and flourish on ,democracy1 as ,america does8 ,of ,america it would ill beseem any ,englishman1 and me perhaps as little as another1 to speak unkindly1 to speak unpatriotically1 if any of us even felt so4 ,sure enough1 ,america is a great1 and in many respects a blessed and hopeful phenomenon4 ,sure enough1 these hardy millions of ,anglo-,saxon men prove themselves worthy of their genealogy2 and1 with the axe and plough and hammer1 if not yet with any much finer kind of implements1 are triumphantly clearing out wide spaces1 seedfields for the sustenance and refuge of mankind1 arenas for the future history of the world2 doing1 in their day and generation1 a creditable and cheering feat under the sun4 ,but as to a ,model ,republic1 or a model anything1 the wise among themselves know too well that there is nothing to be said4 ,nay the title hitherto to be a ,commonwealth or ,nation at all1 among the ,gr4 ethne of the world1 is1 strictly considered1 still a thing they are but striving for1 and indeed have not yet done much towards attaining4 ,their ,constitution1 such as it may be1 was made here1 not there2 went over with them from the ,old-,puritan ,english workshop ready-made4 ,deduct what they carried with them from ,england ready-made1--their common ,english ,language1 and that same ,constitution1 or rather elixir of constitutions1 their inveterate and now1 as it were1 inborn reverence for the ,constable's ,staff2 two quite immense attainments1 which ,england had to spend much blood1 and valiant sweat of brow and brain1 for centuries long1 in achieving2--and what new elements of polity or nationhood1 what noble new phasis of human arrangement1 or social device worthy of ,prometheus or of ,epimetheus1 yet comes to light in ,america8 ,cotton crops and ,indian corn and dollars come to light2 and half a world of untilled land1 where populations that respect the constable can live1 for the present without ,government3 this comes to light2 and the profound sorrow of all nobler hearts1 here uttering itself as silent patient unspeakable ennui1 there coming out as vague elegiac wailings1 that there is still next to nothing more4 ,anarchy plus a street-constable3 that also is anarchic to me1 and other than quite lovely6 ,i foresee1 too1 that1 long before the waste lands are full1 the very street-constable1 on these poor terms1 will have become impossible3 without the waste lands1 as here in our ,europe1 ,i do not see how he could continue possible many weeks4 ,cease to brag to me of ,america1 and its model institutions and constitutions4 ,to men in their sleep there is nothing granted in this world3 nothing1 or as good as nothing1 to men that sit idly caucusing and ballot-boxing on the graves of their heroic ancestors1 saying1 ,it is well1 it is well6 ,corn and bacon are granted3 not a very sublime boon1 on such conditions2 a boon moreover which1 on such conditions1 cannot last6--,no3 ,america too will have to strain its energies1 in quite other fashion than this2 to crack its sinews1 and all but break its heart1 as the rest of us have had to do1 in thousand-fold wrestle with the ,pythons and mud-demons1 before it can become a habitation for the gods4 ,america's battle is yet to fight2 and we1 sorrowful though nothing doubting1 will wish her strength for it4 ,new ,spiritual ,pythons1 plenty of them2 enormous ,megatherions1 as ugly as were ever born of mud1 loom huge and hideous out of the twilight ,future on ,america2 and she will have her own agony1 and her own victory1 but on other terms than she is yet quite aware of4 ,hitherto she but ploughs and hammers1 in a very successful manner2 hitherto1 in spite of her roast-goose with apple-sauce1 she is not much4 ,roast-goose with apple-sauce for the poorest workingman3 well1 surely that is something1 thanks to your respect for the street-constable1 and to your continents of fertile waste land2--but that1 even if it could continue1 is by no means enough2 that is not even an instalment towards what will be required of you4 ,my friend1 brag not yet of our ,american cousins6 ,their quantity of cotton1 dollars1 industry and resources1 ,i believe to be almost unspeakable2 but ,i can by no means worship the like of these4 ,what great human soul1 what great thought1 what great noble thing that one could worship1 or loyally admire1 has yet been produced there8 ,none3 the ,american cousins have yet done none of these things4 ,what they have done8 growls ,smelfungus1 tired of the subject3 ,they have doubled their population every twenty years4 ,they have begotten1 with a rapidity beyond recorded example1 ,eighteen ,millions of the greatest bores ever seen in this world before1--that hitherto is their feat in ,history6--,and so we leave them1 for the present2 and cannot predict the success of ,democracy1 on this side of the ,atlantic1 from their example4 ,alas1 on this side of the ,atlantic and on that1 ,democracy1 we apprehend1 is forever impossible6 ,so much1 with certainty of loud astonished contradiction from all manner of men at present1 but with sure appeal to the ,law of ,nature and the ever-abiding ,fact1 may be suggested and asserted once more4 ,the ,universe itself is a ,monarchy and ,hierarchy2 large liberty of voting there1 all manner of choice1 utmost free-will1 but with conditions inexorable and immeasurable annexed to every exercise of the same4 ,a most free commonwealth of voters2 but with ,eternal ,justice to preside over it1 ,eternal ,justice enforced by ,almighty ,power6 ,this is the model of constitutions2 this3 nor in any ,nation where there has not yet 7in some supportable and withal some constantly increasing degree7 been confided to the ,noblest1 with his select series of ,nobler1 the divine everlasting duty of directing and controlling the ,ignoble1 has the ,kingdom of ,god1 which we all pray for1 come1 nor can ,his will even tend to be done on ,earth as it is in ,heaven till then4 ,my ,christian friends1 and indeed my ,sham-,christian and ,anti-,christian1 and all manner of men1 are invited to reflect on this4 ,they will find it to be the truth of the case4 ,the ,noble in the high place1 the ,ignoble in the low2 that is1 in all times and in all countries1 the ,almighty ,maker's ,law4 ,to raise the ,sham-,noblest1 and solemnly consecrate him by whatever method1 new-devised1 or slavishly adhered to from old wont1 this1 little as we may regard it1 is1 in all times and countries1 a practical blasphemy1 and ,nature will in nowise forget it4 ,alas1 there lies the origin1 the fatal necessity1 of modern ,democracy everywhere4 ,it is the ,noblest1 not the ,sham-,noblest2 it is ,god-,almighty's ,noble1 not the ,court-,tailor's ,noble1 nor the ,able-,editor's ,noble1 that must1 in some approximate degree1 be raised to the supreme place2 he and not a counterfeit1--under penalties6 ,penalties deep as death1 and at length terrible as hell-on-earth1 my constitutional friend6--,will the ballot-box raise the ,noblest to the chief place2 does any sane man deliberately believe such a thing8 ,that nevertheless is the indispensable result1 attain it how we may3 if that is attained1 all is attained2 if not that1 nothing4 ,he that cannot believe the ballot-box to be attaining it1 will be comparatively indifferent to the ballot-box4 ,excellent for keeping the ship's crew at peace under their ,phantasm ,captain2 but unserviceable1 under such1 for getting round ,cape ,horn4 ,alas1 that there should be human beings requiring to have these things argued of1 at this late time of day6 ,i say1 it is the everlasting privilege of the foolish to be governed by the wise2 to be guided in the right path by those who know it better than they4 ,this is the first right of man2 compared with which all other rights are as nothing1--mere superfluities1 corollaries which will follow of their own accord out of this2 if they be not contradictions to this1 and less than nothing6 ,to the wise it is not a privilege2 far other indeed4 ,doubtless1 as bringing preservation to their country1 it implies preservation of themselves withal2 but intrinsically it is the harshest duty a wise man1 if he be indeed wise1 has laid to his hand4 ,a duty which he would fain enough shirk2 which accordingly1 in these sad times of doubt and cowardly sloth1 he has long everywhere been endeavoring to reduce to its minimum1 and has in fact in most cases nearly escaped altogether4 ,it is an ungoverned world2 a world which we flatter ourselves will henceforth need no governing4 ,on the dust of our heroic ancestors we too sit ballot-boxing1 saying to one another1 ,it is well1 it is well6 ,by inheritance of their noble struggles1 we have been permitted to sit slothful so long4 ,by noble toil1 not by shallow laughter and vain talk1 they made this ,english ,existence from a savage forest into an arable inhabitable field for us2 and we1 idly dreaming it would grow spontaneous crops forever1--find it now in a too questionable state2 peremptorily requiring real labor and agriculture again4 ,real agriculture is not pleasant2 much pleasanter to reap and winnow 7with ballot-box or otherwise7 than to plough6 ,who would govern that can get along without governing8 ,he that is fittest for it1 is of all men the unwillingest unless constrained4 ,by multifarious devices we have been endeavoring to dispense with governing2 and by very superficial speculations1 of laissez-faire1 supply-and-demand1 c4 c4 to persuade ourselves that it is best so4 ,the ,real ,captain1 unless it be some ,captain of mechanical ,industry hired by ,mammon1 where is he in these days8 ,most likely1 in silence1 in sad isolation somewhere1 in remote obscurity2 trying if1 in an evil ungoverned time1 he cannot at least govern himself4 ,the ,real ,captain undiscoverable2 the ,phantasm ,captain everywhere very conspicuous3--it is thought ,phantasm ,captains1 aided by ballot-boxes1 are the true method1 after all4 ,they are much the pleasantest for the time being6 ,and so no ,dux or ,duke of any sort1 in any province of our affairs1 now leads3 the ,duke's ,bailiff leads1 what little leading is required for getting in the rents2 and the ,duke merely rides in the state-coach4 ,it is everywhere so3 and now at last we see a world all rushing towards strange consummations1 because it is and has long been so6 ,i do not suppose any reader of mine1 or many persons in ,england at all1 have much faith in ,fraternity1 ,equality and the ,revolutionary ,millenniums preached by the ,french ,prophets in this age3 but there are many movements here too which tend inevitably in the like direction2 and good men1 who would stand aghast at ,red ,republic and its adjuncts1 seem to me travelling at full speed towards that or a similar goal6 ,certainly the notion everywhere prevails among us too1 and preaches itself abroad in every dialect1 uncontradicted anywhere so far as ,i can hear1 ,that the grand panacea for social woes is what we call enfranchisement1 emancipation2 or1 translated into practical language1 the cutting asunder of human relations1 wherever they are found grievous1 as is like to be pretty universally the case at the rate we have been going for some generations past4 ,let us all be free of one another2 we shall then be happy4 ,free1 without bond or connection except that of cash-payment2 fair day's wages for the fair day's work2 bargained for by voluntary contract1 and law of supply-and-demand3 this is thought to be the true solution of all difficulties and injustices that have occurred between man and man4 ,to rectify the relation that exists between two men1 is there no method1 then1 but that of ending it8 ,the old relation has become unsuitable1 obsolete1 perhaps unjust2 it imperatively requires to be amended2 and the remedy is1 ,abolish it1 let there henceforth be no relation at all4 ,from the ,sacrament of ,marriage downwards1 human beings used to be manifoldly related1 one to another1 and each to all2 and there was no relation among human beings1 just or unjust1 that had not its grievances and difficulties1 its necessities on both sides to bear and forbear4 ,but henceforth1 be it known1 we have changed all that1 by favor of ,heaven3 the voluntary principle has come up1 which will itself do the business for us2 and now let a new ,sacrament1 that of ,divorce1 which we call emancipation1 and spout of on our platforms1 be universally the order of the day6--,have men considered whither all this is tending1 and what it certainly enough betokens8 ,cut every human relation which has anywhere grown uneasy sheer asunder2 reduce whatsoever was compulsory to voluntary1 whatsoever was permanent among us to the condition of nomadic3--in other words1 loosen by assiduous wedges in every joint1 the whole fabric of social existence1 stone from stone3 till at last1 all now being loose enough1 it can1 as we already see in most countries1 be overset by sudden outburst of revolutionary rage2 and1 lying as mere mountains of anarchic rubbish1 solicit you to sing ,fraternity1 c41 over it1 and to rejoice in the new remarkable era of human progress we have arrived at4 ,certainly ,emancipation proceeds with rapid strides among us1 this good while2 and has got to such a length as might give rise to reflections in men of a serious turn4 ,west-,indian ,blacks are emancipated1 and it appears refuse to work3 ,irish ,whites have long been entirely emancipated2 and nobody asks them to work1 or on condition of finding them potatoes 7which1 of course1 is indispensable71 permits them to work4--,among speculative persons1 a question has sometimes risen3 ,in the progress of ,emancipation1 are we to look for a time when all the ,horses also are to be emancipated1 and brought to the supply-and-demand principle8 ,horses too have motives2 are acted on by hunger1 fear1 hope1 love of oats1 terror of platted leather2 nay they have vanity1 ambition1 emulation1 thankfulness1 vindictiveness2 some rude outline of all our human spiritualities1--a rude resemblance to us in mind and intelligence1 even as they have in bodily frame4 ,the ,horse1 poor dumb four-footed fellow1 he too has his private feelings1 his affections1 gratitudes2 and deserves good usage2 no human master1 without crime1 shall treat him unjustly either1 or recklessly lay on the whip where it is not needed3--,i am sure if ,i could make him happy1 ,i should be willing to grant a small vote 7in addition to the late twenty millions7 for that object6 ,him too you occasionally tyrannize over2 and with bad result to yourselves1 among others2 using the leather in a tyrannous unnecessary manner2 withholding1 or scantily furnishing1 the oats and ventilated stabling that are due4 ,rugged horse-subduers1 one fears they are a little tyrannous at times4 ,am ,i not a horse1 and half-brother8--,to remedy which1 so far as remediable1 fancy--the horses all emancipated2 restored to their primeval right of property in the grass of this ,globe3 turned out to graze in an independent supply-and-demand manner6 ,so long as grass lasts1 ,i dare say they are very happy1 or think themselves so4 ,and ,farmer ,hodge sallying forth1 on a dry spring morning1 with a sieve of oats in his hand1 and agony of eager expectation in his heart1 is he happy8 ,help me to plough this day1 ,black ,dobbin3 oats in full measure if thou wilt4 ,hlunh1 ,no--thank6 snorts ,black ,dobbin2 he prefers glorious liberty and the grass4 ,bay ,darby1 wilt not thou perhaps8 ,hlunh6--,gray ,joan1 then1 my beautiful broad-bottomed mare1--,o ,heaven1 she too answers ,hlunh6 ,not a quadruped of them will plough a stroke for me4 ,corn-crops are ended in this world6--,for the sake1 if not of ,hodge1 then of ,hodge's horses1 one prays this benevolent practice might now cease1 and a new and better one try to begin4 ,small kindness to ,hodge's horses to emancipate them6 ,the fate of all emancipated horses is1 sooner or later1 inevitable4 ,to have in this habitable ,earth no grass to eat1--in ,black ,jamaica gradually none1 as in ,white ,connemara already none2--to roam aimless1 wasting the seedfields of the world2 and be hunted home to ,chaos1 by the due watch-dogs and due hell-dogs1 with such horrors of forsaken wretchedness as were never seen before6 ,these things are not sport2 they are terribly true1 in this country at this hour4 ,between our ,black ,west ,indies and our ,white ,ireland1 between these two extremes of lazy refusal to work1 and of famishing inability to find any work1 what a world have we made of it1 with our fierce ,mammon-worships1 and our benevolent philanderings1 and idle godless nonsenses of one kind and another6 ,supply-and-demand1 ,leave-it-alone1 ,voluntary ,principle1 ,time will mend it3--till ,british industrial existence seems fast becoming one huge poison-swamp of reeking pestilence physical and moral2 a hideous living ,golgotha of souls and bodies buried alive2 such a ,curtius' gulf1 communicating with the ,nether ,deeps1 as the ,sun never saw till now4 ,these scenes1 which the ,morning ,chronicle is bringing home to all minds of men1--thanks to it for a service such as ,newspapers have seldom done1--ought to excite unspeakable reflections in every mind4 ,thirty thousand outcast ,needlewomen working themselves swiftly to death2 three million ,paupers rotting in forced idleness1 helping said ,needlewomen to die3 these are but items in the sad ledger of despair4 ,thirty thousand wretched women1 sunk in that putrefying well of abominations2 they have oozed in upon ,london1 from the universal ,stygian quagmire of ,british industrial life2 are accumulated in the well of the concern1 to that extent4 ,british charity is smitten to the heart1 at the laying bare of such a scene2 passionately undertakes1 by enormous subscription of money1 or by other enormous effort1 to redress that individual horror2 as ,i and all men hope it may4 ,but1 alas1 what next8 ,this general well and cesspool once baled clean out to-day1 will begin before night to fill itself anew4 ,the universal ,stygian quagmire is still there2 opulent in women ready to be ruined1 and in men ready4 ,towards the same sad cesspool will these waste currents of human ruin ooze and gravitate as heretofore2 except in draining the universal quagmire itself there is no remedy4 ,and for that1 what is the method8 cry many in an angry manner4 ,to whom1 for the present1 ,i answer only1 ,not 'emancipation1' it would seem1 my friends2 not the cutting loose of human ties1 something far the reverse of that6 ,many things have been written about shirtmaking2 but here perhaps is the saddest thing of all1 not written anywhere till now1 that ,i know of4 ,shirts by the thirty thousand are made at twopence-halfpenny each2 and in the mean while no needlewoman1 distressed or other1 can be procured in ,london by any housewife to give1 for fair wages1 fair help in sewing4 ,ask any thrifty house-mother1 high or low1 and she will answer4 ,in high houses and in low1 there is the same answer3 no real needlewoman1 distressed or other1 has been found attainable in any of the houses ,i frequent4 ,imaginary needlewomen1 who demand considerable wages1 and have a deepish appetite for beer and viands1 ,i hear of everywhere2 but their sewing proves too often a distracted puckering and botching2 not sewing1 only the fallacious hope of it1 a fond imagination of the mind4 ,good sempstresses are to be hired in every village2 and in ,london1 with its famishing thirty thousand1 not at all1 or hardly1--,is not ,no-government beautiful in human business8 ,to such length has the ,leave-alone principle carried it1 by way of organizing labor1 in this affair of shirtmaking4 ,let us hope the ,leave-alone principle has now got its apotheosis2 and taken wing towards higher regions than ours1 to deal henceforth with a class of affairs more appropriate for it6 ,reader1 did you ever hear of ,constituted ,anarchy8 ,anarchy2 the choking1 sweltering1 deadly and killing rule of ,no-rule2 the consecration of cupidity1 and braying folly1 and dim stupidity and baseness1 in most of the affairs of men8 ,slop-shirts attainable three halfpence cheaper1 by the ruin of living bodies and immortal souls8 ,solemn ,bishops and high ,dignitaries1 our divine ,pillars of ,fire by night1 debating meanwhile1 with their largest wigs and gravest look1 upon something they call prevenient grace8 ,alas1 our noble men of genius1 ,heaven's real messengers to us1 they also rendered nearly futile by the wasteful time2--preappointed they everywhere1 and assiduously trained by all their pedagogues and monitors1 to rise in ,parliament1 to compose orations1 write books1 or in short speak words1 for the approval of reviewers2 instead of doing real kingly work to be approved of by the gods6 ,our ,government1 a highly responsible one2 responsible to no ,god that ,i can hear of1 but to the twenty-seven million gods of the shilling gallery4 ,a ,government tumbling and drifting on the whirlpools and mud-deluges1 floating atop in a conspicuous manner1 no-whither1--like the carcass of a drowned ass4 ,authentic ,chaos come up into this sunny ,cosmos again2 and all men singing ,gloria in excelsis to it4 ,in spirituals and temporals1 in field and workshop1 from ,manchester to ,dorsetshire1 from ,lambeth ,palace to the ,lanes of ,whitechapel1 wherever men meet and toil and traffic together1--,anarchy1 ,anarchy2 and only the street-constable 7though with ever-increasing difficulty7 still maintaining himself in the middle of it2 that so1 for one thing1 this blessed exchange of slop-shirts for the souls of women may transact itself in a peaceable manner6--,i1 for my part1 do profess myself in eternal opposition to this1 and discern well that universal ,ruin has us in the wind1 unless we can get out of this4 ,my friend ,crabbe1 in a late number of his ,intermittent ,radiator1 pertinently enough exclaims3-- ,when shall we have done with all this of ,british ,liberty1 ,voluntary ,principle1 ,dangers of ,centralization1 and the like8 ,it is really getting too bad4 ,for ,british ,liberty1 it seems1 the people cannot be taught to read4 ,british ,liberty1 shuddering to interfere with the rights of capital1 takes six or eight millions of money annually to feed the idle laborer whom it dare not employ4 ,for ,british ,liberty we live over poisonous cesspools1 gully-drains1 and detestable abominations2 and omnipotent ,london cannot sweep the dirt out of itself4 ,british ,liberty produces--what8 ,floods of ,hansard ,debates every year1 and apparently little else at present4 ,if these are the results of ,british ,liberty1 ,i1 for one1 move we should lay it on the shelf a little1 and look out for something other and farther4 ,we have achieved ,british ,liberty hundreds of years ago2 and are fast growing1 on the strength of it1 one of the most absurd populations the ,sun1 among his great ,museum of ,absurdities1 looks down upon at present4 ,curious enough3 the model of the world just now is ,england and her ,constitution2 all ,nations striving towards it3 poor ,france swimming these last sixty years in seas of horrid dissolution and confusion1 resolute to attain this blessedness of free voting1 or to die in chase of it4 ,prussia too1 solid ,germany itself1 has all broken out into crackling of musketry1 loud pamphleteering and ,frankfort parliamenting and palavering2 ,germany too will scale the sacred mountains1 how steep soever1 and1 by talisman of ballot-box1 inhabit a political ,elysium henceforth4 ,all the ,nations have that one hope4 ,very notable1 and rather sad to the humane on-looker4 ,for it is sadly conjectured1 all the ,nations labor somewhat under a mistake as to ,england1 and the causes of her freedom and her prosperous cotton-spinning2 and have much misread the nature of her ,parliament1 and the effect of ballot-boxes and universal suffrages there4 ,what if it were because the ,english ,parliament was from the first1 and is only just now ceasing to be1 a ,council of actual ,rulers1 real ,governing ,persons 7called ,peers1 ,mitred ,abbots1 ,lords1 ,knights of the ,shire1 or howsoever called71 actually ruling each his section of the country1--and possessing 7it must be said7 in the lump1 or when assembled as a ,council1 uncommon patience1 devoutness1 probity1 discretion and good fortune1--that the said ,parliament ever came to be good for much8 ,in that case it will not be easy to imitate the ,english ,parliament2 and the ballot-box and suffrage will be the mere bow of ,robin ,hood1 which it is given to very few to bend1 or shoot with to any perfection4 ,and if the ,peers become mere big ,capitalists1 ,railway ,directors1 gigantic ,hucksters1 ,kings of ,scrip1 without lordly quality1 or other virtue except cash2 and the ,mitred ,abbots change to mere ,able-,editors1 masters of ,parliamentary ,eloquence1 ,doctors of ,political ,economy1 and such like2 and all have to be elected by a universal-suffrage ballot-box1--,i do not see how the ,english ,parliament itself will long continue sea-worthy6 ,nay1 ,i find ,england in her own big dumb heart1 wherever you come upon her in a silent meditative hour1 begins to have dreadful misgivings about it4 ,the model of the world1 then1 is at once unattainable by the world1 and not much worth attaining8 ,england1 as ,i read the omens1 is now called a second time to show the ,nations how to live2 for by her ,parliament1 as chief governing entity1 ,i fear she is not long for this world6 ,poor ,england must herself again1 in these new strange times1 the old methods being quite worn out1 learn how to live4 ,that now is the terrible problem for ,england1 as for all the ,nations2 and she alone of all1 not yet sunk into open ,anarchy1 but left with time for repentance and amendment2 she1 wealthiest of all in material resource1 in spiritual energy1 in ancient loyalty to law1 and in the qualities that yield such loyalty1--she perhaps alone of all may be able1 with huge travail1 and the strain of all her faculties1 to accomplish some solution4 ,she will have to try it1 she has now to try it2 she must accomplish it1 or perish from her place in the world6 ,england1 as ,i persuade myself1 still contains in it many kings2 possesses1 as old ,rome did1 many men not needing election to command1 but eternally elected for it by the ,maker ,himself4 ,england's one hope is in these1 just now4 ,they are among the silent1 ,i believe2 mostly far away from platforms and public palaverings2 not speaking forth the image of their nobleness in transitory words1 but imprinting it1 each on his own little section of the world1 in silent facts1 in modest valiant actions1 that will endure forevermore4 ,they must sit silent no longer4 ,they are summoned to assert themselves2 to act forth1 and articulately vindicate1 in the teeth of howling multitudes1 of a world too justly maddened into all manner of delirious clamors1 what of wisdom they derive from ,god4 ,england1 and the ,eternal ,voices1 summon them2 poor ,england never so needed them as now4 ,up1 be doing everywhere3 the hour of crisis has verily come6 ,in all sections of ,english life1 the god-made king is needed2 is pressingly demanded in most2 in some1 cannot longer1 without peril as of conflagration1 be dispensed with4 ,he1 wheresoever he finds himself1 can say1 ,here too am ,i wanted2 here is the kingdom ,i have to subjugate1 and introduce ,god's ,laws into1--,god's ,laws1 instead of ,mammon's and ,m',croudy's and the ,old ,anarch's6 ,here is my work1 here or nowhere4--,are there many such1 who will answer to the call1 in ,england8 ,it turns on that1 whether ,england1 rapidly crumbling in these very years and months1 shall go down to the ,abyss as her neighbors have all done1 or survive to new grander destinies without solution of continuity6 ,probably the chief question of the world at present4 ,the true commander and king2 he who knows for himself the divine ,appointments of this ,universe1 the ,eternal ,laws ordained by ,god the ,maker1 in conforming to which lies victory and felicity1 in departing from which lies1 and forever must lie1 sorrow and defeat1 for each and all of the ,posterity of ,adam in every time and every place2 he who has sworn fealty to these1 and dare alone against the world assert these1 and dare not with the whole world at his back deflect from these2--he1 ,i know too well1 is a rare man4 ,difficult to discover2 not quite discoverable1 ,i apprehend1 by manoeuvring of ballot-boxes1 and riddling of the popular clamor according to the most approved methods4 ,he is not sold at any shop ,i know of1--though sometimes1 as at the sign of the ,ballot-box1 he is advertised for sale4 ,difficult indeed to discover3 and not very much assisted1 or encouraged in late times1 to discover himself2--which1 ,i think1 might be a kind of help8 ,encouraged rather1 and commanded in all ways1 if he be wise1 to hide himself1 and give place to the windy ,counterfeit of himself2 such as the universal suffrages can recognize1 such as loves the most sweet voices of the universal suffrages6--,o ,peter1 what becomes of such a ,people2 what can become8 ,did you never hear1 with the mind's ear as well1 that fateful ,hebrew ,prophecy1 ,i think the fatefulest of all1 which sounds daily through the streets1 ,ou' clo6 ,ou' clo6--,a certain ,people1 once upon a time1 clamorously voted by overwhelming majority1 ,not he2 ,barabbas1 not he6 ,him1 and what he is1 and what he deserves1 we know well enough3 a reviler of the ,chief ,priests and sacred ,chancery wigs2 a seditious ,heretic1 physical-force ,chartist1 and enemy of his country and mankind3 ,to the gallows and the cross with him6 ,barabbas is our man2 ,barabbas1 we are for ,barabbas6 ,they got ,barabbas3--have you well considered what a fund of purblind obduracy1 of opaque flunkyism grown truculent and transcendent2 what an eye for the phylacteries1 and want of eye for the eternal noblenesses2 sordid loyalty to the prosperous ,semblances1 and high-treason against the ,supreme ,fact1 such a vote betokens in these natures8 ,for it was the consummation of a long series of such2 they and their fathers had long kept voting so4 ,a singular ,people2 who could both produce such divine men1 and then could so stone and crucify them2 a ,people terrible from the beginning6--,well1 they got ,barabbas2 and they got1 of course1 such guidance as ,barabbas and the like of him could give them2 and1 of course1 they stumbled ever downwards and devilwards1 in their truculent stiffnecked way2 and--and1 at this hour1 after eighteen centuries of sad fortune1 they prophetically sing ,ou' clo6 in all the cities of the world4 ,might the world1 at this late hour1 but take note of them1 and understand their song a little6 ,yes1 there are some things the universal suffrage can decide1--and about these it will be exceedingly useful to consult the universal suffrage3 but in regard to most things of importance1 and in regard to the choice of men especially1 there is 7astonishing as it may seem7 next to no capability on the part of universal suffrage4--,i request all candid persons1 who have never so little originality of mind1 and every man has a little1 to consider this4 ,if true1 it involves such a change in our now fashionable modes of procedure as fills me with astonishment and alarm4 ,if popular suffrage is not the way of ascertaining what the ,laws of the ,universe are1 and who it is that will best guide us in the way of these1--then woe is to us if we do not take another method4 ,delolme on the ,british ,constitution will not save us2 deaf will the ,parcae be to votes of the ,house1 to leading articles1 constitutional philosophies4 ,the other method--alas1 it involves a stopping short1 or vital change of direction1 in the glorious career which all ,europe1 with shouts heaven-high1 is now galloping along3 and that1 happen when it may1 will1 to many of us1 be probably a rather surprising business6 ,one thing ,i do know1 and can again assert with great confidence1 supported by the whole ,universe1 and by some two hundred generations of men1 who have left us some record of themselves there1 ,that the few ,wise will have1 by one method or another1 to take command of the innumerable ,foolish2 that they must be got to take it2--and that1 in fact1 since ,wisdom1 which means also ,valor and heroic ,nobleness1 is alone strong in this world1 and one wise man is stronger than all men unwise1 they can be got4 ,that they must take it2 and having taken1 must keep it1 and do their ,god's ,message in it1 and defend the same1 at their life's peril1 against all men and devils4 ,this ,i do clearly believe to be the backbone of all ,future ,society1 as it has been of all ,past2 and that without it1 there is no ,society possible in the world4 ,and what a business this will be1 before it end in some degree of victory again1 and whether the time for shouts of triumph and tremendous cheers upon it is yet come1 or not yet by a great way1 ,i perceive too well6 ,a business to make us all very serious indeed4 ,a business not to be accomplished but by noble manhood1 and devout all-daring1 all-enduring loyalty to ,heaven1 such as fatally sleeps at present1--such as is not dead at present either1 unless the gods have doomed this world of theirs to die6 ,a business which long centuries of faithful travail and heroic agony1 on the part of all the noble that are born to us1 will not end2 and which to us1 of this tremendous cheering century1 it were blessedness very great to see successfully begun4 ,begun1 tried by all manner of methods1 if there is one wise ,statesman or man left among us1 it verily must be2--begun1 successfully or unsuccessfully1 we do hope to see it6 ,in all ,european countries1 especially in ,england1 one class of ,captains and commanders of men1 recognizable as the beginning of a new real and not imaginary ,aristocracy1 has already in some measure developed itself3 the ,captains of ,industry2--happily the class who above all1 or at least first of all1 are wanted in this time4 ,in the doing of material work1 we have already men among us that can command bodies of men4 ,and surely1 on the other hand1 there is no lack of men needing to be commanded3 the sad class of brother-men whom we had to describe as ,hodge's emancipated horses1 reduced to roving famine1--this too has in all countries developed itself2 and1 in fatal geometrical progression1 is ever more developing itself1 with a rapidity which alarms every one4 ,on this ground1 if not on all manner of other grounds1 it may be truly said1 the ,organization of ,labor 7not organizable by the mad methods tried hitherto7 is the universal vital ,problem of the world4 ,to bring these hordes of outcast captainless soldiers under due captaincy8 ,this is really the question of questions2 on the answer to which turns1 among other things1 the fate of all ,governments1 constitutional and other1--the possibility of their continuing to exist1 or the impossibility4 ,captainless1 uncommanded1 these wretched outcast soldiers1 since they cannot starve1 must needs become banditti1 street-barricaders1--destroyers of every ,government that cannot put them under captains1 and send them upon enterprises1 and in short render life human to them4 ,our ,english plan of ,poor ,laws1 which we once piqued ourselves upon as sovereign1 is evidently fast breaking down4 ,ireland1 now admitted into the ,idle ,workhouse1 is rapidly bursting it in pieces4 ,that never was a human destiny for any honest son of ,adam2 nowhere but in ,england could it have lasted at all2 and now1 with ,ireland sharer in it1 and the fulness of time come1 it is as good as ended4 ,alas1 yes4 ,here in ,connemara1 your crazy ,ship of the ,state1 otherwise dreadfully rotten in many of its timbers ,i believe1 has sprung a leak3 spite of all hands at the pump1 the water is rising2 the ,ship1 ,i perceive1 will founder1 if you cannot stop this leak6 ,to bring these ,captainless under due captaincy8 ,the anxious thoughts of all men that do think are turned upon that question2 and their efforts1 though as yet blindly and to no purpose1 under the multifarious impediments and obscurations1 all point thitherward4 ,isolated men1 and their vague efforts1 cannot do it4 ,government everywhere is called upon1--in ,england as loudly as elsewhere1--to give the initiative4 ,a new strange task of these new epochs2 which no ,government1 never so constitutional1 can escape from undertaking4 ,for it is vitally necessary to the existence of ,society itself2 it must be undertaken1 and succeeded in too1 or worse will follow1--and1 as we already see in ,irish ,connaught and some other places1 will follow soon4 ,to whatever thing still calls itself by the name of ,government1 were it never so constitutional and impeded by official impossibilities1 all men will naturally look for help1 and direction what to do1 in this extremity4 ,if help or direction is not given2 if the thing called ,government merely drift and tumble to and fro1 no-whither1 on the popular vortexes1 like some carcass of a drowned ass1 constitutionally put at the top of affairs1 popular indignation will infallibly accumulate upon it2 one day1 the popular lightning1 descending forked and horrible from the black air1 will annihilate said supreme carcass1 and smite it home to its native ooze again6--,your ,lordship1 this is too true1 though irreverently spoken3 indeed one knows not how to speak of it2 and to me it is infinitely sad and miserable1 spoken or not6--,unless perhaps the ,voluntary ,principle will still help us through8 ,perhaps this ,irish leak1 in such a rotten distressed condition of the ,ship1 with all the crew so anxious about it1 will be kind enough to stop of itself8-- ,dismiss that hope1 your ,lordship6 ,let all real and imaginary ,governors of ,england1 at the pass we have arrived at1 dismiss forever that fallacious fatal solace to their do-nothingism3 of itself1 too clearly1 the leak will never stop2 by human skill and energy it must be stopped1 or there is nothing but the sea-bottom for us all6 ,a ,chief ,governor of ,england really ought to recognize his situation2 to discern that1 doing nothing1 and merely drifting to and fro1 in however constitutional a manner1 he is a squanderer of precious moments1 moments that perhaps are priceless2 a truly alarming ,chief ,governor4 ,surely1 to a ,chief ,governor of ,england1 worthy of that high name1--surely to him1 as to every living man1 in every conceivable situation short of the ,kingdom of the ,dead--there is something possible2 some plan of action other than that of standing mildly1 with crossed arms1 till he and we--sink8 ,complex as his situation is1 he1 of all ,governors now extant among these distracted ,nations1 has1 as ,i compute1 by far the greatest possibilities4 ,the ,captains1 actual or potential1 are there1 and the million ,captainless3 and such resources for bringing them together as no other has4 ,to these outcast soldiers of his1 unregimented roving banditti for the present1 or unworking workhouse prisoners who are almost uglier than banditti2 to these floods of ,irish ,beggars1 ,able-bodied ,paupers1 and nomadic ,lackalls1 now stagnating or roaming everywhere1 drowning the face of the world 7too truly7 into an untenantable swamp and ,stygian quagmire1 has the ,chief ,governor of this country no word whatever to say8 ,nothing but ,rate in aid1 ,time will mend it1 ,necessary business of the ,session2 and ,after me the ,deluge8 ,a ,chief ,governor that can front his ,irish difficulty1 and steadily contemplate the horoscope of ,irish and ,british ,pauperism1 and whitherward it is leading him and us1 in this humor1 must be a--,what shall we call such a ,chief ,governor8 ,alas1 in spite of old use and wont1--little other than a tolerated ,solecism1 growing daily more intolerable6 ,he decidedly ought to have some word to say on this matter1--to be incessantly occupied in getting something which he could practically say6--,perhaps to the following1 or a much finer effect8 ,speech of the ,british ,prime-,minister to the floods of ,irish and other ,beggars1 the able-bodied ,lackalls1 nomadic or stationary1 and the general assembly1 outdoor and indoor1 of the ,pauper ,populations of these ,realms4 ,vagrant ,lackalls1 foolish most of you1 criminal many of you1 miserable all2 the sight of you fills me with astonishment and despair4 ,what to do with you ,i know not2 long have ,i been meditating1 and it is hard to tell4 ,here are some three millions of you1 as ,i count3 so many of you fallen sheer over into the abysses of open ,beggary2 and1 fearful to think1 every new unit that falls is loading so much more the chain that drags the others over4 ,on the edge of the precipice hang uncounted millions2 increasing1 ,i am told1 at the rate of #abjj a day4 ,they hang there on the giddy edge1 poor souls1 cramping themselves down1 holding on with all their strength2 but falling1 falling one after another2 and the chain is getting heavy1 so that ever more fall2 and who at last will stand8 ,what to do with you8 ,the question1 ,what to do with you8 especially since the potato died1 is like to break my heart6 ,one thing1 after much meditating1 ,i have at last discovered1 and now know for some time back3 ,that you cannot be left to roam abroad in this unguided manner1 stumbling over the precipices1 and loading ever heavier the fatal chain upon those who might be able to stand2 that this of locking you up in temporary ,idle ,workhouses1 when you stumble1 and subsisting you on ,indian meal1 till you can sally forth again on fresh roamings1 and fresh stumblings1 and ultimate descent to the devil2--that this is not the plan2 and that it never was1 or could out of ,england have been supposed to be1 much as ,i have prided myself upon it6 ,vagrant ,lackalls1 ,i at last perceive1 all this that has been sung and spoken1 for a long while1 about enfranchisement1 emancipation1 freedom1 suffrage1 civil and religious liberty over the world1 is little other than sad temporary jargon1 brought upon us by a stern necessity1--but now ordered by a sterner to take itself away again a little4 ,sad temporary jargon1 ,i say3 made up of sense and nonsense1--sense in small quantities1 and nonsense in very large2--and1 if taken for the whole or permanent truth of human things1 it is no better than fatal infinite nonsense eternally untrue4 ,all men1 ,i think1 will soon have to quit this1 to consider this as a thing pretty well achieved2 and to look out towards another thing much more needing achievement at the time that now is4 ,all men will have to quit it1 ,i believe4 ,but to you1 my indigent friends1 the time for quitting it has palpably arrived6 ,to talk of glorious self-government1 of suffrages and hustings1 and the fight of freedom and such like1 is a vain thing in your case4 ,by all human definitions and conceptions of the said fight of freedom1 you for your part have lost it1 and can fight no more4 ,glorious self-government is a glory not for you1 not for ,hodge's emancipated horses1 nor you4 ,no2 ,i say1 ,no4 ,you1 for your part1 have tried it1 and failed4 ,left to walk your own road1 the will-o'-wisps beguiled you1 your short sight could not descry the pitfalls2 the deadly tumult and press has whirled you hither and thither1 regardless of your struggles and your shrieks2 and here at last you lie2 fallen flat into the ditch1 drowning there and dying1 unless the others that are still standing please to pick you up4 ,the others that still stand have their own difficulties1 ,i can tell you6--,but you1 by imperfect energy and redundant appetite1 by doing too little work and drinking too much beer1 you 7,i bid you observe7 have proved that you cannot do it6 ,you lie there plainly in the ditch4 ,and ,i am to pick you up again1 on these mad terms2 help you ever again1 as with our best heart's-blood1 to do what1 once for all1 the gods have made impossible8 ,to load the fatal chain with your perpetual staggerings and sprawlings2 and ever again load it1 till we all lie sprawling8 ,my indigent incompetent friends1 ,i will not6 ,know that1 whoever may be 'sons of freedom1' you for your part are not and cannot be such4 ,not 'free' you1 ,i think1 whoever may be free4 ,you palpably are fallen captive1--caitiff1 as they once named it3--you do1 silently but eloquently1 demand1 in the name of mercy itself1 that some genuine command be taken of you4 ,yes1 my indigent incompetent friends2 some genuine practical command4 ,such1--if ,i rightly interpret those mad ,chartisms1 ,repeal ,agitations1 ,red ,republics1 and other delirious inarticulate howlings and bellowings which all the populations of the world now utter1 evidently cries of pain on their and your part1--is the demand which you1 ,captives1 make of all men that are not ,captive1 but are still ,free4 ,free men1--alas1 had you ever any notion who the free men were1 who the not-free1 the incapable of freedom6 ,the free men1 if you could have understood it1 they are the wise men2 the patient1 self-denying1 valiant2 the ,nobles of the ,world2 who can discern the ,law of this ,universe1 what it is1 and piously obey it2 these1 in late sad times1 having cast you loose1 you are fallen captive to greedy sons of profit-and-loss2 to bad and ever to worse2 and at length to ,beer and the ,devil4 ,algiers1 ,brazil or ,dahomey hold nothing in them so authentically slave as you are1 my indigent incompetent friends6 ,good ,heavens1 and ,i have to raise some eight or nine millions annually1 six for ,england itself1 and to wreck the morals of my working population beyond all money's worth1 to keep the life from going out of you3 a small service to you1 as ,i many times bitterly repeat6 ,alas1 yes2 before high ,heaven ,i must declare it such4 ,i think the old ,spartans1 who would have killed you instead1 had shown more 'humanity1' more of manhood1 than ,i thus do6 ,more humanity1 ,i say1 more of manhood1 and of sense for what the dignity of man demands imperatively of you and of me and of us all4 ,we call it charity1 beneficence1 and other fine names1 this brutish ,workhouse ,scheme of ours2 and it is but sluggish heartlessness1 and insincerity1 and cowardly lowness of soul4 ,not 'humanity' or manhood1 ,i think2 perhaps apehood rather1--paltry imitancy1 from the teeth outward1 of what our heart never felt nor our understanding ever saw2 dim indolent adherence to extraneous and extinct traditions2 traditions now really about extinct2 not living now to almost any of us1 and still haunting with their spectralities and gibbering ghosts 7in a truly baleful manner7 almost all of us6 ,making this our struggling ',twelfth ,hour of the ,night' inexpressibly hideous6-- ,but as for you1 my indigent incompetent friends1 ,i have to repeat with sorrow1 but with perfect clearness1 what is plainly undeniable1 and is even clamorous to get itself admitted1 that you are of the nature of slaves1--or if you prefer the word1 of nomadic1 and now even vagrant and vagabond1 servants that can find no master on those terms2 which seems to me a much uglier word4 ,emancipation8 ,you have been 'emancipated' with a vengeance6 ,foolish souls1 ,i say the whole world cannot emancipate you4 ,fealty to ignorant ,unruliness1 to gluttonous sluggish ,improvidence1 to the ,beer-pot and the ,devil1 who is there that can emancipate a man in that predicament8 ,not a whole ,reform ,bill1 a whole ,french ,revolution executed for his behoof alone3 nothing but ,god the ,maker can emancipate him1 by making him anew4 ,to forward which glorious consummation1 will it not be well1 ,o indigent friends1 that you1 fallen flat there1 shall henceforth learn to take advice of others as to the methods of standing8 ,plainly ,i let you know1 and all the world and the worlds know1 that ,i for my part mean it so4 ,not as glorious unfortunate sons of freedom1 but as recognized captives1 as unfortunate fallen brothers requiring that ,i should command you1 and if need were1 control and compel you1 can there henceforth be a relation between us4 ,ask me not for ,indian meal2 you shall be compelled to earn it first2 know that on other terms ,i will not give you any4 ,before ,heaven and ,earth1 and ,god the ,maker of us all1 ,i declare it is a scandal to see such a life kept in you1 by the sweat and heart's-blood of your brothers2 and that1 if we cannot mend it1 death were preferable6 ,go to1 we must get out of this--unutterable coil of nonsenses1 constitutional1 philanthropical1 c41 in which 7surely without mutual hatred1 if with less of 'love' than is supposed7 we are all strangling one another6 ,your want of wants1 ,i say1 is that you be commanded in this world1 not being able to command yourselves4 ,know therefore that it shall be so with you4 ,nomadism1 ,i give you notice1 has ended2 needful permanency1 soldier-like obedience1 and the opportunity and the necessity of hard steady labor for your living1 have begun4 ,know that the ,idle ,workhouse is shut against you henceforth2 you cannot enter there at will1 nor leave at will2 you shall enter a quite other ,refuge1 under conditions strict as soldiering1 and not leave till ,i have done with you4 ,he that prefers the glorious 7or perhaps even the rebellious inglorious7 'career of freedom1' let him prove that he can travel there1 and be the master of himself2 and right good speed to him4 ,he who has proved that he cannot travel there or be the master of himself1--let him1 in the name of all the gods1 become a servant1 and accept the just rules of servitude6 ,arise1 enlist in my ,irish1 my ,scotch and ,english ',regiments of the ,new ,era1'--which ,i have been concocting1 day and night1 during these three ,grouse-seasons 7taking earnest incessant counsel1 with all manner of ,industrial ,notabilities and men of insight1 on the matter71 and have now brought to a kind of preparation for incipiency1 thank ,heaven6 ,enlist there1 ye poor wandering banditti2 obey1 work1 suffer1 abstain1 as all of us have had to do3 so shall you be useful in ,god's creation1 so shall you be helped to gain a manful living for yourselves2 not otherwise than so4 ,industrial ,regiments ,here numerous persons1 with big wigs many of them1 and austere aspect1 whom ,i take to be ,professors of the ,dismal ,science1 start up in an agitated vehement manner3 but the ,premier resolutely beckons them down again--,regiments not to fight the ,french or others1 who are peaceable enough towards us2 but to fight the ,bogs and ,wildernesses at home and abroad1 and to chain the ,devils of the ,pit which are walking too openly among us4 ,work1 for you8 ,work1 surely1 is not quite undiscoverable in an ,earth so wide as ours1 if we will take the right methods for it6 ,indigent friends1 we will adopt this new relation 7which is old as the world72 this will lead us towards such4 ,rigorous conditions1 not to be violated on either side1 lie in this relation2 conditions planted there by ,god ,himself2 which woe will betide us if we do not discover1 gradually more and more discover1 and conform to6 ,industrial ,colonels1 ,workmasters1 ,task-masters1 ,life-commanders1 equitable as ,rhadamanthus and inflexible as he3 such1 ,i perceive1 you do need2 and such1 you being once put under law as soldiers are1 will be discoverable for you4 ,i perceive1 with boundless alarm1 that ,i shall have to set about discovering such1--,i1 since ,i am at the top of affairs1 with all men looking to me4 ,alas1 it is my new task in this ,new ,era2 and ,god knows1 ,i too1 little other than a red-tape ,talking-machine1 and unhappy ,bag of ,parliamentary ,eloquence hitherto1 am far behind with it6 ,but street-barricades rise everywhere3 the hour of ,fate has come4 ,in ,connemara there has sprung a leak1 since the potato died2 ,connaught1 if it were not for ,treasury-grants and rates-in-aid1 would have to recur to ,cannibalism even now1 and ,human ,society would cease to pretend that it existed there4 ,done this thing must be4 ,alas1 ,i perceive that if ,i cannot do it1 then surely ,i shall die1 and perhaps shall not have ,christian burial6 ,but ,i already raise near upon ,ten ,millions for feeding you in idleness1 my nomadic friends2 work1 under due regulations1 ,i really might try to get of--,here arises indescribable uproar1 no longer repressible1 from all manner of ,economists1 ,emancipationists1 ,constitutionalists1 and miscellaneous ,professors of the ,dismal ,science1 pretty numerously scattered about2 and cries of ,private enterprise1 ,rights of ,capital1 ,voluntary ,principle1 ,doctrines of the ,british ,constitution1 swollen by the general assenting hum of all the world1 quite drown the ,chief ,minister for a while4 ,he1 with invincible resolution1 persists2 obtains hearing again3 ,respectable ,professors of the ,dismal ,science1 soft you a little4 ,alas1 ,i know what you would say4 ,for my sins1 ,i have read much in those inimitable volumes of yours1--really ,i should think1 some barrowfuls of them in my time1--and1 in these last forty years of theory and practice1 have pretty well seized what of ,divine ,message you were sent with to me4 ,perhaps as small a message1 give me leave to say1 as ever there was such a noise made about before4 ,trust me1 ,i have not forgotten it1 shall never forget it4 ,those ,laws of the ,shop-till are indisputable to me2 and practically useful in certain departments of the ,universe1 as the multiplication-table itself4 ,once ,i even tried to sail through the ,immensities with them1 and to front the big coming ,eternities with them2 but ,i found it would not do4 ,as the ,supreme ,rule of ,statesmanship1 or ,government of ,men1--since this ,universe is not wholly a ,shop1--no4 ,you rejoice in my improved tariffs1 free-trade movements and the like1 on every hand2 for which be thankful1 and even sing litanies if you choose4 ,but here at last1 in the ,idle-,workhouse movement1--unexampled yet on ,earth or in the waters under the ,earth1--,i am fairly brought to a stand2 and have had to make reflections1 of the most alarming1 and indeed awful1 and as it were religious nature6 ,professors of the ,dismal ,science1 ,i perceive that the length of your tether is now pretty well run2 and that ,i must request you to talk a little lower in future4 ,by the side of the shop-till1--see1 your small ',law of ,god' is hung up1 along with the multiplication-table itself4 ,but beyond and above the shop-till1 allow me to say1 you shall as good as hold your peace4 ,respectable ,professors1 ,i perceive it is not now the ,gigantic ,hucksters1 but it is the ,immortal ,gods1 yes they1 in their terror and their beauty1 in their wrath and their beneficence1 that are coming into play in the affairs of this world6 ,soft you a little4 ,do not you interrupt me1 but try to understand and help me6-- --,work1 was ,i saying8 ,my indigent unguided friends1 ,i should think some work might be discoverable for you4 ,enlist1 stand drill2 become1 from a nomadic ,banditti of ,idleness1 ,soldiers of ,industry6 ,i will lead you to the ,irish ,bogs1 to the vacant desolations of ,connaught now falling into ,cannibalism1 to mistilled ,connaught1 to ditto ,munster1 ,leinster1 ,ulster1 ,i will lead you3 to the ,english fox-covers1 furze-grown ,commons1 ,new ,forests1 ,salisbury ,plains3 likewise to the ,scotch ,hill-sides1 and bare rushy slopes1 which as yet feed only sheep1--moist uplands1 thousands of square miles in extent1 which are destined yet to grow green crops1 and fresh butter and milk and beef without limit 7wherein no ',foreigner can compete with us'71 were the ,glasgow sewers once opened on them1 and you with your ,colonels carried thither4 ,in the ,three ,kingdoms1 or in the ,forty ,colonies1 depend upon it1 you shall be led to your work6 ,to each of you ,i will then say3 ,here is work for you2 strike into it with manlike1 soldier-like obedience and heartiness1 according to the methods here prescribed1--wages follow for you without difficulty2 all manner of just remuneration1 and at length emancipation itself follows4 ,refuse to strike into it2 shirk the heavy labor1 disobey the rules1--,i will admonish and endeavor to incite you2 if in vain1 ,i will flog you2 if still in vain1 ,i will at last shoot you1--and make ,god's ,earth1 and the forlorn-hope in ,god's ,battle1 free of you4 ,understand it1 ,i advise you6 ,the ,organization of ,labor--,left speaking1 says our reporter4 ,left speaking3 alas1 that he should have to speak so much6 ,there are things that should be done1 not spoken2 that till the doing of them is begun1 cannot well be spoken4 ,he may have to speak seven years yet1 before a spade be struck into the ,bog of ,allen2 and then perhaps it will be too late6-- ,you perceive1 my friends1 we have actually got into the ,new ,era there has been such prophesying of3 here we all are1 arrived at last2--and it is by no means the land flowing with milk and honey we were led to expect6 ,very much the reverse4 ,a terrible new country this3 no neighbors in it yet1 that ,i can see1 but irrational flabby monsters 7philanthropic and other7 of the giant species2 hyenas1 laughing hyenas1 predatory wolves2 probably devils1 blue 7or perhaps blue-and-yellow7 devils1 as ,st4 ,guthlac found in ,croyland long ago4 ,a huge untrodden haggard country1 the chaotic battle-field of ,frost and ,fire2 a country of savage glaciers1 granite mountains1 of foul jungles1 unhewed forests1 quaking bogs2--which we shall have our own ados to make arable and habitable1 ,i think6 ,we must stick by it1 however2--of all enterprises the impossiblest is that of getting out of it1 and shifting into another4 ,to work1 then1 one and all2 hands to work6 ,no4 ,,ii4 ,,model ,,prisons4 ,march #a1 #ahej4 ,the deranged condition of our affairs is a universal topic among men at present2 and the heavy miseries pressing1 in their rudest shape1 on the great dumb inarticulate class1 and from this1 by a sure law1 spreading upwards1 in a less palpable but not less certain and perhaps still more fatal shape on all classes to the very highest1 are admitted everywhere to be great1 increasing and now almost unendurable4 ,how to diminish them1--this is every man's question4 ,for in fact they do imperatively need diminution2 and unless they can be diminished1 there are many other things that cannot very long continue to exist beside them4 ,a serious question indeed1 ,how to diminish them6 ,among the articulate classes1 as they may be called1 there are two ways of proceeding in regard to this4 ,one large body of the intelligent and influential1 busied mainly in personal affairs1 accepts the social iniquities1 or whatever you may call them1 and the miseries consequent thereupon2 accepts them1 admits them to be extremely miserable1 pronounces them entirely inevitable1 incurable except by ,heaven1 and eats its pudding with as little thought of them as possible4 ,not a very noble class of citizens these2 not a very hopeful or salutary method of dealing with social iniquities this of theirs1 however it may answer in respect to themselves and their personal affairs6 ,but now there is the select small minority1 in whom some sentiment of public spirit and human pity still survives1 among whom1 or not anywhere1 the ,good ,cause may expect to find soldiers and servants3 their method of proceeding1 in these times1 is also very strange4 ,they embark in the philanthropic movement2 they calculate that the miseries of the world can be cured by bringing the philanthropic movement to bear on them4 ,to universal public misery1 and universal neglect of the clearest public duties1 let private charity superadd itself3 there will thus be some balance restored1 and maintained again2 thus1--or by what conceivable method8 ,on these terms they1 for their part1 embark in the sacred cause2 resolute to cure a world's woes by rose-water2 desperately bent on trying to the uttermost that mild method4 ,it seems not to have struck these good men that no world1 or thing here below1 ever fell into misery1 without having first fallen into folly1 into sin against the ,supreme ,ruler of it1 by adopting as a law of conduct what was not a law1 but the reverse of one2 and that1 till its folly1 till its sin be cast out of it1 there is not the smallest hope of its misery going1--that not for all the charity and rose-water in the world will its misery try to go till then6 ,this is a sad error2 all the sadder as it is the error chiefly of the more humane and noble-minded of our generation2 among whom1 as we said1 or elsewhere not at all1 the cause of real ,reform must expect its servants4 ,at present1 and for a long while past1 whatsoever young soul awoke in ,england with some disposition towards generosity and social heroism1 or at lowest with some intimation of the beauty of such a disposition1--he1 in whom the poor world might have looked for a ,reformer1 and valiant mender of its foul ways1 was almost sure to become a ,philanthropist1 reforming merely by this rose-water method4 ,to admit that the world's ways are foul1 and not the ways of ,god the ,maker1 but of ,satan the ,destroyer1 many of them1 and that they must be mended or we all die2 that if huge misery prevails1 huge cowardice1 falsity1 disloyalty1 universal ,injustice high and low1 have still longer prevailed1 and must straightway try to cease prevailing3 this is what no visible reformer has yet thought of doing3 ,all so-called reforms hitherto are grounded either on openly admitted egoism 7cheap bread to the cotton-spinner1 voting to those that have no vote1 and the like71 which does not point towards very celestial developments of the ,reform movement2 or else upon this of remedying social injustices by indiscriminate contributions of philanthropy1 a method surely still more unpromising4 ,such contributions1 being indiscriminate1 are but a new injustice2 these will never lead to reform1 or abolition of injustice1 whatever else they lead to6 ,not by that method shall we get round ,cape ,horn1 by never such unanimity of voting1 under the most approved ,phantasm ,captains6 ,it is miserable to see4 ,having1 as it were1 quite lost our way round ,cape ,horn1 and being sorely admonished by the ,iceberg and other dumb councillors1 the pilots1--instead of taking to their sextants1 and asking with a seriousness unknown for a long while1 ,what the ,laws of wind and water1 and of ,earth and of ,heaven are1--decide that now1 in these new circumstances1 they will1 to the worthy and unworthy1 serve out a double allowance of grog4 ,in this way they hope to do it1--by steering on the old wrong tack1 and serving out more and more1 copiously what little aqua vitae may be still on board6 ,philanthropy1 emancipation1 and pity for human calamity is very beautiful2 but the deep oblivion of the ,law of ,right and ,wrong2 this indiscriminate mashing up of ,right and ,wrong into a patent treacle of the ,philanthropic movement1 is by no means beautiful2 this1 on the contrary1 is altogether ugly and alarming4 ,truly if there be not something inarticulate among us1 not yet uttered but pressing towards utterance1 which is much wiser than anything we have lately articulated or brought into word or action1 our outlooks are rather lamentable4 ,the great majority of the powerful and active-minded1 sunk in egoistic scepticisms1 busied in chase of lucre1 pleasure1 and mere vulgar objects1 looking with indifference on the world's woes1 and passing carelessly by on the other side2 and the select minority1 of whom better might have been expected1 bending all their strength to cure them by methods which can only make bad worse1 and in the end render cure hopeless4 ,a blind loquacious pruriency of indiscriminate ,philanthropism substituting itself1 with much self-laudation1 for the silent divinely awful sense of ,right and ,wrong2--testifying too clearly that here is no longer a divine sense of ,right and ,wrong2 that1 in the smoke of this universal1 and alas inevitable and indispensable revolutionary fire1 and burning up of worn-out rags of which the world is full1 our life-atmosphere has 7for the time7 become one vile ,london fog1 and the eternal loadstars are gone out for us6 ,gone out2--yet very visible if you can get above the fog2 still there in their place1 and quite the same as they always were6 ,to whoever does still know of loadstars1 the proceedings1 which expand themselves daily1 of these sublime philanthropic associations1 and universal sluggard-and-scoundrel protection-societies1 are a perpetual affliction4 ,with their emancipations and abolition principles1 and reigns of brotherhood and new methods of love1 they have done great things in the ,white and in the ,black ,world1 during late years2 and are preparing for greater4 ,in the interest of human reform1 if there is ever to be any reform1 and return to prosperity or to the possibility of prospering1 it is urgent that the nonsense of all this 7and it is mostly nonsense1 but not quite7 should be sent about its business straightway1 and forbidden to deceive the well-meaning souls among us any more4 ,reform1 if we will understand that divine word1 cannot begin till then4 ,one day1 ,i do know1 this1 as is the doom of all nonsense1 will be drummed out of the world1 with due placard stuck on its back1 and the populace flinging dead cats at it3 but whether soon or not1 is by no means so certain4 ,i rather guess1 not at present1 not quite soon4 ,fraternity1 in other countries1 has gone on1 till it found itself unexpectedly manipulating guillotines by its chosen ,robespierres1 and become a fraternity like ,cain's4 ,much to its amazement6 ,for in fact it is not all nonsense2 there is an infinitesimal fraction of sense in it withal2 which is so difficult to disengage2--which must be disengaged1 and laid hold of1 before ,fraternity can vanish4 ,but to our subject1--the ,model ,prison1 and the strange theory of life now in action there4 ,that1 for the present1 is my share in the wide adventure of ,philanthropism2 the world's share1 and how and when it is to be liquidated and ended1 rests with the ,supreme ,destinies4 ,several months ago1 some friends took me with them to see one of the ,london ,prisons2 a ,prison of the exemplary or model kind4 ,an immense circuit of buildings2 cut out1 girt with a high ring-wall1 from the lanes and streets of the quarter1 which is a dim and crowded one4 ,gateway as to a fortified place2 then a spacious court1 like the square of a city2 broad staircases1 passages to interior courts2 fronts of stately architecture all round4 ,it lodges some thousand or twelve hundred prisoners1 besides the officers of the establishment4 ,surely one of the most perfect buildings1 within the compass of ,london4 ,we looked at the apartments1 sleeping-cells1 dining-rooms1 working-rooms1 general courts or special and private3 excellent all1 the ne-plus-ultra of human care and ingenuity2 in my life ,i never saw so clean a building2 probably no ,duke in ,england lives in a mansion of such perfect and thorough cleanness4 ,the bread1 the cocoa1 soup1 meat1 all the various sorts of food1 in their respective cooking-places1 we tasted3 found them of excellence superlative4 ,the prisoners sat at work1 light work1 picking oakum1 and the like1 in airy apartments with glass roofs1 of agreeable temperature and perfect ventilation2 silent1 or at least conversing only by secret signs3 others were out1 taking their hour of promenade in clean flagged courts3 methodic composure1 cleanliness1 peace1 substantial wholesome comfort reigned everywhere supreme4 ,the women in other apartments1 some notable murderesses among them1 all in the like state of methodic composure and substantial wholesome comfort1 sat sewing3 in long ranges of wash-houses1 drying-houses and whatever pertains to the getting-up of clean linen1 were certain others1 with all conceivable mechanical furtherances1 not too arduously working4 ,the notable murderesses were1 though with great precautions of privacy1 pointed out to us2 and we were requested not to look openly at them1 or seem to notice them at all1 as it was found to cherish their vanity when visitors looked at them4 ,schools too were there2 intelligent teachers of both sexes1 studiously instructing the still ignorant of these thieves4 ,from an inner upper room or gallery1 we looked down into a range of private courts1 where certain ,chartist ,notabilities were undergoing their term4 ,chartist ,notability ,first struck me very much2 ,i had seen him about a year before1 by involuntary accident and much to my disgust1 magnetizing a silly young person2 and had noted well the unlovely voracious look of him1 his thick oily skin1 his heavy dull-burning eyes1 his greedy mouth1 the dusky potent insatiable animalism that looked out of every feature of him3 a fellow adequate to animal-magnetize most things1 ,i did suppose2--and here was the post ,i now found him arrived at4 ,next neighbor to him was ,notability ,second1 a philosophic or literary ,chartist2 walking rapidly to and fro in his private court1 a clean1 high-walled place2 the world and its cares quite excluded1 for some months to come3 master of his own time and spiritual resources to1 as ,i supposed1 a really enviable extent4 ,what literary man to an equal extent6 ,i fancied ,i1 for my own part1 so left with paper and ink1 and all taxes and botherations shut out from me1 could have written such a ,book as no reader will here ever get of me4 ,never1 ,o reader1 never here in a mere house with taxes and botherations4 ,here1 alas1 one has to snatch one's poor ,book1 bit by bit1 as from a conflagration2 and to think and live1 comparatively1 as if the house were not one's own1 but mainly the world's and the devil's4 ,notability ,second might have filled one with envy4 ,the ,captain of the place1 a gentleman of ancient ,military or ,royal-,navy habits1 was one of the most perfect governors2 professionally and by nature zealous for cleanliness1 punctuality1 good order of every kind2 a humane heart and yet a strong one2 soft of speech and manner1 yet with an inflexible rigor of command1 so far as his limits went3 iron hand in a velvet glove1 as ,napoleon defined it4 ,a man of real worth1 challenging at once love and respect3 the light of those mild bright eyes seemed to permeate the place as with an all-pervading vigilance1 and kindly yet victorious illumination2 in the soft definite voice it was as if ,nature herself were promulgating her orders1 gentlest mildest orders1 which however1 in the end1 there would be no disobeying1 which in the end there would be no living without fulfilment of4 ,a true aristos1 and commander of men4 ,a man worthy to have commanded and guided forward1 in good ways1 twelve hundred of the best common-people in ,london or the world3 he was here1 for many years past1 giving all his care and faculty to command1 and guide forward in such ways as there were1 twelve hundred of the worst4 ,i looked with considerable admiration on this gentleman2 and with considerable astonishment1 the reverse of admiration1 on the work he had here been set upon4 ,this excellent ,captain was too old a ,commander to complain of anything2 indeed he struggled visibly the other way1 to find in his own mind that all here was best2 but ,i could sufficiently discern that1 in his natural instincts1 if not mounting up to the region of his thoughts1 there was a continual protest going on against much of it2 that nature and all his inarticulate persuasion 7however much forbidden to articulate itself7 taught him the futility and unfeasibility of the system followed here4 ,the ,visiting ,magistrates1 he gently regretted rather than complained1 had lately taken his tread-wheel from him1 men were just now pulling it down2 and how he was henceforth to enforce discipline on these bad subjects1 was much a difficulty with him4 ,they cared for nothing but the tread-wheel1 and for having their rations cut short3 of the two sole penalties1 hard work and occasional hunger1 there remained now only one1 and that by no means the better one1 as he thought4 ,the sympathy of visitors1 too1 their pity for his interesting scoundrel-subjects1 though he tried to like it1 was evidently no joy to this practical mind4 ,pity1 yes3 but pity for the scoundrel-species8 ,for those who will not have pity on themselves1 and will force the ,universe and the ,laws of ,nature to have no pity on them8 ,meseems ,i could discover fitter objects of pity6 ,in fact it was too clear1 this excellent man had got a field for his faculties which1 in several respects1 was by no means the suitable one4 ,to drill twelve hundred scoundrels by the method of kindness1 and of abolishing your very tread-wheel1--how could any commander rejoice to have such a work cut out for him8 ,you had but to look in the faces of these twelve hundred1 and despair1 for most part1 of ever commanding them at all4 ,miserable distorted blockheads1 the generality2 ape-faces1 imp-faces1 angry dog-faces1 heavy sullen ox-faces2 degraded underfoot perverse creatures1 sons of indocility1 greedy mutinous darkness1 and in one word1 of ,,stupidity1 which is the general mother of such4 ,stupidity intellectual and stupidity moral 7for the one always means the other1 as you will1 with surprise or not1 discover if you look7 had borne this progeny3 base-natured beings1 on whom in the course of a maleficent subterranean life of ,london ,scoundrelism1 the ,genius of ,darkness 7called ,satan1 ,devil1 and other names7 had now visibly impressed his seal1 and had marked them out as soldiers of ,chaos and of him1--appointed to serve in his ,regiments1 ,first of the line1 ,second ditto1 and so on in their order4 ,him1 you could perceive1 they would serve2 but not easily another than him4 ,these were the subjects whom our brave ,captain and ,prison-,governor was appointed to command1 and reclaim to other service1 by the method of love1 with a tread-wheel abolished4 ,hopeless forevermore such a project4 ,these abject1 ape1 wolf1 ox1 imp and other diabolic-animal specimens of humanity1 who of the very gods could ever have commanded them by love8 ,a collar round the neck1 and a cart-whip flourished over the back2 these1 in a just and steady human hand1 were what the gods would have appointed them2 and now when1 by long misconduct and neglect1 they had sworn themselves into the ,devil's regiments of the line1 and got the seal of ,chaos impressed on their visage1 it was very doubtful whether even these would be of avail for the unfortunate commander of twelve hundred men6 ,by love1 without hope except of peaceably teasing oakum1 or fear except of a temporary loss of dinner1 he was to guide these men1 and wisely constrain them1--whitherward8 ,no-whither3 that was his goal1 if you will think well of it2 that was a second fundamental falsity in his problem4 ,false in the warp and false in the woof1 thought one of us2 about as false a problem as any ,i have seen a good man set upon lately6 ,to guide scoundrels by love2 that is a false woof1 ,i take it1 a method that will not hold together2 hardly for the flower of men will love alone do2 and for the sediment and scoundrelism of men it has not even a chance to do4 ,and then to guide any class of men1 scoundrel or other1 ,no-whither1 which was this poor ,captain's problem1 in this ,prison with oakum for its one element of hope or outlook1 how can that prosper by love or by any conceivable method8 ,that is a warp wholly false4 ,out of which false warp1 or originally false condition to start from1 combined and daily woven into by your false woof1 or methods of love and such like1 there arises for our poor ,captain the falsest of problems1 and for a man of his faculty the unfairest of situations4 ,his problem was1 not to command good men to do something1 but bad men to do 7with superficial disguises7 nothing4 ,on the whole1 what a beautiful ,establishment here fitted up for the accommodation of the scoundrel-world1 male and female6 ,as ,i said1 no ,duke in ,england is1 for all rational purposes which a human being can or ought to aim at1 lodged1 fed1 tended1 taken care of1 with such perfection4 ,of poor craftsmen that pay rates and taxes from their day's wages1 of the dim millions that toil and moil continually under the sun1 we know what is the lodging and the tending4 ,of the ,johnsons1 ,goldsmiths1 lodged in their squalid garrets2 working often enough amid famine1 darkness1 tumult1 dust and desolation1 what work they have to do3--of these as of spiritual backwoodsmen1 understood to be preappointed to such a life1 and like the pigs to killing1 quite used to it1 ,i say nothing4 ,but of ,dukes1 which ,duke1 ,i could ask1 has cocoa1 soup1 meat1 and food in general made ready1 so fit for keeping him in health1 in ability to do and to enjoy8 ,which ,duke has a house so thoroughly clean1 pure and airy2 lives in an element so wholesome1 and perfectly adapted to the uses of soul and body as this same1 which is provided here for the ,devil's regiments of the line8 ,no ,duke that ,i have ever known4 ,dukes are waited on by deleterious ,french cooks1 by perfunctory grooms of the chambers1 and expensive crowds of eye-servants1 more imaginary than real3 while here1 ,science1 ,human ,intellect and ,beneficence have searched and sat studious1 eager to do their very best2 they have chosen a real ,artist in ,governing to see their best1 in all details of it1 done4 ,happy regiments of the line1 what soldier to any earthly or celestial ,power has such a lodging and attendance as you here8 ,no soldier or servant direct or indirect of ,god or of man1 in this ,england at present4 ,joy to you1 regiments of the line4 ,your ,master1 ,i am told1 has his ,elect1 and professes to be ,prince of the ,kingdoms of this ,world2 and truly ,i see he has power to do a good turn to those he loves1 in ,england at least4 ,shall we say1 ,may he1 may the ,devil give you good of it1 ye ,elect of ,scoundrelism8 ,i will rather pass by1 uttering no prayer at all2 musing rather in silence on the singular worship of ,god1 or practical reverence done to ,human ,worth 7which is the outcome and essence of all real worship whatsoever7 among the ,posterity of ,adam at this day4 ,for all round this beautiful ,establishment1 or ,oasis of ,purity1 intended for the ,devil's regiments of the line1 lay continents of dingy poor and dirty dwellings1 where the unfortunate not yet enlisted into that ,force were struggling manifoldly1--in their workshops1 in their marble-yards and timber-yards and tan-yards1 in their close cellars1 cobbler-stalls1 hungry garrets1 and poor dark trade-shops with red-herrings and tobacco-pipes crossed in the window1--to keep the ,devil out-of-doors1 and not enlist with him4 ,and it was by a tax on these that the ,barracks for the regiments of the line were kept up4 ,visiting ,magistrates1 impelled by ,exeter ,hall1 by ,able-,editors1 and the ,philanthropic ,movement of the ,age1 had given orders to that effect4 ,rates on the poor servant of ,god and of her ,majesty1 who still serves both in his way1 painfully selling red-herrings2 rates on him and his red-herrings to boil right soup for the ,devil's declared ,elect6 ,never in my travels1 in any age or clime1 had ,i fallen in with such ,visiting ,magistrates before4 ,reserved they1 ,i should suppose1 for these ultimate or penultimate ages of the world1 rich in all prodigies1 political1 spiritual1--ages surely with such a length of ears as was never paralleled before4 ,if ,i had a commonwealth to reform or to govern1 certainly it should not be the ,devil's regiments of the line that ,i would first of all concentrate my attention on6 ,with them ,i should be apt so make rather brief work2 to them one would apply the besom1 try to sweep them1 with some rapidity into the dust-bin1 and well out of one's road1 ,i should rather say4 ,fill your thrashing-floor with docks1 ragweeds1 mugworths1 and ply your flail upon them1--that is not the method to obtain sacks of wheat4 ,away1 you2 begone swiftly1 ye regiments of the line3 in the name of ,god and of ,his poor struggling servants1 sore put to it to live in these bad days1 ,i mean to rid myself of you with some degree of brevity4 ,to feed you in palaces1 to hire captains and schoolmasters and the choicest spiritual and material artificers to expend their industries on you1 ,no1 by the ,eternal6 ,i have quite other work for that class of artists2 ,seven-and-twenty ,millions of neglected mortals who have not yet quite declared for the ,devil4 ,mark it1 my diabolic friends1 ,i mean to lay leather on the backs of you1 collars round the necks of you2 and will teach you1 after the example of the gods1 that this world is not your inheritance1 or glad to see you in it4 ,you1 ye diabolic canaille1 what has a ,governor much to do with you8 ,you1 ,i think1 he will rather swiftly dismiss from his thoughts1--which have the whole celestial and terrestrial for their scope1 and not the subterranean of scoundreldom alone4 ,you1 ,i consider1 he will sweep pretty rapidly into some ,norfolk ,island1 into some special ,convict ,colony or remote domestic ,moorland1 into some stone-walled ,silent-,system1 under hard drill-sergeants1 just as ,rhadamanthus1 and inflexible as he1 and there leave you to reap what you have sown2 he meanwhile turning his endeavors to the thousand-fold immeasurable interests of men and gods1--dismissing the one extremely contemptible interest of scoundrels2 sweeping that into the cesspool1 tumbling that over ,london ,bridge1 in a very brief manner1 if needful6 ,who are you1 ye thriftless sweepings of ,creation1 that we should forever be pestered with you8 ,have we no work to do but drilling ,devil's regiments of the line8 ,if ,i had schoolmasters1 my benevolent friend1 do you imagine ,i would set them on teaching a set of unteachables1 who as you perceive have already made up their mind that black is white1--that the ,devil namely is the advantageous ,master to serve in this world8 ,my esteemed ,benefactor of ,humanity1 it shall be far from me4 ,minds open to that particular conviction are not the material ,i like to work upon4 ,when once my schoolmasters have gone over all the other classes of society from top to bottom2 and have no other soul to try with teaching1 all being thoroughly taught1--,i will then send them to operate on these regiments of the line3 then1 and1 assure yourself1 never till then4 ,the truth is1 ,i am sick of scoundreldom1 my esteemed ,benefactor2 it always was detestable to me2 and here where ,i find it lodged in palaces and waited on by the benevolent of the world1 it is more detestable1 not to say insufferable to me than ever4 ,of ,beneficence1 ,benevolence1 and the people that come together to talk on platforms and subscribe five pounds1 ,i will say nothing here2 indeed there is not room here for the twentieth part of what were to be said of them4 ,the beneficence1 benevolence1 and sublime virtue which issues in eloquent talk reported in the ,newspapers1 with the subscription of five pounds1 and the feeling that one is a good citizen and ornament to society1--concerning this1 there were a great many unexpected remarks to be made2 but let this one1 for the present occasion1 suffice3-- ,my sublime benevolent friends1 don't you perceive1 for one thing1 that here is a shockingly unfruitful investment for your capital of ,benevolence2 precisely the worst1 indeed1 which human ingenuity could select for you8 ,laws are unjust1 temptations great1 c4 c43 alas1 ,i know it1 and mourn for it1 and passionately call on all men to help in altering it4 ,but according to every hypothesis as to the law1 and the temptations and pressures towards vice1 here are the individuals who1 of all the society1 have yielded to said pressure4 ,these are of the worst substance for enduring pressure6 ,the others yet stand and make resistance to temptation1 to the law's injustice2 under all the perversities and strangling impediments there are1 the rest of the society still keep their feet1 and struggle forward1 marching under the banner of ,cosmos1 of ,god and ,human ,virtue2 these select ,few1 as ,i explain to you1 are they who have fallen to ,chaos1 and are sworn into certain regiments of the line4 ,a superior proclivity to ,chaos is declared in these1 by the very fact of their being here6 ,of all the generation we live in1 these are the worst stuff4 ,these1 ,i say1 are the ,elixir of the ,infatuated among living mortals3 if you want the worst investment for your ,benevolence1 here you accurately have it4 ,o my surprising friends6 ,nowhere so as here can you be certain that a given quantity of wise teaching bestowed1 of benevolent trouble taken1 will yield zero1 or the net ,minimum of return4 ,it is sowing of your wheat upon ,irish quagmires2 laboriously harrowing it in upon the sand of the seashore4 ,o my astonishing benevolent friends6 ,yonder1 in those dingy habitations1 and shops of red herring and tobacco-pipes1 where men have not yet quite declared for the ,devil2 there1 ,i say1 is land3 here is mere sea-beach4 ,thither go with your benevolence1 thither to those dingy caverns of the poor2 and there instruct and drill and manage1 there where some fruit may come from it4 ,and1 above all and inclusive of all1 cannot you go to those ,solemn human ,shams1 ,phantasm ,captains1 and ,supreme ,quacks that ride prosperously in every thoroughfare2 and with severe benevolence1 ask them1 ,what they are doing here8 ,they are the men whom it would behoove you to drill a little1 and tie to the halberts in a benevolent manner1 if you could6 ,we cannot1 say you8 ,yes1 my friends1 to a certain extent you can4 ,by many well-known active methods1 and by all manner of passive methods1 you can4 ,strive thitherward1 ,i advise you2 thither1 with whatever social effort there may lie in you6 ,the well-head and consecrated thrice-accursed chief fountain of all those waters of bitterness1--it is they1 those ,solemn ,shams and ,supreme ,quacks of yours1 little as they or you imagine it6 ,them1 with severe benevolence1 put a stop to2 them send to their ,father1 far from the sight of the true and just1--if you would ever see a just world here6 ,what sort of reformers and workers are you1 that work only on the rotten material8 ,that never think of meddling with the material while it continues sound2 that stress it and strain it with new rates and assessments1 till once it has given way and declared itself rotten2 whereupon you snatch greedily at it1 and say1 ,now let us try to do some good upon it6 ,you mistake in every way1 my friends3 the fact is1 you fancy yourselves men of virtue1 benevolence1 what not2 and you are not even men of sincerity and honest sense4 ,i grieve to say it2 but it is true4 ,good from you1 and your operations1 is not to be expected4 ,you may go down6 ,howard is a beautiful ,philanthropist1 eulogized by ,burke1 and in most men's minds a sort of beatified individual4 ,how glorious1 having finished off one's affairs in ,bedfordshire1 or in fact finding them very dull1 inane1 and worthy of being quitted and got away from1 to set out on a cruise1 over the ,jails first of ,britain2 then1 finding that answer1 over the ,jails of the habitable ,globe6 ,a voyage of discovery1 a circum-navigation of charity2 to collate distresses1 to gauge wretchedness1 to take the dimensions of human misery3 really it is very fine4 ,captain ,cook's voyage for the ,terra ,australis1 ,ross's1 ,franklin's for the ditto ,borealis3 men make various cruises and voyages in this world1--for want of money1 want of work1 and one or the other want1--which are attended with their difficulties too1 and do not make the cruiser a demigod4 ,on the whole1 ,i have myself nothing but respect1 comparatively speaking1 for the dull solid ,howard1 and his benevolence1 and other impulses that set him cruising2 ,heaven had grown weary of ,jail-fevers1 and other the like unjust penalties inflicted upon scoundrels1--for scoundrels too1 and even the very ,devil1 should not have more than their due2--and ,heaven1 in its opulence1 created a man to make an end of that4 ,created him2 disgusted him with the grocer business2 tried him with ,calvinism1 rural ennui1 and sore bereavement in his ,bedfordshire retreat2--and1 in short1 at last got him set to his work1 and in a condition to achieve it4 ,for which ,i am thankful to ,heaven2 and do also1--with doffed hat1 humbly salute ,john ,howard4 ,a practical solid man1 if a dull and even dreary2 carries his weighing-scales in his pocket3 when your jailer answers1 ,the prisoner's allowance of food is so and so2 and we observe it sacredly2 here1 for example1 is a ration4--,hey6 ,a ration this8 and solid ,john suddenly produces his weighing-scales2 weighs it1 marks down in his tablets what the actual quantity of it is4 ,that is the art and manner of the man4 ,a man full of ,english accuracy2 ,english veracity1 solidity1 simplicity2 by whom this universal ,jail-commission1 not to be paid for in money but far otherwise1 is set about1 with all the slow energy1 the patience1 practicality1 sedulity and sagacity common to the best ,english commissioners paid in money and not expressly otherwise4 ,for it is the glory of ,england that she has a turn for fidelity in practical work2 that sham-workers1 though very numerous1 are rarer than elsewhere2 that a man who undertakes work for you will still1 in various provinces of our affairs1 do it1 instead of merely seeming to do it4 ,john ,howard1 without pay in money1 did this of the ,jail-fever1 as other ,englishmen do work1 in a truly workmanlike manner3 his distinction was that he did it without money4 ,he had not #ejj pounds or #e1jjj pounds a year of salary for it2 but lived merely on his ,bedfordshire estates1 and as ,snigsby irreverently expresses it1 by chewing his own cud4 ,and1 sure enough1 if any man might chew the cud of placid reflections1 solid ,howard1 a mournful man otherwise1 might at intervals indulge a little in that luxury4--,no money-salary had he for his work2 he had merely the income of his properties1 and what he could derive from within4 ,is this such a sublime distinction1 then8 ,well1 let it pass at its value4 ,there have been benefactors of mankind who had more need of money than he1 and got none too4 ,milton1 it is known1 did his ,paradise ,lost at the easy rate of five pounds4 ,kepler worked out the secret of the ,heavenly ,motions in a dreadfully painful manner2 going over the calculations sixty times2 and having not only no public money1 but no private either2 and1 in fact1 writing almanacs for his bread-and-water1 while he did this of the ,heavenly ,motions2 having no ,bedfordshire estates2 nothing but a pension of #ah pounds 7which they would not pay him71 the valuable faculty of writing almanacs1 and at length the invaluable one of dying1 when the ,heavenly bodies were vanquished1 and battle's conflagration had collapsed into cold dark ashes1 and the starvation reached too high a pitch for the poor man4 ,howard is not the only benefactor that has worked without money for us2 there have been some more1--and will be1 ,i hope6 ,for the ,destinies are opulent2 and send here and there a man into the world to do work1 for which they do not mean to pay him in money4 ,and they smite him beneficently with sore afflictions1 and blight his world all into grim frozen ruins round him1--and can make a wandering ,exile of their ,dante1 and not a soft-bedded ,podesta of ,florence1 if they wish to get a ,divine ,comedy out of him4 ,nay that rather is their way1 when they have worthy work for such a man2 they scourge him manifoldly to the due pitch1 sometimes nearly of despair1 that he may search desperately for his work1 and find it2 they urge him on still with beneficent stripes when needful1 as is constantly the case between whiles2 and1 in fact1 have privately decided to reward him with beneficent death by and by1 and not with money at all4 ,o my benevolent friend1 ,i honor ,howard very much2 but it is on this side idolatry a long way1 not to an infinite1 but to a decidedly finite extent6 ,and you1--put not the modest noble ,howard1 a truly modest man1 to the blush1 by forcing these reflections on us6 ,cholera ,doctors1 hired to dive into black dens of infection and despair1 they1 rushing about all day from lane to lane1 with their life in their hand1 are found to do their function2 which is a much more rugged one than ,howard's4 ,or what say we1 ,cholera ,doctors8 ,ragged losels gathered by beat of drum from the overcrowded streets of cities1 and drilled a little and dressed in red1 do not they stand fire in an uncensurable manner2 and handsomely give their life1 if needful1 at the rate of a shilling per day8 ,human virtue1 if we went down to the roots of it1 is not so rare4 ,the materials of human virtue are everywhere abundant as the light of the sun3 raw materials1--,o woe1 and loss1 and scandal thrice and threefold1 that they so seldom are elaborated1 and built into a result6 that they lie yet unelaborated1 and stagnant in the souls of wide-spread dreary millions1 fermenting1 festering2 and issue at last as energetic vice instead of strong practical virtue6 ,a ,mrs4 ,manning dying game1--alas1 is not that the foiled potentiality of a kind of heroine too8 ,not a heroic ,judith1 not a mother of the ,gracchi now1 but a hideous murderess1 fit to be the mother of hyenas6 ,to such extent can potentialities be foiled4 ,education1 kingship1 command1--where is it1 whither has it fled8 ,woe a thousand times1 that this1 which is the task of all kings1 captains1 priests1 public speakers1 land-owners1 book-writers1 mill-owners1 and persons possessing or pretending to possess authority among mankind1--is left neglected among them all2 and instead of it so little done but protocolling1 black-or-white surplicing1 partridge-shooting1 parliamentary eloquence and popular twaddle-literature2 with such results as we see6-- ,howard abated the ,jail-fever2 but it seems to me he has been the innocent cause of a far more distressing fever which rages high just now2 what we may call the ,benevolent-,platform ,fever4 ,howard is to be regarded as the unlucky fountain of that tumultuous frothy ocean-tide of benevolent sentimentality1 abolition of punishment1 all-absorbing prison-discipline1 and general morbid sympathy1 instead of hearty hatred1 for scoundrels2 which is threatening to drown human society as in deluges1 and leave1 instead of an edifice of society fit for the habitation of men1 a continent of fetid ooze inhabitable only by mud-gods and creatures that walk upon their belly4 ,few things more distress a thinking soul at this time4 ,most sick am ,i1 ,o friends1 of this sugary disastrous jargon of philanthropy1 the reign of love1 new era of universal brotherhood1 and not ,paradise to the ,well-deserving but ,paradise to ,all-and-sundry1 which possesses the benighted minds of men and women in our day4 ,my friends1 ,i think you are much mistaken about ,paradise6 ,no ,paradise for anybody3 he that cannot do without ,paradise1 go his ways3 suppose you tried that for a while6 ,i reckon that the safer version4 ,unhappy sugary brethren1 this is all untrue1 this other2 contrary to the fact2 not a tatter of it will hang together in the wind and weather of fact4 ,in brotherhood with the base and foolish ,i1 for one1 do not mean to live4 ,not in brotherhood with them was life hitherto worth much to me2 in pity1 in hope not yet quite swallowed of disgust1--otherwise in enmity that must last through eternity1 in unappeasable aversion shall ,i have to live with these6 ,brotherhood8 ,no1 be the thought far from me4 ,they are ,adam's children1--alas yes1 ,i well remember that1 and never shall forget it2 hence this rage and sorrow4 ,but they have gone over to the dragons2 they have quitted the ,father's house1 and set up with the ,old ,serpent3 till they return1 how can they be brothers8 ,they are enemies1 deadly to themselves and to me and to you1 till then2 till then1 while hope yet lasts1 ,i will treat them as brothers fallen insane2--when hope has ended1 with tears grown sacred and wrath grown sacred1 ,i will cut them off in the name of ,god6 ,it is at my peril if ,i do not4 ,with the servant of ,satan ,i dare not continue in partnership4 ,him ,i must put away1 resolutely and forever2 lest1 as it is written1 ,i become partaker of his plagues4 ,beautiful ,black ,peasantry1 who have fallen idle and have got the ,devil at your elbow2 interesting ,white ,felonry1 who are not idle1 but have enlisted into the ,devil's regiments of the line1--know that my benevolence for you is comparatively trifling6 ,what ,i have of that divine feeling is due to others1 not to you4 ,a universal ,sluggard-and-,scoundrel ,protection ,society is not the one ,i mean to institute in these times1 where so much wants protection1 and is sinking to sad issues for want of it6 ,the scoundrel needs no protection4 ,the scoundrel that will hasten to the gallows1 why not rather clear the way for him6 ,better he reach his goal and outgate by the natural proclivity1 than be so expensively dammed up and detained1 poisoning everything as he stagnates and meanders along1 to arrive at last a hundred times fouler1 and swollen a hundred times bigger6 ,benevolent men should reflect on this4--,and you ,quashee1 my pumpkin1--7not a bad fellow either1 this poor ,quashee1 when tolerably guided67--idle ,quashee1 ,i say you must get the ,devil sent away from your elbow1 my poor dark friend6 ,in this world there will be no existence for you otherwise4 ,no1 not as the brother of your folly will ,i live beside you4 ,please to withdraw out of my way1 if ,i am not to contradict your folly1 and amend it1 and put it in the stocks if it will not amend4 ,by the ,eternal ,maker1 it is on that footing alone that you and ,i can live together6 ,and if you had respectable traditions dated from beyond ,magna ,charta1 or from beyond the ,deluge1 to the contrary1 and written sheepskins that would thatch the face of the world1--behold ,i1 for one individual1 do not believe said respectable traditions1 nor regard said written sheepskins except as things which you1 till you grow wiser1 will believe4 ,adieu1 ,quashee2 ,i will wish you better guidance than you have had of late4 ,on the whole1 what a reflection is it that we cannot bestow on an unworthy man any particle of our benevolence1 our patronage1 or whatever resource is ours1--without withdrawing it1 it and all that will grow of it1 from one worthy1 to whom it of right belongs6 ,we cannot1 ,i say2 impossible2 it is the eternal law of things4 ,incompetent ,duncan ,m',pastehorn1 the hapless incompetent mortal to whom ,i give the cobbling of my boots1--and cannot find in my heart to refuse it1 the poor drunken wretch having a wife and ten children2 he withdraws the job from sober1 plainly competent1 and meritorious ,mr4 ,sparrowbill1 generally short of work too2 discourages ,sparrowbill2 teaches him that he too may as well drink and loiter and bungle2 that this is not a scene for merit and demerit at all1 but for dupery1 and whining flattery1 and incompetent cobbling of every description2--clearly tending to the ruin of poor ,sparrowbill6 ,what harm had ,sparrowbill done me that ,i should so help to ruin him8 ,and ,i couldn't save the insalvable ,m',pastehorn2 ,i merely yielded him1 for insufficient work1 here and there a half-crown1--which he oftenest drank4 ,and now ,sparrowbill also is drinking6 ,justice1 ,justice3 woe betides us everywhere when1 for this reason or for that1 we fail to do justice6 ,no beneficence1 benevolence1 or other virtuous contribution will make good the want4 ,and in what a rate of terrible geometrical progression1 far beyond our poor computation1 any act of ,injustice once done by us grows2 rooting itself ever anew1 spreading ever anew1 like a banyan-tree1--blasting all life under it1 for it is a poison-tree6 ,there is but one thing needed for the world2 but that one is indispensable4 ,justice1 ,justice1 in the name of ,heaven2 give us ,justice1 and we live2 give us only counterfeits of it1 or succedanea for it1 and we die6 ,oh1 this universal syllabub of philanthropic twaddle6 ,my friend1 it is very sad1 now when ,christianity is as good as extinct in all hearts1 to meet this ghastly-,phantasm of ,christianity parading through almost all4 ,i will clean your foul thoroughfares1 and make your ,devil's-cloaca of a world into a garden of ,heaven1 jabbers this ,phantasm1 itself a phosphorescence and unclean6 ,the worst1 it is written1 comes from corruption of the best3--,semitic forms now lying putrescent1 dead and still unburied1 this phosphorescence rises4 ,i say sometimes1 such a blockhead ,idol1 and miserable ,white ,mumbo-jumbo1 fashioned out of deciduous sticks and cast clothes1 out of extinct cants and modern sentimentalisms1 as that which they sing litanies to at ,exeter ,hall and extensively elsewhere1 was perhaps never set up by human folly before4 ,unhappy creatures1 that is not the ,maker of the ,universe1 not that1 look one moment at the ,universe1 and see6 ,that is a paltry ,phantasm1 engendered in your own sick brain2 whoever follows that as a ,reality will fall into the ditch4 ,reform1 reform1 all men see and feel1 is imperatively needed4 ,reform must either be got1 and speedily1 or else we die3 and nearly all the men that speak1 instruct us1 saying1 ,have you quite done your interesting ,negroes in the ,sugar ,islands8 ,rush to the ,jails1 then1 ,o ye reformers2 snatch up the interesting scoundrel-population there1 to them be nursing-fathers and nursing-mothers4 ,and oh1 wash1 and dress1 and teach1 and recover to the service of ,heaven these poor lost souls3 so1 we assure you1 will society attain the needful reform1 and life be still possible in this world4 ,thus sing the oracles everywhere2 nearly all the men that speak1 though we doubt not1 there are1 as usual1 immense majorities consciously or unconsciously wiser who hold their tongue4 ,but except this of whitewashing the scoundrel-population1 one sees little reform going on4 ,there is perhaps some endeavor to do a little scavengering2 and1 as the all-including point1 to cheapen the terrible cost of ,government3 but neither of these enterprises makes progress1 owing to impediments4 ,whitewash your scoundrel-population2 sweep out your abominable gutters 7if not in the name of ,god1 ye brutish slatterns1 then in the name of ,cholera and the ,royal ,college of ,surgeons73 do these two things2--and observe1 much cheaper if you please6--,well1 here surely is an ,evangel of ,freedom1 and real ,program of a new ,era4 ,what surliest misanthrope would not find this world lovely1 were these things done3 scoundrels whitewashed2 some degree of scavengering upon the gutters2 and at a cheap rate1 thirdly8 ,that surely is an occasion on which1 if ever on any1 the ,genius of ,reform may pipe all hands6--,poor old ,genius of ,reform2 bedrid this good while2 with little but broken ballot-boxes1 and tattered stripes of ,benthamee ,constitutions lying round him2 and on the walls mere shadows of clothing-colonels1 rates-in-aid1 poor-law unions1 defunct potato and the ,irish difficulty1--he does not seem long for this world1 piping to that effect8 ,not the least disgusting feature of this ,gospel according to the ,platform is its reference to religion1 and even to the ,christian ,religion1 as an authority and mandate for what it does4 ,christian ,religion8 ,does the ,christian or any religion prescribe love of scoundrels1 then8 ,i hope it prescribes a healthy hatred of scoundrels2--otherwise what am ,i1 in ,heaven's name1 to make of it8 ,me1 for one1 it will not serve as a religion on those strange terms4 ,just hatred of scoundrels1 ,i say2 fixed1 irreconcilable1 inexorable enmity to the enemies of ,god3 this1 and not love for them1 and incessant whitewashing1 and dressing and cockering of them1 must1 if you look into it1 be the backbone of any human religion whatsoever4 ,christian ,religion6 ,in what words can ,i address you1 ye unfortunates1 sunk in the slushy ooze till the worship of mud-serpents1 and unutterable ,pythons and poisonous slimy monstrosities1 seems to you the worship of ,god8 ,this is the rotten carcass of ,christianity2 this mal-odorous phosphorescence of post-mortem sentimentalism4 ,o ,heavens1 from the ,christianity of ,oliver ,cromwell1 wrestling in grim fight with ,satan and his incarnate ,blackguardisms1 ,hypocrisies1 ,injustices1 and legion of human and infernal angels1 to that of eloquent ,mr4 ,hesperus ,fiddlestring denouncing capital punishments1 and inculcating the benevolence on platforms1 what a road have we travelled6 ,a foolish stump-orator1 perorating on his platform mere benevolences1 seems a pleasant object to many persons2 a harmless or insignificant one to almost all4 ,look at him1 however2 scan him till you discern the nature of him1 he is not pleasant1 but ugly and perilous4 ,that beautiful speech of his takes captive every long ear1 and kindles into quasi-sacred enthusiasm the minds of not a few2 but it is quite in the teeth of the everlasting facts of this ,universe1 and will come only to mischief for every party concerned4 ,consider that little spouting wretch4 ,within the paltry skin of him1 it is too probable1 he holds few human virtues1 beyond those essential for digesting victual3 envious1 cowardly1 vain1 splenetic hungry soul2 what heroism1 in word or thought or action1 will you ever get from the like of him8 ,he1 in his necessity1 has taken into the benevolent line2 warms the cold vacuity of his inner man to some extent1 in a comfortable manner1 not by silently doing some virtue of his own1 but by fiercely recommending hearsay pseudo-virtues and respectable benevolences to other people4 ,do you call that a good trade8 ,long-eared fellow-creatures1 more or less resembling himself1 answer1 ,hear1 hear6 ,live ,fiddlestring forever6 ,wherefrom follow ,abolition ,congresses1 ,odes to the ,gallows2--perhaps some dirty little ,bill1 getting itself debated next ,session in ,parliament1 to waste certain nights of our legislative ,year1 and cause skipping in our ,morning ,newspaper1 till the abortion can be emptied out again and sent fairly floating down the gutters4 ,not with entire approbation do ,i1 for one1 look on that eloquent individual4 ,wise benevolence1 if it had authority1 would order that individual1 ,i believe1 to find some other trade3 ,eloquent individual1 pleading here against the ,laws of ,nature1--for many reasons1 ,i bid thee close that mouth of thine4 ,enough of balderdash these long-eared have now drunk4 ,depart thou2 do some benevolent work2 at lowest1 be silent4 ,disappear1 ,i say2 away1 and jargon no more in that manner1 lest a worst thing befall thee4 ,exeat ,fiddlestring6--,beneficent men are not they who appear on platforms1 pleading against the ,almighty ,maker's ,laws2 these are the maleficent men1 whose lips it is pity that some authority cannot straightway shut4 ,pandora's ,box is not more baleful than the gifts these eloquent benefactors are pressing on us4 ,close your pedler's pack1 my friend2 swift1 away with it6 ,pernicious1 fraught with mere woe and sugary poison is that kind of benevolence and beneficence4 ,truly1 one of the saddest sights in these times is that of poor creatures1 on platforms1 in parliaments and other situations1 making and unmaking ,laws2 in whose soul1 full of mere vacant hearsay and windy babble1 is and was no image of ,heaven's ,law2 whom it never struck that ,heaven had a ,law1 or that the ,earth--could not have what kind of ,law you pleased6 ,human ,statute-books1 accordingly1 are growing horrible to think of4 ,an impiety and poisonous futility every ,law of them that is so made2 all ,nature is against it2 it will and can do nothing but mischief wheresoever it shows itself in ,nature3 and such ,laws lie now like an incubus over this ,earth1 so innumerable are they4 ,how long1 ,o ,lord1 how long6--,o ye ,eternities1 ,divine ,silences1 do you dwell no more1 then1 in the hearts of the noble and the true2 and is there no inspiration of the ,almighty any more vouchsafed us8 ,the inspiration of the ,morning ,newspapers--alas1 we have had enough of that1 and are arrived at the gates of death by means of that6 ,really1 one of the most difficult questions this we have in these times1 ,what to do with our criminals8 blandly observed a certain ,law-dignitary1 in my hearing once1 taking the cigar from his mouth1 and pensively smiling over a group of us under the summer beech-tree1 as ,favonius carried off the tobacco-smoke2 and the group said nothing1 only smiled and nodded1 answering by new tobacco-clouds4 ,what to do with our criminals8 asked the official ,law-dignitary again1 as if entirely at a loss4--,i suppose1 said one ancient figure not engaged in smoking1 the plan would be to treat them according to the real law of the case2 to make the ,law of ,england1 in respect of them1 correspond to the ,law of the ,universe4 ,criminals1 ,i suppose1 would prove manageable in that way3 if we could do approximately as ,god ,almighty does towards them2 in a word1 if we could try to do ,justice towards them4--,i'll thank you for a definition of ,justice8 sneered the official person in a cheerily scornful and triumphant manner1 backed by a slight laugh from the honorable company2 which irritated the other speaker4--,well1 ,i have no pocket definition of ,justice1 said he1 to give your ,lordship4 ,it has not quite been my trade to look for such a definition2 ,i could rather fancy it had been your ,lordship's trade1 sitting on your high place this long while4 ,but one thing ,i can tell you3 ,justice always is1 whether we define it or not4 ,everything done1 suffered or proposed1 in ,parliament or out of it1 is either just or else unjust2 either is accepted by the gods and eternal facts1 or is rejected by them4 ,your ,lordship and ,i1 with or without definition1 do a little know ,justice1 ,i will hope2 if we don't both know it and do it1 we are hourly travelling down towards--,heavens1 must ,i name such a place6 ,that is the place we are bound to1 with all our trading-pack1 and the small or extensive budgets of human business laid on us2 and there1 if we don't know ,justice1 we1 and all our budgets and ,acts of ,parliament1 shall find lodging when the day is done6--,the official person1 a polite man otherwise1 grinned as he best could some semblance of a laugh1 mirthful as that of the ass eating thistles1 and ended in ,hah1 oh1 ah6-- ,indeed1 it is wonderful to hear what account we at present give ourselves of the punishment of criminals4 ,no revenge--,o ,heavens1 no2 all preachers on ,sunday strictly forbid that2 and even 7at least on ,sundays7 prescribe the contrary of that4 ,it is for the sake of example1 that you punish2 to protect society and its purse and skin2 to deter the innocent from falling into crime2 and especially withal1 for the purpose of improving the poor criminal himself1--or at lowest1 of hanging and ending him1 that he may not grow worse4 ,for the poor criminal is1 to be improved if possible3 against him no revenge even on week-days2 nothing but love for him1 and pity and help2 poor fellow1 is he not miserable enough8 ,very miserable1--though much less so than the ,master of him1 called ,satan1 is understood 7on ,sundays7 to have long deservedly been6 ,my friends1 will you permit me to say that all this1 to one poor judgment among your number1 is the mournfulest twaddle that human tongues could shake from them2 that it has no solid foundation in the nature of things2 and to a healthy human heart no credibility whatever4 ,permit me to say1 only to hearts long drowned in dead ,tradition1 and for themselves neither believing nor disbelieving1 could this seem credible4 ,think1 and ask yourselves1 in spite of all this preaching and perorating from the teeth outward6 ,hearts that are quite strangers to eternal ,fact1 and acquainted only at all hours with temporary ,semblances parading about in a prosperous and persuasive condition2 hearts that from their first appearance in this world have breathed since birth1 in all spiritual matters1 which means in all matters not pecuniary1 the poisonous atmosphere of universal ,cant1 could believe such a thing4 ,cant moral1 ,cant religious1 ,cant political2 an atmosphere which envelops all things for us unfortunates1 and has long done2 which goes beyond the ,zenith and below the ,nadir for us1 and has as good as choked the spiritual life out of all of us1--,god pity such wretches1 with little or nothing real about them but their purse and their abdominal department6 ,hearts1 alas1 which everywhere except in the metallurgic and cotton-spinning provinces1 have communed with no ,reality1 or awful ,presence of a ,fact1 godlike or diabolic1 in this ,universe or this unfathomable ,life at all4 ,hunger-stricken asphyxied hearts1 which have nourished themselves on what they call religions1 ,christian religions4 ,good ,heaven1 once more fancy the ,christian religion of ,oliver ,cromwell2 or of some noble ,christian man1 whom you yourself may have been blessed enough1 once1 long since1 in your life1 to know6 ,these are not untrue religions2 they are the putrescences and foul residues of religions that are extinct1 that have plainly to every honest nostril been dead some time1 and the remains of which--,o ye eternal ,heavens1 will the nostril never be delivered from them6--,such hearts1 when they get upon platforms1 and into questions not involving money1 can believe many things6-- ,i take the liberty of asserting that there is one valid reason1 and only one1 for either punishing a man or rewarding him in this world2 one reason1 which ancient piety could well define3 ,that you may do the will and commandment of ,god with regard to him2 that you may do justice to him4 ,this is your one true aim in respect of him2 aim thitherward1 with all your heart and all your strength and all your soul1 thitherward1 and not elsewhither at all6 ,this aim is true1 and will carry you to all earthly heights and benefits1 and beyond the stars and ,heavens4 ,all other aims are purblind1 illegitimate1 untrue2 and will never carry you beyond the shop-counter1 nay very soon will prove themselves incapable of maintaining you even there4 ,find out what the ,law of ,god is with regard to a man2 make that your human law1 or ,i say it will be ill with you1 and not well6 ,if you love your thief or murderer1 if ,nature and eternal ,fact love him1 then do as you are now doing4 ,but if ,nature and ,fact do not love him8 ,if they have set inexorable penalties upon him1 and planted natural wrath against him in every god-created human heart1--then ,i advise you1 cease1 and change your hand4 ,reward and punishment8 ,alas1 alas1 ,i must say you reward and punish pretty much alike6 ,your dignities1 peerages1 promotions1 your kingships1 your brazen statues erected in capital and county towns to our select demigods of your selecting1 testify loudly enough what kind of heroes and hero-worshippers you are4 ,woe to the ,people that no longer venerates1 as the emblem of ,god himself1 the aspect of ,human ,worth2 that no longer knows what human worth and unworth is6 ,sure as the ,decrees of the ,eternal1 that ,people cannot come to good4 ,by a course too clear1 by a necessity too evident1 that ,people will come into the hands of the unworthy2 and either turn on its bad career1 or stagger downwards to ruin and abolition4 ,does the ,hebrew ,people prophetically sing ,ou' clo'6 in all thoroughfares1 these eighteen hundred years in vain8 ,to reward men according to their worth3 alas1 the perfection of this1 we know1 amounts to the millennium6 ,neither is perfect punishment1 according to the like rule1 to be attained1--nor even1 by a legislator of these chaotic days1 to be too zealously attempted4 ,but when he does attempt it1--yes1 when he summons out the ,society to sit deliberative on this matter1 and consult the oracles upon it1 and solemnly settle it in the name of ,god2 then1 if never before1 he should try to be a little in the right in settling it6--,in regard to reward of merit1 ,i do not bethink me of any attempt whatever1 worth calling an attempt1 on the part of modern ,governments2 which surely is an immense oversight on their part1 and will one day be seen to have been an altogether fatal one4 ,but as to the punishment of crime1 happily this cannot be quite neglected4 ,when men have a purse and a skin1 they seek salvation at least for these2 and the ,four ,pleas of the ,crown are a thing that must and will be attended to4 ,by punishment1 capital or other1 by treadmilling and blind rigor1 or by whitewashing and blind laxity1 the extremely disagreeable offences of theft and murder must be kept down within limits4 ,and so you take criminal caitiffs1 murderers1 and the like1 and hang them on gibbets for an example to deter others4 ,whereupon arise friends of humanity1 and object4 ,with very great reason1 as ,i consider1 if your hypothesis be correct4 ,what right have you to hang any poor creature for an example8 ,he can turn round upon you and say1 ,why make an 'example' of me1 a merely ill-situated1 pitiable man8 ,have you no more respect for misfortune8 ,misfortune1 ,i have been told1 is sacred4 ,and yet you hang me1 now ,i am fallen into your hands2 choke the life out of me1 for an example6 ,again ,i ask1 ,why make an example of me1 for your own convenience alone8--,all revenge being out of the question1 it seems to me the caitiff is unanswerable2 and he and the philanthropic platforms have the logic all on their side4 ,the one answer to him is3 ,caitiff1 we hate thee2 and discern for some six thousand years now1 that we are called upon by the whole ,universe to do it4 ,not with a diabolic but with a divine hatred4 ,god himself1 we have always understood1 'hates sin1' with a most authentic1 celestial1 and eternal hatred4 ,a hatred1 a hostility inexorable1 unappeasable1 which blasts the scoundrel1 and all scoundrels ultimately1 into black annihilation and disappearance from the sum of things4 ,the path of it as the path of a flaming sword3 he that has eyes may see it1 walking inexorable1 divinely beautiful and divinely terrible1 through the chaotic gulf of ,human ,history1 and everywhere burning1 as with unquenchable fire1 the false and death-worthy from the true and life-worthy2 making all ,human ,history1 and the ,biography of every man1 a ,god's ,cosmos in place of a ,devil's ,chaos4 ,so is it1 in the end2 even so1 to every man who is a man1 and not a mutinous beast1 and has eyes to see4 ,to thee1 caitiff1 these things were and are1 quite incredible2 to us they are too awfully certain1--the ,eternal ,law of this ,universe1 whether thou and others will believe it or disbelieve4 ,we1 not to be partakers in thy destructive adventure of defying ,god and all the ,universe1 dare not allow thee to continue longer among us4 ,as a palpable deserter from the ranks where all men1 at their eternal peril1 are bound to be3 palpable deserter1 taken with the red hand fighting thus against the whole ,universe and its ,laws1 we--send thee back into the whole ,universe1 solemnly expel thee from our community2 and will1 in the name of ,god1 not with joy and exultation1 but with sorrow stern as thy own1 hang thee on ,wednesday next1 and so end4 ,other ground on which to deliberately slay a disarmed fellow-man ,i can see none4 ,example1 effects upon the public mind1 effects upon this and upon that3 all this is mere appendage and accident2 of all this ,i make no attempt to keep account1--sensible that no arithmetic will or can keep account of it2 that its effects1 on this hand and on that1 transcend all calculation4 ,one thing1 if ,i can calculate it1 will include all1 and produce beneficial effects beyond calculation1 and no ill effect at all1 anywhere or at any time3 ,what the ,law of the ,universe1 or ,law of ,god1 is with regard to this caitiff8 ,that1 by all sacred research and consideration1 ,i will try to find out2 to that ,i will come as near as human means admit2 that shall be my exemplar and example2 all men shall through me see that1 and be profited beyond calculation by seeing it4 ,what this ,law of the ,universe1 or ,law made by ,god1 is8 ,men at one time read it in their ,bible4 ,in many ,bibles1 ,books1 and authentic symbols and monitions of ,nature and the ,world 7of ,fact1 that is1 and of ,human ,speech1 or ,wise ,interpretation of ,fact71 there are still clear indications towards it4 ,most important it is1 for this and for some other reasons1 that men do1 in some way1 get to see it a little6 ,and if no man could now see it by any ,bible1 there is written in the heart of every man an authentic copy of it direct from ,heaven itself3 there1 if he have learnt to decipher ,heaven's writing1 and can read the sacred oracles 7a sad case for him if he altogether cannot71 every born man may still find some copy of it4 ,revenge1 my friends6 revenge1 and the natural hatred of scoundrels1 and the ineradicable tendency to revancher oneself upon them1 and pay them what they have merited3 this is forevermore intrinsically a correct1 and even a divine feeling in the mind of every man4 ,only the excess of it is diabolic2 the essence ,i say is manlike1 and even godlike1--a monition sent to poor man by the ,maker himself4 ,thou1 poor reader1 in spite of all this melancholy twaddle1 and blotting out of ,heaven's sunlight by mountains of horsehair and officiality1 hast still a human heart4 ,if1 in returning to thy poor peaceable dwelling-place1 after an honest hard day's work1 thou wert to find1 for example1 a brutal scoundrel who for lucre or other object of his1 had slaughtered the life that was dearest to thee2 thy true wife1 for example1 thy true old mother1 swimming in her blood2 the human scoundrel1 or two-legged wolf1 standing over such a tragedy3 ,i hope a man would have so much divine rage in his heart as to snatch the nearest weapon1 and put a conclusion upon said human wolf1 for one6 ,a palpable messenger of ,satan1 that one2 accredited by all the ,devils1 to be put an end to by all the children of ,god4 ,the soul of every god-created man flames wholly into one divine blaze of sacred wrath at sight of such a ,devil's-messenger2 authentic firsthand monition from the ,eternal ,maker himself as to what is next to be done4 ,do it1 or be thyself an ally of ,devil's-messengers2 a sheep for two-legged human wolves1 well deserving to be eaten1 as thou soon wilt be6 ,my humane friends1 ,i perceive this same sacred glow of divine wrath1 or authentic monition at first hand from ,god himself1 to be the foundation for all ,criminal ,law1 and ,official horsehair-and-bombazine procedure against ,scoundrels in this world4 ,this first-hand gospel from the ,eternities1 imparted to every mortal1 this is still1 and will forever be1 your sanction and commission for the punishment of human scoundrels4 ,see well how you will translate this message from ,heaven and the ,eternities into a form suitable to this ,world and its ,times4 ,let not violence1 haste1 blind impetuous impulse1 preside in executing it2 the injured man1 invincibly liable to fall into these1 shall not himself execute it3 the whole world1 in person of a ,minister appointed for that end1 and surrounded with the due solemnities and caveats1 with bailiffs1 apparitors1 advocates1 and the hushed expectation of all men1 shall do it1 as under the eye of ,god who made all men4 ,how it shall be done8 this is ever a vast question1 involving immense considerations4 ,thus ,edmund ,burke saw1 in the ,two ,houses of ,parliament1 with ,king1 ,constitution1 and all manner of ,civil-,lists1 and ,chancellors' wigs and ,exchequer budgets1 only the method of getting twelve just men put into a jury-box3 that1 in ,burke's view1 was the summary of what they were all meant for4 ,how the judge will do it8 ,yes1 indeed3--but let him see well that he does do it3 for it is a thing that must by no means be left undone6 ,a sacred gospel from the ,highest3 not to be smothered under horsehair and bombazine1 or drowned in platform froth1 or in any wise omitted or neglected1 without the most alarming penalties to all concerned6 ,neglect to treat the hero as hero1 the penalties--which are inevitable too1 and terrible to think of1 as your ,hebrew friends can tell you--may be some time in coming2 they will only gradually come4 ,not all at once will your thirty thousand ,needlewomen1 your three million ,paupers1 your ,connaught fallen into potential ,cannibalism1 and other fine consequences of the practice1 come to light2--though come to light they will2 and ,ou' clo'6 itself may be in store for you1 if you persist steadily enough4 ,but neglect to treat even your declared scoundrel as scoundrel1 this is the last consummation of the process1 the drop by which the cup runs over2 the penalties of this1 most alarming1 extensive1 and such as you little dream of1 will straightway very rapidly come4 ,dim oblivion of ,right and ,wrong1 among the masses of your population1 will come2 doubts as to ,right and ,wrong1 indistinct notion that ,right and ,wrong are not eternal1 but accidental1 and settled by uncertain votings and talkings1 will come4 ,prurient influenza of ,platform ,benevolence1 and ,paradise to ,all-and-sundry1 will come4 ,in the general putrescence of your religions1 as you call them1 a strange new religion1 named of ,universal ,love1 with ,sacraments mainly of--,divorce1 with ,balzac1 ,sue and ,company for ,evangelists1 and ,madame ,sand for ,virgin1 will come1--and results fast following therefrom which will astonish you very much6 ,the terrible anarchies of these years1 says ,crabbe1 in his ,radiator1 are brought upon us by a necessity too visible4 ,by the crime of ,kings1--alas1 yes2 but by that of ,peoples too4 ,not by the crime of one class1 but by the fatal obscuration1 and all but obliteration of the sense of ,right and ,wrong in the minds and practices of every class4 ,what a scene in the drama of ,universal ,history1 this of ours6 ,a world-wide loud bellow and bray of universal ,misery2 lowing1 with crushed maddened heart1 its inarticulate prayer to ,heaven3--very pardonable to me1 and in some of its transcendent developments1 as in the grand ,french ,revolution1 most respectable and ever-memorable4 ,for ,injustice reigns everywhere2 and this murderous struggle for what they call ',fraternity1' and so forth has a spice of eternal sense in it1 though so terribly disfigured6 ,amalgam of sense and nonsense2 eternal sense by the grain1 and temporary nonsense by the square mile3 as is the habit with poor sons of men4 ,which pardonable amalgam1 however1 if it be taken as the pure final sense1 ,i must warn you and all creatures1 is unpardonable1 criminal1 and fatal nonsense2--with which ,i1 for one1 will take care not to concern myself6 ,dogs should not be taught to eat leather1 says the old adage3 no2--and where1 by general fault and error1 and the inevitable nemesis of things1 the universal kennel is set to diet upon leather2 and from its keepers1 its ',liberal ,premiers1' or whatever their title is1 will accept or expect nothing else1 and calls it by the pleasant name of progress1 reform1 emancipation1 abolition-principles1 and the like1--,i consider the fate of said kennel and of said keepers to be a thing settled4 ,red republic in ,phrygian nightcap1 organization of labor a la ,louis ,blanc2 street-barricades1 and then murderous cannon-volleys a la ,cavaignac and ,windischgratz1 follow out of one another1 as grapes1 must1 new wine1 and sour all-splitting vinegar do3 vinegar is but vin-aigre1 or the self-same 'wine' grown sharp6 ,if1 moreover1 ,i find the ,worship of ,human ,nobleness abolished in any country1 and a new astonishing ,phallus-,worship1 with universal ,balzac-,sand melodies and litanies in treble and in bass1 established in its stead1 what can ,i compute but that ,nature1 in horrible throes1 will repugn against such substitution1--that1 in short1 the astonishing new ,phallus-,worship1 with its finer sensibilities of the heart1 and 'great satisfying loves1' with its sacred kiss of peace for scoundrel and hero alike1 with its all-embracing ,brotherhood1 and universal ,sacrament of ,divorce1 will have to take itself away again6 ,the ,ancient ,germans1 it appears1 had no scruple about public executions2 on the contrary1 they thought the just gods themselves might fitly preside over these2 that these were a solemn and highest act of worship1 if justly done4 ,when a ,german man had done a crime deserving death1 they1 in solemn general assembly of the tribe1 doomed him1 and considered that ,fate and all ,nature had from the beginning doomed him1 to die with ignominy4 ,certain crimes there were of a supreme nature2 him that had perpetrated one of these1 they believed to have declared himself a prince of scoundrels4 ,him once convicted they laid hold of1 nothing doubting2 bore him1 after judgment1 to the deepest convenient ,peat-bog2 plunged him in there1 drove an oaken frame down over him1 solemnly in the name of gods and men3 ,there1 prince of scoundrels1 that is what we have had to think of thee1 on clear acquaintance2 our grim good-night to thee is that6 ,in the name of all the gods lie there1 and be our partnership with thee dissolved henceforth4 ,it will be better for us1 we imagine6 ,my friends1 after all this beautiful whitewash and humanity and prison-discipline2 and such blubbering and whimpering1 and soft ,litany to divine and also to quite other sorts of ,pity1 as we have had for a century now1--give me leave to admonish you that that of the ,ancient ,germans too was a thing inexpressibly necessary to keep in mind4 ,if that is not kept in mind1 the universal ,litany to ,pity is a mere universal nuisance1 and torpid blasphemy against the gods4 ,i do not much respect it1 that purblind blubbering and litanying1 as it is seen at present2 and the litanying over scoundrels ,i go the length of disrespecting1 and in some cases even of detesting4 ,yes1 my friends1 scoundrel is scoundrel3 that remains forever a fact2 and there exists not in the earth whitewash that can make the scoundrel a friend of this ,universe2 he remains an enemy if you spent your life in whitewashing him4 ,he won't whitewash2 this one won't4 ,the one method clearly is1 ,that1 after fair trial1 you dissolve partnership with him2 send him1 in the name of ,heaven1 whither he is striving all this while and have done with him4 ,and1 in a time like this1 ,i would advise you1 see likewise that you be speedy about it6 ,for there is immense work1 and of a far hopefuler sort1 to be done elsewhere4 ,alas1 alas1 to see once the prince of scoundrels1 the ,supreme ,scoundrel1 him whom of all men the gods liked worst1 solemnly laid hold of1 and hung upon the gallows in sight of the people2 what a lesson to all the people6 ,sermons might be preached2 the ,son of ,thunder and the ,mouth of ,gold might turn their periods now with some hope2 for here1 in the most impressive way1 is a divine sermon acted4 ,didactic as no spoken sermon could be4 ,didactic1 devotional too2--in awed solemnity1 a recognition that ,eternal ,justice rules the world2 that at the call of this1 human pity shall fall silent1 and man be stern as his ,master and ,mandatory is6--,understand too that except upon a basis of even such rigor1 sorrowful1 silent1 inexorable as that of ,destiny and ,doom1 there is no true pity possible4 ,the pity that proves so possible and plentiful without that basis1 is mere ignavia and cowardly effeminacy2 maudlin laxity of heart1 grounded on blinkard dimness of head--contemptible as a drunkard's tears4 ,to see our ,supreme ,scoundrel hung upon the gallows1 alas1 that is far from us just now6 ,there is a worst man in ,england1 too1--curious to think of1--whom it would be inexpressibly advantageous to lay hold of1 and hang1 the first of all4 ,but we do not know him with the least certainty1 the least approach even to a guess1--such buzzards and dullards and poor children of the ,dusk are we1 in spite of our ,statistics1 ,unshackled ,presses1 and ,torches of ,knowledge2--not eagles soaring sunward1 not brothers of the lightnings and the radiances we2 a dim horn-eyed1 owl-population1 intent mainly on the catching of mice6 ,alas1 the supreme scoundrel1 alike with the supreme hero1 is very far from being known4 ,nor have we the smallest apparatus for dealing with either of them1 if he were known4 ,our supreme scoundrel sits1 ,i conjecture1 well-cushioned1 in high places1 at this time2 rolls softly through the world1 and lives a prosperous gentleman2 instead of sinking him in peat-bogs1 we mount the brazen image of him on high columns3 such is the world's temporary judgment about its supreme scoundrels2 a mad world1 my masters4 ,to get the supreme scoundrel always accurately the first hanged1 this1 which presupposes that the supreme hero were always the first promoted1 this were precisely the millennium itself1 clear evidence that the millennium had come3 alas1 we must forbear hope of this4 ,much water will run by before we see this4 ,and yet to quit all aim towards it2 to go blindly floundering along1 wrapt up in clouds of horsehair1 bombazine1 and sheepskin officiality1 oblivious that there exists such an aim2 this is indeed fatal4 ,in every human law there must either exist such an aim1 or else the law is not a human but a diabolic one4 ,diabolic1 ,i say3 no quantity of bombazine1 or lawyers' wigs1 three-readings1 and solemn trumpeting and bow-wowing in high places or in low1 can hide from me its frightful infernal tendency2--bound1 and sinking at all moments gradually to ,gehenna1 this law2 and dragging down much with it6 ,to decree injustice by a law3 inspired ,prophets have long since seen1 what every clear soul may still see1 that of all ,anarchies and ,devil-worships there is none like this2 that this is the ,throne of ,iniquity set up in the name of the ,highest1 the human ,apotheosis of ,anarchy itself4 ,quiet ,anarchy1 you exultingly say8 ,yes2 quiet ,anarchy1 which the longer it sits quiet will have the frightfuler account to settle at last4 ,for every doit of the account1 as ,i often say1 will have to be settled one day1 as sure as ,god lives4 ,principal1 and compound interest rigorously computed2 and the interest is at a terrible rate per cent in these cases6 ,alas1 the aspect of certain beatified ,anarchies1 sitting quiet2 and of others in a state of infernal explosion for sixty years back3 this1 the one view our ,europe offers at present1 makes these days very sad4-- ,my unfortunate philanthropic friends1 it is this long-continued oblivion of the soul of law that has reduced the ,criminal ,question to such a pass among us4 ,many other things have come1 and are coming1 for the same sad reason1 to a pass6 ,not the supreme scoundrel have our laws aimed at2 but1 in an uncertain fitful manner1 at the inferior or lowest scoundrel1 who robs shop-tills and puts the skin of mankind in danger4 ,how can ,parliament get through the ,criminal ,question8 ,parliament1 oblivious of ,heavenly ,law1 will find itself in hopeless reductio ad absurdum in regard to innumerable other questions1--in regard to all questions whatsoever by and by4 ,there will be no existence possible for ,parliament on these current terms4 ,parliament1 in its law-makings1 must really try to attain some vision again of what ,heaven's ,laws are4 ,a thing not easy to do2 a thing requiring sad sincerity of heart1 reverence1 pious earnestness1 valiant manful wisdom2--qualities not overabundant in ,parliament just now1 nor out of it1 ,i fear4 ,adieu1 my friends4 ,my anger against you is gone2 my sad reflections on you1 and on the depths to which you and ,i and all of us are sunk in these strange times1 are not to be uttered at present4 ,you would have saved the ,sarawak ,pirates1 then8 ,the ,almighty ,maker is wroth that the ,sarawak cut-throats1 with their poisoned spears1 are away8 ,what must his wrath be that the thirty thousand ,needlewomen are still here1 and the question of prevenient grace not yet settled6 ,o my friends1 in sad earnest1 sad and deadly earnest1 there much needs that ,god would mend all this1 and that we should help him to mend it6--,and don't you think1 for one thing1 ,farmer ,hodge's horses in the ,sugar ,islands are pretty well emancipated now8 ,my clear opinion farther is1 we had better quit the ,scoundrel-province of ,reform2 better close that under hatches1 in some rapid summary manner1 and go elsewhither with our ,reform efforts4 ,a whole world1 for want of ,reform1 is drowning and sinking2 threatening to swamp itself into a ,stygian quagmire1 uninhabitable by any noble-minded man4 ,let us to the well-heads1 ,i say2 to the chief fountains of these waters of bitterness2 and there strike home and dig6 ,to puddle in the embouchures and drowned outskirts1 and ulterior and ultimate issues and cloacas of the affair3 what profit can there be in that8 ,nothing to be saved there2 nothing to be fished up there1 except1 with endless peril and spread of pestilence1 a miscellany of broken waifs and dead dogs6 ,in the name of ,heaven1 quit that6 ,no4 ,,iii4 ,,downing ,,street4 ,april #a1 #ahej4 ,from all corners of the wide ,british ,dominion there rises one complaint against the ineffectuality of what are nicknamed our red-tape establishments1 our ,government ,offices1 ,colonial ,office1 ,foreign ,office and the others1 in ,downing ,street and the neighborhood4 ,to me individually these branches of human business are little known2 but every ,british citizen and reflective passer-by has occasion to wonder much1 and inquire earnestly1 concerning them4 ,to all men it is evident that the social interests of one hundred and fifty ,millions of us depend on the mysterious industry there carried on2 and likewise that the dissatisfaction with it is great1 universal1 and continually increasing in intensity1--in fact1 mounting1 we might say1 to the pitch of settled despair4 ,every colony1 every agent for a matter colonial1 has his tragic tale to tell you of his sad experiences in the ,colonial ,office2 what blind obstructions1 fatal indolences1 pedantries1 stupidities1 on the right and on the left1 he had to do battle with2 what a world-wide jungle of red-tape1 inhabited by doleful creatures1 deaf or nearly so to human reason or entreaty1 he had entered on2 and how he paused in amazement1 almost in despair2 passionately appealed now to this doleful creature1 now to that1 and to the dead red-tape jungle1 and to the living ,universe itself1 and to the ,voices and to the ,silences2--and1 on the whole1 found that it was an adventure1 in sorrowful fact1 equal to the fabulous ones by old knights-errant against dragons and wizards in enchanted wildernesses and waste howling solitudes2 not achievable except by nearly superhuman exercise of all the four cardinal virtues1 and unexpected favor of the special blessing of ,heaven4 ,his adventure achieved or found unachievable1 he has returned with experiences new to him in the affairs of men4 ,what this ,colonial ,office1 inhabiting the head of ,downing ,street1 really was1 and had to do1 or try doing1 in ,god's practical ,earth1 he could not by any means precisely get to know2 believes that it does not itself in the least precisely know4 ,believes that nobody knows2--that it is a mystery1 a kind of ,heathen myth2 and stranger than any piece of the old mythological ,pantheon2 for it practically presides over the destinies of many millions of living men4 ,such is his report of the ,colonial ,office3 and if we oftener hear such a report of that than we do of the ,home ,office1 ,foreign ,office or the rest1--the reason probably is1 that ,colonies excite more attention at present than any of our other interests4 ,the ,forty ,colonies1 it appears1 are all pretty like rebelling just now2 and are to be pacified with constitutions2 luckier ,constitutions1 let us hope1 than some late ones have been4 ,loyal ,canada1 for instance1 had to quench a rebellion the other year2 and this year1 in virtue of its constitution1 it is called upon to pay the rebels their damages2 which surely is a rather surprising result1 however constitutional6--,men have rents and moneys dependent in the ,colonies2 ,emigration schemes1 ,black ,emancipations1 ,new-,zealand and other schemes2 and feel and publish more emphatically what their ,downing-,street woes in these respects have been4 ,were the state of poor sallow ,english ploughers and weavers1 what we may call the ,sallow or ,yellow ,emancipation interest1 as much in object with ,exeter-,hall ,philanthropists as that of the ,black blockheads now all emancipated1 and going at large without work1 or need of working1 in ,west-,india clover 7and fattening very much in it1 one delights to hear71 then perhaps the ,home ,office1 its huge virtual task better understood1 and its small actual performance better seen into1 might be found still more deficient1 and behind the wants of the age1 than the ,colonial itself is4 ,how it stands with the ,foreign ,office1 again1 one still less knows4 ,seizures of ,sapienza1 and the like sudden appearances of ,britain in the character of ,hercules-,harlequin1 waving1 with big bully-voice1 her huge sword-of-sharpness over field-mice1 and in the air making horrid circles 7horrid catherine-wheels and death-disks of metallic terror from said huge sword71 to see how they will like it1--do from time to time astonish the world1 in a not pleasant manner4 ,hercules-,harlequin1 the ,attorney ,triumphant1 the ,world's ,busybody3 none of these are parts this ,nation has a turn for2 she1 if you consulted her1 would rather not play these parts1 but another6 ,seizures of ,sapienza1 correspondences with ,sotomayor1 remonstrances to ,otho ,king of ,athens1 fleets hanging by their anchor in behalf of the ,majesty of ,portugal2 and in short the whole1 or at present very nearly the whole1 of that industry of protocolling1 diplomatizing1 remonstrating1 admonishing1 and having the honor to be1--has sunk justly in public estimation to a very low figure4 ,for in fact1 it is reasonably asked1 ,what vital interest has ,england in any cause now deciding itself in foreign parts8 ,once there was a ,papistry and ,protestantism1 important as life eternal and death eternal2 more lately there was an interest of ,civil ,order and ,horrors of the ,french ,revolution1 important at least as rent-roll and preservation of the game2 but now what is there8 ,no cause in which any god or man of this ,british ,nation can be thought to be concerned4 ,sham-kingship1 now recognized and even self-recognized everywhere to be sham1 wrestles and struggles with mere ballot-box ,anarchy3 not a pleasant spectacle to ,british minds4 ,both parties in the wrestle professing earnest wishes of peace to us1 what have we to do with it except answer earnestly1 ,peace1 yes certainly1 and mind our affairs elsewhere4 ,the ,british ,nation has no concern with that indispensable sorrowful and shameful wrestle now going on everywhere in foreign parts4 ,the ,british ,nation already1 by self-experience centuries old1 understands all that2 was lucky enough to transact the greater part of that1 in noble ancient ages1 while the wrestle had not yet become a shameful one1 but on both sides of it there was wisdom1 virtue1 heroic nobleness fruitful to all time1--thrice-lucky ,british ,nation6 ,the ,british ,nation1 ,i say1 has nothing to learn there2 has now quite another set of lessons to learn1 far ahead of what is going on there4 ,sad example there1 of what the issue is1 and how inevitable and how imminent1 might admonish the ,british ,nation to be speedy with its new lessons2 to bestir itself1 as men in peril of conflagration do1 with the neighboring houses all on fire6 ,to obtain1 for its own very pressing behoof1 if by possibility it could1 some real ,captaincy instead of an imaginary one3 to remove resolutely1 and replace by a better sort1 its own peculiar species of teaching and guiding histrios of various name1 who here too are numerous exceedingly1 and much in need of gentle removal1 while the play is still good1 and the comedy has not yet become tragic2 and to be a little swift about it withal2 and so to escape the otherwise inevitable evil day6 ,this ,britain might learn3 but she does not need a protocolling establishment1 with much having the honor to be1 to teach it her4 ,no3--she has in fact certain cottons1 hardwares and such like to sell in foreign parts1 and certain wines1 ,portugal oranges1 ,baltic tar and other products to buy2 and does need1 ,i suppose1 some kind of ,consul1 or accredited agent1 accessible to ,british voyagers1 here and there1 in the chief cities of the ,continent3 through which functionary1 or through the penny-post1 if she had any specific message to foreign courts1 it would be easy and proper to transmit the same4 ,special message-carriers1 to be still called ,ambassadors1 if the name gratified them1 could be sent when occasion great enough demanded2 not sent when it did not4 ,but for all purposes of a resident ambassador1 ,i hear persons extensively and well acquainted among our foreign embassies at this date declare1 ,that a well-selected ,times reporter or own correspondent ordered to reside in foreign capitals1 and keep his eyes open1 and 7though sparingly7 his pen going1 would in reality be much more effective2--and surely we see well1 he would come a good deal cheaper6 ,considerably cheaper in expense of money2 and in expense of falsity and grimacing hypocrisy 7of which no human arithmetic can count the ultimate cost7 incalculably cheaper6 ,if this is the fact1 why not treat it as such8 ,if this is so in any measure1 we had better in that measure admit it to be so6 ,the time1 ,i believe1 has come for asking with considerable severity1 ,how far is it so8 ,nay there are men now current in political society1 men of weight though also of wit1 who have been heard to say1 ,that there was but one reform for the ,foreign ,office1--to set a live coal under it1 and with1 of course1 a fire-brigade which could prevent the undue spread of the devouring element into neighboring houses1 let that reform it6 ,in such odor is the ,foreign ,office too1 if it were not that the ,public1 oppressed and nearly stifled with a mere infinitude of bad odors1 neglects this one1--in fact1 being able nearly always to avoid the street where it is1 escapes this one1 and 7except a passing curse1 once in the quarter or so7 as good as forgets the existence of it4 ,such1 from sad personal experience and credited prevailing rumor1 is the exoteric public conviction about these sublime establishments in ,downing ,street and the neighborhood1 the esoteric mysteries of which are indeed still held sacred by the initiated1 but believed by the world to be mere ,dalai-,lama pills1 manufactured let not refined lips hint how1 and quite unsalvatory to mankind4 ,every one may remark what a hope animates the eyes of any circle1 when it is reported or even confidently asserted1 that ,sir ,robert ,peel has in his mind privately resolved to go1 one day1 into that stable of ,king ,augeas1 which appalls human hearts1 so rich is it1 high-piled with the droppings of two hundred years2 and ,hercules-like to load a thousand night-wagons from it1 and turn running water into it1 and swash and shovel at it1 and never leave it till the antique pavement1 and real basis of the matter1 show itself clean again6 ,in any intelligent circle such a rumor1 like the first break of day to men in darkness1 enlightens all eyes2 and each says devoutly1 ,faxitis1 ,o ye righteous ,powers that have pity on us6 ,all ,england grateful1 with kindling looks1 will rise in the rear of him1 and from its deepest heart bid him good speed6 ,for it is universally felt that some esoteric man1 well acquainted with the mysteries and properties good and evil of the administrative stable1 is the fittest to reform it1 nay can alone reform it otherwise than by sheer violence and destruction1 which is a way we would avoid2 that in fact ,sir ,robert ,peel is1 at present1 the one likely or possible man to reform it4 ,and secondly it is felt that reform in that ,downing-,street department of affairs is precisely the reform which were worth all others2 that those administrative establishments in ,downing ,street are really the ,government of this huge ungoverned ,empire2 that to clean out the dead pedantries1 unveracities1 indolent somnolent impotences1 and accumulated dung-mountains there1 is the beginning of all practical good whatsoever4 ,yes1 get down once again to the actual pavement of that2 ascertain what the thing is1 and was before dung accumulated in it2 and what it should and may1 and must1 for the life's sake of this ,empire1 henceforth become3 here clearly lies the heart of the whole matter4 ,political reform1 if this be not reformed1 is naught and a mere mockery4 ,what ,england wants1 and will require to have1 or sink in nameless anarchies1 is not a ,reformed ,parliament1 meaning thereby a ,parliament elected according to the six or the four or any other number of points and cunningly devised improvements in hustings mechanism1 but a ,reformed ,executive or ,sovereign ,body of ,rulers and ,administrators1--some improved method1 innumerable improvements in our poor blind methods1 of getting hold of these4 ,not a better ,talking-,apparatus1 the best conceivable ,talking-,apparatus would do very little for us at present2--but an infinitely better ,acting-,apparatus1 the benefits of which would be invaluable now and henceforth4 ,the practical question puts itself with ever-increasing stringency to all ,english minds3 ,can we1 by no industry1 energy1 utmost expenditure of human ingenuity1 and passionate invocation of the ,heavens and ,earth1 get to attain some twelve or ten or six men to manage the affairs of this nation in ,downing ,street and the chief posts elsewhere1 who are abler for the work than those we have been used to1 this long while8 ,for it is really a heroic work1 and cannot be done by histrios1 and dexterous talkers having the honor to be3 it is a heavy and appalling work2 and1 at the starting of it especially1 will require ,herculean men2 such mountains of pedant exuviae and obscene owl-droppings have accumulated in those regions1 long the habitation of doleful creatures2 the old pavements1 the natural facts and real essential functions of those establishments1 have not been seen by eyes for these two hundred years last past6 ,herculean men acquainted with the virtues of running water1 and with the divine necessity of getting down to the clear pavements and old veracities2 who tremble before no amount of pedant exuviae1 no loudest shrieking of doleful creatures2 who tremble only to live1 themselves1 like inane phantasms1 and to leave their life as a paltry contribution to the guano mountains1 and not as a divine eternal protest against them6 ,these are the kind of men we want2 these1 the nearest possible approximation to these1 are the men we must find and have1 or go bankrupt altogether2 for the concern as it is will evidently not hold long together4 ,how true is this of ,crabbe3 ,men sit in ,parliament eighty-three hours per week1 debating about many things4 ,men sit in ,downing ,street1 doing protocols1 ,syrian treaties1 ,greek questions1 ,portuguese1 ,spanish1 ,french1 ,egyptian and ,a,ethiopian questions2 dexterously writing despatches1 and having the honor to be4 ,not a question of them is at all pressing in comparison with the ,english question4 ,pacifico the miraculous ,gibraltar ,jew has been hustled by some populace in ,greece3--upon him let the ,british ,lion drop1 very rapidly indeed1 a constitutional tear4 ,radetzky is said to be advancing upon ,milan2--,i am sorry to hear it1 and perhaps it does deserve a despatch1 or friendly letter1 once and away3 but the ,irish ,giant1 named of ,despair1 is advancing upon ,london itself1 laying waste all ,english cities1 towns and villages2 that is the interesting ,government despatch of the day6 ,i notice him in ,piccadilly1 blue-visaged1 thatched in rags1 a blue child on each arm2 hunger-driven1 wide-mouthed1 seeking whom he may devour3 he1 missioned by the just ,heavens1 too truly and too sadly their 'divine missionary' come at last in this authoritative manner1 will throw us all into ,doubting ,castle1 ,i perceive6 ,that is the phenomenon worth protocolling about1 and writing despatches upon1 and thinking of with all one's faculty day and night1 if one wishes to have the honor to be--anything but a ,phantasm ,governor of ,england just now6 ,i entreat your ,lordship's all but undivided attention to that ,domestic ,irish ,giant1 named of ,despair1 for a great many years to come4 ,prophecy of him there has long been2 but now by the rot of the potato 7blessed be the just gods1 who send us either swift death or some beginning of cure at last671 he is here in person1 and there is no denying him1 or disregarding him any more2 and woe to the public watchman that ignores him1 and sees ,pacifico the ,gibraltar ,jew instead6 ,what these strange ,entities in ,downing ,street intrinsically are2 who made them1 why they were made2 how they do their function2 and what their function1 so huge in appearance1 may in net-result amount to1--is probably known to no mortal4 ,the unofficial mind passes by in dark wonder2 not pretending to know4 ,the official mind must not blab2--the official mind1 restricted to its own square foot of territory in the vast labyrinth1 is probably itself dark1 and unable to blab4 ,we see the outcome2 the mechanism we do not see4 ,how the tailors clip and sew1 in that sublime sweating establishment of theirs1 we know not3 that the coat they bring us out is the sorrowfulest fantastic mockery of a coat1 a mere intricate artistic network of traditions and formalities1 an embroiled reticulation made of web-listings and superannuated thrums and tatters1 endurable to no grown ,nation as a coat1 is mournfully clear6-- ,two kinds of fundamental error are supposable in such a set of ,offices2 these two1 acting and reacting1 are the vice of all inefficient ,offices whatever4--,first1 that the work1 such as it may be1 is ill done in these establishments4 ,that it is delayed1 neglected1 slurred over1 committed to hands that cannot do it well2 that1 in a word1 the questions sent thither are not wisely handled1 but unwisely2 not decided truly and rapidly1 but with delays and wrong at last3 which is the principal character1 and the infallible result1 of an insufficient ,intellect being set to decide them4 ,or second1 what is still fataler1 the work done there may itself be quite the wrong kind of work4 ,not the kind of supervision and direction which ,colonies1 and other such interests1 ,home or ,foreign1 do by the nature of them require from the ,central ,government2 not that1 but a quite other kind6 ,the ,sotomayor correspondence1 for example1 is considered by many persons not to be mismanaged merely1 but to be a thing which should never have been managed at all2 a quite superfluous concern1 which and the like of which the ,british ,government has almost no call to get into1 at this new epoch of time4 ,and not ,sotomayor only1 nor ,sapienza only1 in regard to that ,foreign ,office1 but innumerable other things1 if our witty friend of the live coal have reason in him6 ,of the ,colonial ,office1 too1 it is urged that the questions they decide and operate upon are1 in very great part1 questions which they never should have meddled with1 but almost all of which should have been decided in the ,colonies themselves1--,mother ,country or ,colonial ,office reserving its energy for a quite other class of objects1 which are terribly neglected just now4 ,these are the two vices that beset ,government ,offices2 both of them originating in insufficient ,intellect1--that sad insufficiency from which1 directly or indirectly1 all evil whatsoever springs6 ,and these two vices act and react1 so that where the one is1 the other is sure to be2 and each encouraging the growth of the other1 both 7if some cleaning of the ,augeas stable have not intervened for a long while7 will be found in frightful development4 ,you cannot have your work well done1 if the work be not of a right kind1 if it be not work prescribed by the law of ,nature as well as by the rules of the office4 ,laziness1 which lies in wait round all human labor-offices1 will in that case infallibly leak in1 and vitiate the doing of the work4 ,the work is but idle2 if the doing of it will but pass1 what need of more8 ,the essential problem1 as the rules of office prescribe it for you1 if ,nature and ,fact say nothing1 is that your work be got to pass2 if the work itself is worth nothing1 or little or an uncertain quantity1 what more can gods or men require of it1 or1 above all1 can ,i who am the doer of it require1 but that it be got to pass8 ,and now enters another fatal effect1 the mother of ever-new mischiefs1 which renders well-doing or improvement impossible1 and drives bad everywhere continually into worse4 ,the work being what we see1 a stupid subaltern will do as well as a gifted one2 the essential point is1 that he be a quiet one1 and do not bother me who have the driving of him4 ,nay1 for this latter object1 is not a certain height of intelligence even dangerous8 ,i want no mettled ,arab horse1 with his flashing glances1 arched1 neck and elastic step1 to draw my wretched sand-cart through the streets2 a broken1 grass-fed galloway1 ,irish garron1 or painful ass with nothing in the belly of him but patience and furze1 will do it safelier for me1 if more slowly4 ,nay ,i myself1 am ,i the worse for being of a feeble order of intelligence2 what the irreverent speculative1 world calls barren1 red-tapish1 limited1 and even intrinsically dark and small1 and if it must be said1 stupid8--,to such a climax does it come in all ,government and other ,offices1 where ,human ,stupidity has once introduced itself 7as it will everywhere do71 and no ,scavenger ,god intervenes4 ,the work1 at first of some worth1 is ill done1 and becomes of less worth and of ever less1 and finally of none3 the worthless work can now afford to be ill done2 and ,human ,stupidity1 at a double geometrical ratio1 with frightful expansion grows and accumulates1--towards the unendurable4 ,the reforming ,hercules1 ,sir ,robert ,peel or whoever he is to be1 that enters ,downing ,street1 will ask himself this question first of all1 ,what work is now necessary1 not in form and by traditionary use and wont1 but in very fact1 for the vital interests of the ,british ,nation1 to be done here8 ,the second question1 ,how to get it well done1 and to keep the best hands doing it well1 will be greatly simplified by a good answer to that4 ,oh for an eye that could see in those hideous mazes1 and a heart that could dare and do6 ,strenuous faithful scrutiny1 not of what is thought to be what in the red-tape regions1 but of what really is what in the realms of ,fact and ,nature herself2 deep-seeing1 wise and courageous eyes1 that could look through innumerable cobweb veils1 and detect what fact or no-fact lies at heart of them1--how invaluable these6 ,for1 alas1 it is long since such eyes were much in the habit of looking steadfastly at any department of our affairs2 and poor commonplace creatures1 helping themselves along1 in the way of makeshift1 from year to year1 in such an element1 do wonderful works indeed4 ,such creatures1 like moles1 are safe only underground1 and their engineerings there become very daedalean4 ,in fact1 such unfortunate persons have no resource but to become what we call ,pedants2 to ensconce themselves in a safe world of habitudes1 of applicable or inapplicable traditions2 not coveting1 rather avoiding the general daylight of common-sense1 as very extraneous to them and their procedure2 by long persistence in which course they become ,completed ,pedants1 hidebound1 impenetrable1 able to defy the hostile extraneous element2 an alarming kind of men1 ,such men1 left to themselves for a century or two1 in any ,colonial1 ,foreign1 or other ,office1 will make a terrible affair of it6 ,for the one enemy we have in this ,universe is ,stupidity1 ,darkness of ,mind2 of which darkness1 again1 there are many sources1 every sin a source1 and probably self-conceit the chief source4 ,darkness of mind1 in every kind and variety1 does to a really tragic extent abound3 but of all the kinds of darkness1 surely the ,pedant darkness1 which asserts and believes itself to be light1 is the most formidable to mankind6 ,for empires or for individuals there is but one class of men to be trembled at2 and that is the ,stupid ,class1 the class that cannot see1 who alas are they mainly that will not see4 ,a class of mortals under which as administrators1 kings1 priests1 diplomatists1 c41 the interests of mankind in every ,european country have sunk overloaded1 as under universal nightmare1 near to extinction2 and indeed are at this moment convulsively writhing1 decided either to throw off the unblessed superincumbent nightmare1 or roll themselves and it to the ,abyss4 ,vain to reform ,parliament1 to invent ballot-boxes1 to reform this or that2 the real ,administration1 practical ,management of the ,commonwealth1 goes all awry2 choked up with long-accumulated pedantries1 so that your appointed workers have been reduced to work as moles2 and it is one vast boring and counter-boring1 on the part of eyeless persons irreverently called stupid2 and a daedalean bewilderment1 writing impossible on all efforts or proposals1 supervenes4 ,the ,state itself1 not in ,downing ,street alone but in every department of it1 has altered much from what it was in past times2 and it will again have to alter very much1 to alter ,i think from top to bottom1 if it means to continue existing in the times that are now coming and come6 ,the ,state1 left to shape itself by dim pedantries and traditions1 without distinctness of conviction1 or purpose beyond that of helping itself over the difficulty of the hour1 has become1 instead of a luminous vitality permeating with its light all provinces of our affairs1 a most monstrous agglomerate of inanities1 as little adapted for the actual wants of a modern community as the worst citizen need wish4 ,the thing it is doing is by no means the thing we want to have done4 ,what we want6 ,let the dullest ,british man endeavor to raise in his mind this question1 and ask himself in sincerity what the ,british ,nation wants at this time4 ,is it to have1 with endless jargoning1 debating1 motioning and counter-motioning1 a settlement effected between the ,honorable ,mr4 ,this and the ,honorable ,mr4 ,that1 as to their respective pretensions to ride the high horse8 ,really it is unimportant which of them ride it4 ,going upon past experience long continued now1 ,i should say with brevity1 ,either of them--,neither of them4 ,if our ,government is to be a ,no-,government1 what is the matter who administers it8 ,fling an orange-skin into ,st4 ,james's ,street2 let the man it hits be your man4 ,he1 if you breed him a little to it1 and tie the due official bladders to his ankles1 will do as well as another this sublime problem of balancing himself upon the vortexes1 with the long loaded-pole in his hands2 and will1 with straddling painful gestures1 float hither and thither1 walking the waters in that singular manner for a little while1 as well as his foregoers did1 till he also capsize1 and be left floating feet uppermost2 after which you choose another4 ,what an immense pother1 by parliamenting and palavering in all corners of your empire1 to decide such a question as that6 ,i say1 if that is the function1 almost any human creature can learn to discharge it3 fling out your orange-skin again2 and save an incalculable labor1 and an emission of nonsense and falsity1 and electioneering beer and bribery and balderdash1 which is terrible to think of1 in deciding4 ,your ,national ,parliament1 in so far as it has only that question to decide1 may be considered as an enormous ,national ,palaver existing mainly for imaginary purposes2 and certain1 in these days of abbreviated labor1 to get itself sent home again to its partridge-shootings1 fox-huntings1 and above all1 to its rat-catchings1 if it could but understand the time of day1 and know 7as our indignant ,crabbe remarks7 that the real ,nimrod of this era1 who alone does any good to the era1 is the rat-catcher6 ,the notion that any ,government is or can be a ,no-,government1 without the deadliest peril to all noble interests of the ,commonwealth1 and by degrees slower or swifter to all ignoble ones also1 and to the very gully-drains1 and thief lodging-houses1 and ,mosaic sweating establishments1 and at last without destruction to such ,no-,government itself1--was never my notion2 and ,i hope it will soon cease altogether to be the world's or to be anybody's4 ,but if it be the correct notion1 as the world seems at present to flatter itself1 ,i point out improvements and abbreviations4 ,dismiss your ,national ,palaver2 make the ,times ,newspaper your ,national ,palaver1 which needs no beer-barrels or hustings1 and is cheaper in expense of money and of falsity a thousand and a million fold2 have an economical red-tape drilling establishment 7it were easier to devise such a thing than a right ,modern ,university72--and fling out your orange-skin among the graduates1 when you want a new ,premier4 ,a mighty question indeed6 ,who shall be ,premier1 and take in hand the rudder of government1 otherwise called the spigot of taxation2 shall it be the ,honorable ,felix ,parvulus1 or the ,right ,honorable ,felicissimus ,zero8 ,by our electioneerings and ,hansard ,debatings1 and ever-enduring tempest of jargon that goes on everywhere1 we manage to settle that2 to have it declared1 with no bloodshed except insignificant blood from the nose in hustings-time1 but with immense beershed and inkshed and explosion of nonsense1 which darkens all the air1 that the ,right ,honorable ,zero is to be the man4 ,that we firmly settle2 ,zero1 all shivering with rapture and with terror1 mounts into the high saddle2 cramps himself on1 with knees1 heels1 hands and feet2 and the horse gallops--whither it lists4 ,that the ,right ,honorable ,zero should attempt controlling the horse--,alas1 alas1 he1 sticking on with beak and claws1 is too happy if the horse will only gallop any-whither1 and not throw him4 ,measure1 polity1 plan or scheme of public good or evil1 is not in the head of ,felicissimus2 except1 if he could but devise it1 some measure that would please his horse for the moment1 and encourage him to go with softer paces1 godward or devilward as it might be1 and save ,felicissimus's leather1 which is fast wearing4 ,this is what we call a ,government in ,england1 for nearly two centuries now4 ,i wish ,felicissimus were saddle-sick forever and a day6 ,he is a dreadful object1 however much we are used to him4 ,if the horse had not been bred and broken in1 for a thousand years1 by real riders and horse-subduers1 perhaps the best and bravest the world ever saw1 what would have become of ,felicissimus and him long since8 ,this horse1 by second-nature1 religiously respects all fences2 gallops1 if never so madly1 on the highways alone2--seems to me1 of late1 like a desperate ,sleswick thunder-horse who had lost his way1 galloping in the labyrinthic lanes of a woody flat country2 passionate to reach his goal2 unable to reach it1 because in the flat leafy lanes there is no outlook whatever1 and in the bridle there is no guidance whatever4 ,so he gallops stormfully along1 thinking it is forward and forward2 and alas1 it is only round and round1 out of one old lane into the other2--nay 7according to some7 he mistakes his own footprints1 which of course grow ever more numerous1 for the sign of a more and more frequented road2 and his despair is hourly increasing4 ,my impression is1 he is certain soon1 such is the growth of his necessity and his despair1 to--plunge across the fence1 into an opener survey of the country2 and to sweep ,felicissimus off his back1 and comb him away very tragically in the process6 ,poor ,sleswicker1 ,i wish you were better ridden4 ,i perceive it lies in the ,fates you must now either be better ridden1 or else not long at all4 ,this plunging in the heavy labyrinth of over-shaded lanes1 with one's stomach getting empty1 one's ,ireland falling into cannibalism1 and no vestige of a goal either visible or possible1 cannot last4 ,colonial ,offices1 ,foreign1 ,home and other ,offices1 got together under these strange circumstances1 cannot well be expected to be the best that human ingenuity could devise2 the wonder rather is to see them so good as they are4 ,who made them1 ask me not4 ,made they clearly were2 for we see them here in a concrete condition1 writing despatches1 and drawing salary with a view to buy pudding4 ,but how those ,offices in ,downing ,street were made2 who made them1 or for what kind of objects they were made1 would be hard to say at present4 ,dim visions and phantasmagories gathered from the ,books of ,horace ,walpole1 ,memoirs of ,bubb ,doddington1 ,memoirs of my ,lady ,sundon1 ,lord ,fanny ,hervey1 and innumerable others1 rise on us1 beckoning fantastically towards1 not an answer1 but some conceivable intimations of an answer1 and proclaiming very legibly the old text1 ,quam parva sapientia1 in respect of this hard-working much-subduing ,british ,nation2 giving rise to endless reflections in a thinking ,englishman of this day4 ,alas1 it is ever so3 each generation has its task1 and does it better or worse2 greatly neglecting what is not immediately its task4 ,our poor grandfathers1 so busy conquering ,indias1 founding ,colonies1 inventing spinning-jennies1 kindling ,lancashires and ,bromwichams1 took no thought about the government of all that2 left it all to be governed by ,lord ,fanny and the ,hanover ,succession1 or how the gods pleased4 ,and now we the poor grandchildren find that it will not stick together on these terms any longer2 that our sad1 dangerous and sore task is to discover some government for this big world which has been conquered to us2 that the red-tape ,offices in ,downing ,street are near the end of their rope2 that if we can get nothing better1 in the way of government1 it is all over with our world and us4 ,how the ,downing-,street ,offices originated1 and what the meaning of them was or is1 let ,dryasdust1 when in some lucid moment the whim takes him1 instruct us4 ,enough for us to know and see clearly1 with urgent practical inference derived from such insight1 ,that they were not made for us or for our objects at all2 that the devouring ,irish ,giant is here1 and that he cannot be fed with red-tape1 and will eat us if we cannot feed him4 ,on the whole1 let us say ,felicissimus made them2--or rather it was the predecessors of ,felicissimus1 who were not so dreadfully hunted1 sticking to the wild and ever more desperate ,sleswicker in the leafy labyrinth of lanes1 as he now is4 ,he1 ,i think1 will never make anything2 but be combed off by the elm-boughs1 and left sprawling in the ditch4 ,but in past time1 this and the other heavy-laden red-tape soul had withal a glow of patriotism in him2 now and then1 in his whirling element1 a gleam of human ingenuity1 some eye towards business that must be done4 ,at all events1 for him and every one1 ,parliament needed to be persuaded that business was done4 ,by the contributions of many such heavy-laden souls1 driven on by necessity outward and inward1 these singular ,establishments are here4 ,contributions--who knows how far back they go1 far beyond the reign of ,george the ,second1 or perhaps the reign of ,william ,conqueror4 ,noble and genuine some of them were1 many of them were1 ,i need not doubt3 for there is no human edifice that stands long but has got itself planted1 here and there1 upon the basis of fact2 and being built1 in many respects1 according to the laws of statics3 no standing edifice1 especially no edifice of ,state1 but has had the wise and brave at work in it1 contributing their lives to it2 and is cemented1 whether it know the fact or not1 by the blood of heroes6 ,none2 not even the ,foreign ,office1 ,home ,office1 still less the ,national ,palaver itself4 ,william ,conqueror1 ,i find1 must have had a first-rate ,home ,office1 for his share4 ,the ,domesday ,book1 done in four years1 and done as it is1 with such an admirable brevity1 explicitness and completeness1 testifies emphatically what kind of under-secretaries and officials ,william had4 ,silent officials and secretaries1 ,i suppose2 not wasting themselves in parliamentary talk2 reserving all their intelligence for silent survey of the huge dumb fact1 silent consideration how they might compass the mastery of that4 ,happy secretaries1 happy ,william6 ,but indeed nobody knows what inarticulate traditions1 remnants of old wisdom1 priceless though quite anonymous1 survive in many modern things that still have life in them4 ,ben ,brace1 with his taciturnities1 and rugged stoical ways1 with his tarry breeches1 stiff as plank-breeches1 ,i perceive is still a kind of ,lod-brog 7,loaded-breeks7 in more senses than one2 and derives1 little conscious of it1 many of his excellences from the old ,sea-kings and ,saxon ,pirates themselves2 and how many ,blakes and ,nelsons since have contributed to ,ben6 ,things are not so false always as they seem1 said a certain ,professor to me once3 of this you will find instances in every country1 and in your ,england more than any--and ,i hope will draw lessons from them4 ,an ,english ,seventy-four1 if you look merely at the articulate law and methods of it1 is one of the impossiblest entities4 ,the captain is appointed not by preeminent merit in sailorship1 but by parliamentary connection2 the men this was spoken some years ago are got by impressment2 a press-gang goes out1 knocks men down on the streets of sea-towns1 and drags them on board1--if the ship were to be stranded1 ,i have heard they would nearly all run ashore and desert4 ,can anything be more unreasonable than a ,seventy-four8 ,articulately almost nothing4 ,but it has inarticulate traditions1 ancient methods and habitudes in it1 stoicisms1 noblenesses1 true rules both of sailing and of conduct2 enough to keep it afloat on ,nature's veridical bosom1 after all4 ,see2 if you bid it sail to the end of the world1 it will lift anchor1 go1 and arrive4 ,the raging oceans do not beat it back2 it too1 as well as the raging oceans1 has a relationship to ,nature1 and it does not sink1 but under the due conditions is borne along4 ,if it meet with hurricanes1 it rides them out2 if it meet an ,enemy's ship1 it shivers it to powder2 and in short1 it holds on its way1 and to a wonderful extent does what it means and pretends to do4 ,assure yourself1 my friend1 there is an immense fund of truth somewhere or other stowed in that ,seventy-four4 ,more important than the past history of these ,offices in ,downing ,street1 is the question of their future history2 the question1 ,how they are to be got mended6 ,truly an immense problem1 inclusive of all others whatsoever2 which demands to be attacked1 and incessantly persisted in1 by all good citizens1 as the grand problem of ,society1 and the one thing needful for the ,commonwealth6 ,a problem in which all men1 with all their wisdoms and all their virtues1 faithfully and continually co-operating at it1 will never have done enough1 and will still only be struggling towards perfection in it4 ,in which some men can do much2--in which every man can do something4 ,every man1 and thou my present ,reader canst do this3 ,be thyself a man abler to be governed2 more reverencing the divine faculty of governing1 more sacredly detesting the diabolical semblance of said faculty in self and others2 so shalt thou1 if not govern1 yet actually according to thy strength assist in real governing4 ,and know always1 and even lay to heart with a quite unusual solemnity1 with a seriousness altogether of a religious nature1 that as ,human ,stupidity is verily the accursed parent of all this mischief1 so ,human ,intelligence alone1 to which and to which only is victory and blessedness appointed here below1 will or can cure it4 ,if we knew this as devoutly as we ought to do1 the evil1 and all other evils were curable2--alas1 if we had from of old known this1 as all men made in ,god's image ought to do1 the evil never would have been6 ,perhaps few ,nations have ever known it less than we1 for a good while back1 have done4 ,hence these sorrows4 ,what a ,people are the poor ,thibet idolaters1 compared with us and our religions1 which issue in the worship of ,king ,hudson as our ,dalai-,lama6 ,they1 across such hulls of abject ignorance1 have seen into the heart of the matter2 we1 with our torches of knowledge everywhere brandishing themselves1 and such a human enlightenment as never was before1 have quite missed it4 ,reverence for ,human ,worth1 earnest devout search for it and encouragement of it1 loyal furtherance and obedience to it3 this1 ,i say1 is the outcome and essence of all true religions1 and was and ever will be4 ,we have not known this4 ,no2 loud as our tongues sometimes go in that direction1 we have no true reverence for ,human ,intelligence1 for ,human ,worth and ,wisdom3 none1 or too little1--and ,i pray for a restoration of such reverence1 as for the change from ,stygian darkness to ,heavenly light1 as for the return of life to poor sick moribund ,society and all its interests4 ,human ,intelligence means little for most of us but ,beaver ,contrivance1 which produces spinning-mules1 cheap cotton1 and large fortunes4 ,wisdom1 unless it give us railway scrip1 is not wise4 ,true nevertheless it forever remains that ,intellect is the real object of reverence1 and of devout prayer1 and zealous wish and pursuit1 among the sons of men2 and even1 well understood1 the one object4 ,it is the ,inspiration of the ,almighty that giveth men understanding4 ,for it must be repeated1 and ever again repeated till poor mortals get to discern it1 and awake from their baleful paralysis1 and degradation under foul enchantments1 ,that a man of ,intellect1 of real and not sham ,intellect1 is by the nature of him likewise inevitably a man of nobleness1 a man of courage1 rectitude1 pious strength2 who1 even because he is and has been loyal to the ,laws of this ,universe1 is initiated into discernment of the same2 to this hour a ,missioned of ,heaven2 whom if men follow1 it will be well with them2 whom if men do not follow1 it will not be well4 ,human ,intellect1 if you consider it well1 is the exact summary of ,human ,worth2 and the essence of all worth-ships and worships is reverence for that same4 ,this much surprises you1 friend ,peter2 but ,i assure you it is the fact2--and ,i would advise you to consider it1 and to try if you too do not gradually find it so4 ,with me it has long been an article1 not of faith only1 but of settled insight1 of conviction as to what the ordainments of the ,maker in this ,universe are4 ,ah1 could you and the rest of us but get to know it1 and everywhere religiously act upon it1--as our ,fortieth ,article1 which includes all the other ,thirty-nine1 and without which the ,thirty-nine are good for almost nothing1--there might then be some hope for us6 ,in this world there is but one appalling creature3 the ,stupid man considered to be the ,missioned of ,heaven1 and followed by men4 ,he is our ,king1 men say1 he2--and they follow him1 through straight or winding courses1 ,i for one know well whitherward4 ,abler men in ,downing ,street1 abler men to govern us3 yes1 that1 sure enough1 would gradually remove the dung-mountains1 however high they are2 that would be the way1 nor is there any other way1 to remedy whatsoever has gone wrong in ,downing ,street and in the wide regions1 spiritual and temporal1 which ,downing ,street presides over6 ,for the ,able ,man1 meet him where you may1 is definable as the born enemy of ,falsity and ,anarchy1 and the born soldier of ,truth and ,order3 into what absurdest element soever you put him1 he is there to make it a little less absurd1 to fight continually with it till it become a little sane and human again4 ,peace on other terms he1 for his part1 cannot make with it2 not he1 while he continues able1 or possessed of real intellect and not imaginary4 ,there is but one man fraught with blessings for this world1 fated to diminish and successively abolish the curses of the world2 and it is he4 ,for him make search1 him reverence and follow2 know that to find him or miss him1 means victory or defeat for you1 in all ,downing ,streets1 and establishments and enterprises here below4--,i leave your ,lordship to judge whether this has been our practice hitherto2 and would humbly inquire what your ,lordship thinks is likely to be the consequence of continuing to neglect this4 ,it ought to have been our practice2 ought1 in all places and all times1 to be the practice in this world2 so says the fixed law of things forevermore3--and it must cease to be not the practice1 your ,lordship2 and cannot too speedily do so ,i think6-- ,much has been done in the way of reforming ,parliament in late years2 but that of itself seems to avail nothing1 or almost less4 ,the men that sit in ,downing ,street1 governing us1 are not abler men since the ,reform ,bill than were those before it4 ,precisely the same kind of men2 obedient formerly to ,tory traditions1 obedient now to ,whig ditto and popular clamors4 ,respectable men of office3 respectably commonplace in facility1--while the situation is becoming terribly original6 ,rendering their outlooks1 and ours1 more ominous every day4 ,indisputably enough the meaning of all reform-movement1 electing and electioneering1 of popular agitation1 parliamentary eloquence1 and all political effort whatsoever1 is that you may get the ten ,ablest ,men in ,england put to preside over your ten principal departments of affairs4 ,to sift and riddle the ,nation1 so that you might extricate and sift out the true ten gold grains1 or ablest men1 and of these make your ,governors or ,public ,officers2 leaving the dross and common sandy or silty material safely aside1 as the thing to be governed1 not to govern2 certainly all ballot-boxes1 caucuses1 ,kennington-,common meetings1 ,parliamentary debatings1 ,red ,republics1 ,russian ,despotisms1 and constitutional or unconstitutional methods of society among mankind1 are intended to achieve this one end2 and some of them1 it will be owned1 achieve it very ill6--,if you have got your gold grains1 if the men you have got are actually the ablest1 then rejoice2 with whatever astonishment1 accept your ,ten1 and thank the gods2 under this ,ten your destruction will at least be milder than under another4 ,but if you have not got them1 if you are very far from having got them1 then do not rejoice at all1 then lament very much2 then admit that your sublime political constitutions and contrivances do not prove themselves sublime1 but ridiculous and contemptible2 that your world's wonder of a political mill1 the envy of surrounding nations1 does not yield you real meal2 yields you only powder of millstones 7called ,hansard ,debatings71 and a detestable brown substance not unlike the grindings of dried horse-dung or prepared street-mud1 which though sold under royal patent1 and much recommended by the trade1 is quite unfit for culinary purposes6-- ,but the disease at least is not mysterious1 whatever the remedy be4 ,our disease1--alas1 is it not clear as the sun1 that we suffer under what is the disease of all the miserable in this world1 want of wisdom2 that in the ,head there is no vision1 and that thereby all the members are dark and in bonds8 ,no vision in the head2 heroism1 faith1 devout insight to discern what is needful1 noble courage to do it1 greatly defective there3 not seeing eyes there1 but spectacles constitutionally ground1 which1 to the unwary1 seem to see4 ,a quite fatal circumstance1 had you never so many ,parliaments6 ,how is your ship to be steered by a ,pilot with no eyes but a pair of glass ones got from the constitutional optician8 ,he must steer by the ear1 ,i think1 rather than by the eye2 by the shoutings he catches from the shore1 or from the ,parliamentary benches nearer hand3--one of the frightfulest objects to see steering in a difficult sea6 ,reformed ,parliaments in that case1 reform-leagues1 outer agitations and excitements in never such abundance1 cannot profit3 all this is but the writhing1 and painful blind convulsion of the limbs that are in bonds1 that are all in dark misery till the head be delivered1 till the pressure on the brain be removed4 ,or perhaps there is now no heroic wisdom left in ,england2 ,england1 once the land of heroes1 is itself sunk now to a dim owlery1 and habitation of doleful creatures1 intent only on money-making and other forms of catching mice1 for whom the proper gospel is the gospel of ,m',croudy1 and all nobler impulses and insights are forbidden henceforth8 ,perhaps these present agreeable ,occupants of ,downing ,street1 such as the parliamentary mill has yielded them1 are the best the miserable soil had grown8 ,the most ,herculean ,ten ,men that could be found among the ,english ,twenty-seven ,millions1 are these8 ,there are not1 in any place1 under any figure1 ten diviner men among us8 ,well2 in that case1 the riddling and searching of the twenty-seven millions has been successful4 ,here are our ten divinest men2 with these1 unhappily not divine enough1 we must even content ourselves and die in peace2 what help is there8 ,no help1 no hope1 in that case4 ,but1 again1 if these are not our divinest men1 then evidently there always is hope1 there always is possibility of help2 and ruin never is quite inevitable1 till we have sifted out our actually divinest ten1 and set these to try their hand at governing6--,that this has been achieved2 that these ten men are the most ,herculean souls the ,english population held within it1 is a proposition credible to no mortal4 ,no1 thank ,god2 low as we are sunk in many ways1 this is not yet credible6 ,evidently the reverse of this proposition is the fact4 ,ten much diviner men do certainly exist4 ,by some conceivable1 not forever impossible1 method and methods1 ten very much diviner men could be sifted out6--,courage2 let us fix our eyes on that important fact1 and strive all thitherward as towards a door of hope6 ,parliaments1 ,i think1 have proved too well1 in late years1 that they are not the remedy4 ,it is not ,parliaments1 reformed or other1 that will ever send ,herculean men to ,downing ,street1 to reform ,downing ,street for us2 to diffuse therefrom a light of ,heavenly ,order1 instead of the murk of ,stygian ,anarchy1 over this sad world of ours4 ,that function does not lie in the capacities of ,parliment4 ,that is the function of a ,king1--if we could get such a priceless entity1 which we cannot just now6 ,failing which1 ,statesmen1 or ,temporary ,kings1 and at the very lowest one real ,statesman1 to shape the dim tendencies of ,parliament1 and guide them wisely to the goal3 he1 ,i perceive1 will be a primary condition1 indispensable for any progress whatsoever4 ,one such1 perhaps1 might be attained2 one such might prove discoverable among our ,parliamentary populations8 ,that one1 in such an enterprise as this of ,downing ,street1 might be invaluable6 ,one noble man1 at once of natural wisdom and practical experience2 one ,intellect still really human1 and not red-tapish1 owlish and pedantical1 appearing there in that dim chaos1 with word of command2 to brandish ,hercules-like the divine broom and shovel1 and turn running water in upon the place1 and say as with a fiat1 ,here shall be truth1 and real work1 and talent to do it henceforth2 ,i will seek for able men to work here1 as for the elixir of life to this poor place and me3--what might not one such man effect there6 ,nay one such is not to be dispensed with anywhere in the affairs of men4 ,in every ship1 ,i say1 there must be a seeing pilot1 not a mere hearing one6 ,it is evident you can never get your ship steered through the difficult straits by persons standing ashore1 on this bank and that1 and shouting their confused directions to you3 ',ware that ,colonial ,sandbank6--,starboard now1 the ,nigger ,question6--,larboard1 larboard1 the ,suffrage ,movement6 ,financial ,reform1 your ,clothing-,colonels overboard6 ,the ,qualification ,movement1 ',ware-re-re6--,helm-a-lee6 ,bear a hand there1 will you6 ,hr-r-r1 lubbers1 imbeciles1 fitter for a tailor's shopboard than a helm of ,government1 ,hr-r-r6--,and so the ship wriggles and tumbles1 and1 on the whole1 goes as wind and current drive4 ,no ship was ever steered except to destruction in that manner4 ,i deliberately say so3 no ship of a ,state either4 ,if you cannot get a real pilot on board1 and put the helm into his hands1 your ship is as good as a wreck4 ,one real pilot on board may save you2 all the bellowing from the banks that ever was1 will not1 and by the nature of things cannot4 ,nay your pilot will have to succeed1 if he do succeed1 very much in spite of said bellowing2 he will hear all that1 and regard very little of it1--in a patient mild-spoken wise manner1 will regard all of it as what it is4 ,and ,i never doubt but there is in ,parliament itself1 in spite of its vague palaverings which fill us with despair in these times1 a dumb instinct of inarticulate sense and stubborn practical ,english insight and veracity1 that would manfully support a ,statesman who could take command with really manful notions of ,reform1 and as one deserving to be obeyed4 ,oh for one such2 even one6 ,more precious to us than all the bullion in the ,bank1 or perhaps that ever was in it1 just now6 ,for it is ,wisdom alone that can recognize wisdom3 ,folly or ,imbecility never can2 and that is the fatalest ban it labors under1 dooming it to perpetual failure in all things4 ,failure which1 in ,downing ,street and places of command is especially accursed2 cursing not one but hundreds of millions6 ,who is there that can recognize real intellect1 and do reverence to it2 and discriminate it well from sham intellect1 which is so much more abundant1 and deserves the reverse of reverence8 ,he that himself has it6--,one really human ,intellect1 invested with command1 and charged to reform ,downing ,street for us1 would continually attract real intellect to those regions1 and with a divine magnetism search it out from the modest corners where it lies hid4 ,and every new accession of intellect to ,downing ,street would bring to it benefit only1 and would increase such divine attraction in it1 the parent of all benefit there and elsewhere6 ,what method1 then2 by what method8 ask many4 ,method1 alas6 ,to secure an increased supply of ,human ,intellect to ,downing ,street1 there will evidently be no quite effectual method but that of increasing the supply of ,human ,intellect1 otherwise definable as ,human ,worth1 in ,society generally2 increasing the supply of sacred reverence for it1 of loyalty to it1 and of life-and-death desire and pursuit of it1 among all classes1--if we but knew such a method6 ,alas1 that were simply the method of making all classes ,servants of ,heaven2 and except it be devout prayer to ,heaven1 ,i have never heard of any method6 ,to increase the reverence for ,human ,intellect or ,god's ,light1 and the detestation of ,human ,stupidity or the ,devil's ,darkness1 what method is there8 ,no method1--except even this1 that we should each of us pray for it1 instead of praying for mere scrip and the like2 that ,heaven would please to vouchsafe us each a little of it1 one by one6 ,as perhaps ,heaven1 in its infinite bounty1 by stern methods1 gradually will8 ,perhaps ,heaven has mercy too in these sore plagues that are oppressing us2 and means to teach us reverence for ,heroism and ,human ,intellect1 by such baleful experience of what issue ,imbecility and ,parliamentary ,eloquence lead to8 ,such reverence1 ,i do hope1 and even discover and observe1 is silently yet extensively going on among us even in these sad years4 ,in which small salutary fact there burns for us1 in this black coil of universal baseness fast becoming universal wretchedness1 an inextinguishable hope2 far-off but sure1 a divine pillar of fire by night4 ,courage1 courage6-- ,meanwhile1 that our one reforming ,statesman may have free command of what ,intellect there is among us1 and room to try all means for awakening and inviting ever more of it1 there has one small ,project of ,improvement been suggested2 which finds a certain degree of favor wherever ,i hear it talked of1 and which seems to merit much more consideration than it has yet received4 ,practical men themselves approve of it hitherto1 so far as it goes2 the one objection being that the world is not yet prepared to insist on it1--which of course the world can never be1 till once the world consider it1 and in the first place hear tell of it6 ,i have1 for my own part1 a good opinion of this project4 ,the old unreformed ,parliament of rotten boroughs had one advantage2 but that is hereby1 in a far more fruitful and effectual manner1 secured to the new4 ,the ,proposal is1 ,that ,secretaries under and upper1 that all manner of changeable or permanent servants in the ,government ,offices shall be selected without reference to their power of getting into ,parliament2--that1 in short1 the ,queen shall have power of nominating the half-dozen or half-score ,officers of the ,administration1 whose presence is thought necessary in ,parliament1 to official seats there1 without reference to any constituency but her own only1 which of course will mean her ,prime ,minister's4 ,a very small encroachment on the present constitution of ,parliament2 offering the minimum of change in present methods1 and ,i almost think a maximum in results to be derived therefrom4--,the ,queen nominates ,john ,thomas 7the fittest man she1 much inquiring1 can hear tell of in her three kingdoms7 ,president of the ,poor-,law ,board1 ,under ,secretary of the ,colonies1 ,under1 or perhaps even ,upper ,secretary of what she and her ,premier find suitablest for a working head so eminent1 a talent so precious2 and grants him1 by her direct authority1 seat and vote in ,parliament so long as he holds that office4 ,upper ,secretaries1 having more to do in ,parliament1 and being so bound to be in favor there1 would1 ,i suppose1 at least till new times and habits come1 be expected to be chosen from among the ,people's ,members as at present4 ,but whether the ,prime ,minister himself is1 in all times1 bound to be first a ,people's ,member2 and which1 or how many1 of his ,secretaries and subordinates he might be allowed to take as ,queen's ,members1 my authority does not say1--perhaps has not himself settled2 the project being yet in mere outline or foreshadow1 the practical embodiment in all details to be fixed by authorities much more competent than he4 ,the soul of his project is1 ,that the ,crown also have power to elect a few members to ,parliament4 ,from which project1 however wisely it were embodied1 there could probably1 at first or all at once1 no great accession of intellect to the ,government ,offices ensue2 though a little might1 even at first1 and a little is always precious3 but in its ulterior operation1 were that faithfully developed1 and wisely presided over1 ,i fancy an immense accession of intellect might ensue2--nay a natural ingress might thereby be opened to all manner of accessions1 and the actual flower of whatever intellect the ,british ,nation had might be attracted towards ,downing ,street1 and continue flowing steadily thither6 ,for1 let us see a little what effects this simple change carries in it the possibilities of4 ,here are beneficent germs1 which the presence of one truly wise man as ,chief ,minister1 steadily fostering them for even a few years1 with the sacred fidelity and vigilance that would beseem him1 might ripen into living practices and habitual facts1 invaluable to us all4 ,what it is that ,secretaries of ,state1 ,managers of ,colonial ,establishments1 of ,home and ,foreign ,government interests1 have really and truly to do in ,parliament1 might admit of various estimate in these times4 ,an apt debater in ,parliament is by no means certain to be an able administrator of ,colonies1 of ,home or ,foreign ,affairs2 nay1 rather quite the contrary is to be presumed of him2 for in order to become a brilliant speaker1 if that is his character1 considerable portions of his natural internal endowment must have gone to the surface1 in order to make a shining figure there1 and precisely so much the less 7few men in these days know how much less67 must remain available in the internal silent state1 or as faculty for thinking1 for devising and acting1 which latter and which alone is the function essential for him in his ,secretaryship4 ,not to tell a good story for himself in ,parliament and to the twenty-seven millions1 many of them fools2 not that1 but to do good administration1 to know with sure eye1 and decide with just and resolute heart1 what is what in the things committed to his charge3 this and not that is the service which poor ,england1 whatever it may think and maunder1 does require and want of the ,official ,man in ,downing ,street4 ,given a good ,official ,man or ,secretary1 he really ought1 as far as it is possible1 to be left working in the silent state4 ,no mortal can both work1 and do good talking in ,parliament1 or out of it3 the feat is impossible as that of serving two hostile masters4 ,nor would ,i1 if it could be helped1 much trouble my good ,secretary with addressing ,parliament3 needful explanations2 yes1 in a free country1 surely2--but not to every frivolous and vexatious person1 in or out of ,parliament1 who chooses to apply for them4 ,there should be demands for explanation too which were reckoned frivolous and vexatious1 and censured as such4 ,these1 ,i should say1 are the not needful explanations3 and if my poor ,secretary is to be called out from his workshop to answer every one of these1--his workshop will become 7what we at present see it1 deservedly or not7 little other than a pillory2 the poor ,secretary a kind of talking-machine1 exposed to dead cats and rotten eggs2 and the work got out of him or of it will1 as heretofore1 be very inconsiderable indeed6--,alas1 on this side also1 important improvements are conceivable2 and will even1 ,i imagine1 get them whence we may1 be found indispensable one day4 ,the honorable gentleman whom you interrupt here1 he1 in his official capacity1 is not an individual now1 but the embodiment of a ,nation2 he is the ,people of ,england engaged in the work of ,secretaryship1 this one2 and cannot forever afford to let the three ,tailors of ,tooley ,street break in upon him at all hours6-- ,but leaving this1 let us remark one thing which is very plain3 ,that whatever be the uses and duties1 real or supposed1 of a ,secretary in ,parliament1 his faculty to accomplish these is a point entirely unconnected with his ability to get elected into ,parliament1 and has no relation or proportion to it1 and no concern with it whatever4 ,lord ,tommy and the ,honorable ,john are not a whit better qualified for ,parliamentary duties1 to say nothing of ,secretary duties1 than plain ,tom and ,jack2 they are merely better qualified1 as matters stand1 for getting admitted to try them4 ,which state of matters a reforming ,premier1 much in want of abler men to help him1 now proposes altering4 ,tom and ,jack1 once admitted by the ,queen's writ1 there is every reason to suppose will do quite as well there as ,lord ,tommy and the ,honorable ,john4 ,in ,parliament quite as well3 and elsewhere1 in the other infinitely more important duties of a ,government ,office1 which indeed are and remain the essential1 vital and intrinsic duties of such a personage1 is there the faintest reason to surmise that ,tom and ,jack1 if well chosen1 will fall short of ,lord ,tommy and the ,honorable ,john8 ,no shadow of a reason4 ,were the intrinsic genius of the men exactly equal1 there is no shadow of a reason3 but rather there is quite the reverse2 for ,tom and ,jack have been at least workers all their days1 not idlers1 game-preservers and mere human clothes-horses1 at any period of their lives2 and have gained a schooling thereby1 of which ,lord ,tommy and the ,honorable ,john1 unhappily strangers to it for most part1 can form no conception6 ,tom and ,jack have already1 on this most narrow hypothesis1 a decided superiority of likelihood over ,lord ,tommy and the ,honorable ,john4 ,but the hypothesis is very narrow1 and the fact is very wide2 the hypothesis counts by units1 the fact by millions4 ,consider how many ,toms and ,jacks there are to choose from1 well or ill6 ,the aristocratic class from whom ,members of ,parliament can be elected extends only to certain thousands2 from these you are to choose your ,secretary1 if a seat in ,parliament is the primary condition4 ,but the general population is of ,twenty-seven ,millions2 from all sections of which you can choose1 if the seat in ,parliament is not to be primary4 ,make it ultimate instead of primary1 a last investiture instead of a first indispensable condition1 and the whole ,british ,nation1 learned1 unlearned1 professional1 practical1 speculative and miscellaneous1 is at your disposal6 ,in the lowest broad strata of the population1 equally as in the highest and narrowest1 are produced men of every kind of genius2 man for man1 your chance of genius is as good among the millions as among the units2--and class for class1 what must it be6 ,from all classes1 not from certain hundreds now but from several millions1 whatsoever man the gods had gifted with intellect and nobleness1 and power to help his country1 could be chosen3 ,o ,heavens1 could1--if not by ,tenpound ,constituencies and the force of beer1 then by a ,reforming ,premier with eyes in his head1 who ,i think might do it quite infinitely better4 ,infinitely better4 ,for ignobleness cannot1 by the nature of it1 choose the noble3 no1 there needs a seeing man who is himself noble1 cognizant by internal experience of the symptoms of nobleness4 ,shall we never think of this2 shall we never more remember this1 then8 ,it is forever true2 and ,nature and ,fact1 however we may rattle our ballot-boxes1 do at no time forget it4 ,from the lowest and broadest stratum of ,society1 where the births are by the million1 there was born1 almost in our own memory1 a ,robert ,burns2 son of one who had not capital for his poor moor-farm of ,twenty ,pounds a year4 ,robert ,burns never had the smallest chance to got into ,parliament1 much as ,robert ,burns deserved1 for all our sakes1 to have been found there4 ,for the man--it was not known to men purblind1 sunk in their poor dim vulgar element1 but might have been known to men of insight who had any loyalty or any royalty of their own--was a born king of men3 full of valor1 of intelligence and heroic nobleness2 fit for far other work than to break his heart among poor mean mortals1 gauging beer6 ,him no ,tenpound ,constituency chose1 nor did any ,reforming ,premier3 in the deep-sunk ,british ,nation1 overwhelmed in foggy stupor1 with the loadstars all gone out for it1 there was no whisper of a notion that it could be desirable to choose him1--except to come and dine with you1 and in the interim to gauge4 ,and yet heaven-born ,mr4 ,pitt1 at that period1 was by no means without need of ,heroic ,intellect1 for other purposes than gauging6 ,but sorrowful strangulation by red-tape1 much tighter then than it now is when so many revolutionary earthquakes have tussled it1 quite tied up the meagre ,pitt2 and he said1 on hearing of this ,burns and his sad hampered case1 ,literature will take care of itself4--,yes1 and of you too1 if you don't mind it6 answers one4 ,and so1 like ,apollo taken for a ,neat-herd1 and perhaps for none of the best on the ,admetus establishment1 this new ,norse ,thor had to put up with what was going2 to gauge ale1 and be thankful2 pouring his celestial sunlight through ,scottish ,song-writing1--the narrowest chink ever offered to a ,thunder-god before6 ,and the meagre ,pitt1 and his ,dundasses and red-tape ,phantasms 7growing very ghastly now to think of71 did not in the least know or understand1 the impious1 god-forgetting mortals1 that ,heroic ,intellects1 if ,heaven were pleased to send such1 were the one salvation for the world and for them and all of us4 ,no2 they had done very well without such2 did not see the use of such2 went along very well without such2 well presided over by a singular ,heroic ,intellect called ,george the ,third3 and the ,thunder-god1 as was rather fit of him1 departed early1 still in the noon of life1 somewhat weary of gauging ale6--,o ,peter1 what a scandalous torpid element of yellow ,london fog1 favorable to owls only and their mousing operations1 has blotted out the stars of ,heaven for us these several generations back1--which1 ,i rejoice to see1 is now visibly about to take itself away again1 or perhaps to be dispelled in a very tremendous manner6 ,for the sake of my ,democratic friends1 one other observation4 ,is not this ,proposal the very essence of whatever truth there is in ,democracy2 this1 that the able man be chosen1 in whatever rank be is found8 ,that he be searched for as hidden treasure is2 be trained1 supervised1 set to the work which he alone is fit for4 ,all ,democracy lies in this2 this1 ,i think1 is worth all the ballot-boxes and suffrage-movements now going4 ,not that the noble soul1 born poor1 should be set to spout in ,parliament1 but that he should be set to assist in governing men3 this is our grand ,democratic interest4 ,with this we can be saved2 without this1 were there a ,parliament spouting in every parish1 and ,hansard ,debates to stem the ,thames1 we perish1--die constitutionally drowned1 in mere oceans of palaver4 ,all reformers1 constitutional persons1 and men capable of reflection1 are invited to reflect on these things4 ,let us brush the cobwebs from our eyes2 let us bid the inane traditions be silent for a moment2 and ask ourselves1 like men dreadfully intent on having it done1 ,by what method or methods can the able men from every rank of life be gathered1 as diamond-grains from the general mass of sand3 the able men1 not the sham-able2--and set to do the work of governing1 contriving1 administering and guiding for us6 ,it is the question of questions4 ,all that ,democracy ever meant lies there3 the attainment of a truer and truer ,aristocracy1 or ,government again by the ,best4 ,reformed ,parliaments have lamentably failed to attain it for us2 and ,i believe will and must forever fail4 ,one true ,reforming ,statesman1 one noble worshipper and knower of human intellect1 with the quality of an experienced ,politician too2 he1 backed by such a ,parliament as ,england1 once recognizing him1 would loyally send1 and at liberty to choose his working subalterns from all the ,englishmen alive2 he surely might do something8 ,something1 by one means or another1 is becoming fearfully necessary to be done6 ,he1 ,i think1 might accomplish more for us in ten years1 than the best conceivable ,reformed ,parliament1 and utmost extension of the suffrage1 in twice or ten times ten4 ,what is extremely important too1 you could try this method with safety2 extension of the suffrage you cannot so try4 ,with even an approximately heroic ,prime ,minister1 you could get nothing but good from prescribing to him thus1 to choose the fittest man1 under penalties2 to choose1 not the fittest of the four or the three men that were in ,parliament1 but the fittest from the whole ,twenty-seven ,millions that he could hear of1--at his peril4 ,nothing but good from this4 ,from extension of the suffrage1 some think1 you might get quite other than good4 ,from extension of the suffrage1 till it became a universal counting of heads1 one sees not in the least what wisdom could be extracted4 ,a ,parliament of the ,paris pattern1 such as we see just now1 might be extracted3 and from that8 ,solution into universal slush2 drownage of all interests divine and human1 in a ,noah's-,deluge of ,parliamentary eloquence1--such as we hope our sins1 heavy and manifold though they are1 have not yet quite deserved6 ,who1 then1 is to be the ,reforming ,statesman1 and begin the noble work for us8 ,he is the preliminary2 one such2 with him we may prosecute the enterprise to length after length2 without him we cannot stir in it at all4 ,a true king1 temporary king1 that dare undertake the government of ,britain1 on condition of beginning in sacred earnest to reform it1 not at this or that extremity1 but at the heart and centre4 ,that will expurgate ,downing ,street1 and the practical ,administration of our ,affairs2 clear out its accumulated mountains of pendantries and cobwebs2 bid the ,pedants and the ,dullards depart1 bid the ,gifted and the ,seeing enter and inhabit4 ,so that henceforth there be ,heavenly light there1 instead of ,stygian dusk2 that ,god's vivifying light instead of ,satan's deadening and killing dusk1 may radiate therefrom1 and visit with healing all regions of this ,british ,empire1--which now writhes through every limb of it1 in dire agony as if of death6 ,the enterprise is great1 the enterprise may be called formidable and even awful2 but there is none nobler among the sublunary affairs of mankind just now4 ,nay tacitly it is the enterprise of every man who undertakes to be ,british ,premier in these times2--and ,i cannot esteem him an enviable ,premier who1 because the engagement is tacit1 flatters himself that it does not exist6 ,show it me in the bond1 he says4 ,your ,lordship1 it actually exists3 and ,i think you will see it yet1 in another kind of bond than that sheepskin one6 ,but truly1 in any time1 what a strange feeling1 enough to alarm a very big ,lordship1 this3 that he1 of the size he is1 has got to the apex of ,english affairs6 ,smallest wrens1 we know1 by training and the aid of machinery1 are capable of many things4 ,for this world abounds in miraculous combinations1 far transcending anything they do at ,drury ,lane in the melodramatic way4 ,a world which1 as solid as it looks1 is made all of aerial and even of spiritual stuff2 permeated all by incalculable sleeping forces and electricities2 and liable to go off1 at any time1 into the hugest developments1 upon a scratch thoughtfully or thoughtlessly given on the right point3--,nay1 for every one of us1 could not the sputter of a poor pistol-shot shrivel the ,immensities together like a burnt scroll1 and make the ,heavens and the ,earth pass away with a great noise8 ,smallest wrens1 and canary-birds of some dexterity1 can be trained to handle lucifer-matches2 and have1 before now1 fired off whole powder-magazines and parks of artillery4 ,perhaps without much astonishment to the canary-bird4 ,the canary-bird can hold only its own quantity of astonishment2 and may possibly enough retain its presence of mind1 were even ,doomsday to come4 ,it is on this principle that ,i explain to myself the equanimity of some men and ,premiers whom we have known4 ,this and the other ,premier seems to take it with perfect coolness4 ,and yet1 ,i say1 what a strange feeling1 to find himself ,chief ,governor of ,england2 girding on1 upon his moderately sized new soul1 the old battle-harness of an ,oliver ,cromwell1 an ,edward ,longshanks1 a ,william ,conqueror4 ,i1 then1 am the ,ablest of ,english attainable ,men8 ,this ,english ,people1 which has spread itself over all lands and seas1 and achieved such works in the ages1--which has done ,america1 ,india1 the ,lancashire ,cotton-trade1 ,bromwicham ,iron-trade1 ,newton's ,principia1 ,shakspeare's ,dramas1 and the ,british ,constitution1--the apex of all its intelligences and mighty instincts and dumb longings3 it is ,i8 ,william ,conqueror's big gifts1 and ,edward's and ,elizabeth's2 ,oliver's lightning soul1 noble as ,sinai and the thunders of the ,lord3 these are mine1 ,i begin to perceive1--to a certain extent4 ,these heroisms have ,i1--though rather shy of exhibiting them4 ,these2 and something withal of the huge beaver-faculty of our ,arkwrights1 ,brindleys2 touches too of the phoenix-melodies and sunny heroisms of our ,shakspeares1 of our ,singers1 ,sages and inspired ,thinkers all this is in me1 ,i will hope1--though rather shy of exhibiting it on common occasions4 ,the ,pattern ,englishman1 raised by solemn acclamation upon the bucklers of the ,english ,people1 and saluted with universal ',god save ,,thee6'--has now the honor to announce himself4 ,after fifteen hundred years of constitutional study as to methods of raising on the bucklers1 which is the operation of operations1 the ,english ,people1 surely pretty well skilled in it by this time1 has raised--the remarkable individual now addressing you4 ,the best-combined sample of whatsoever divine qualities are in this big ,people1 the consummate flower of all that they have done and been1 the ultimate product of the ,destinies1 and ,english man of men1 arrived at last in the fulness of time1 is--who think you8 ,ye worlds1 the ,ithuriel javelin by which1 with all these heroisms and accumulated energies old and new1 the ,english ,people means to smite and pierce1 is this poor tailor's-bodkin1 hardly adequate to bore an eylet-hole1 who now has the honor to--,good ,heavens1 if it were not that men generally are very much of the canary-bird1 here1 are reflections sufficient to annihilate any man1 almost before starting6 ,but to us also it ought to be a very strange reflection6 ,this1 then1 is the length we have brought it to1 with our constitutioning1 and ballot-boxing1 and incessant talk and effort in every kind for so many centuries back2 this8 ,the golden flower of our grand alchemical projection1 which has set the world in astonishment so long1 and been the envy of surrounding nations1 is--what we here see4 ,to be governed by his ,lordship1 and guided through the undiscovered paths of ,time by this respectable degree of human faculty4 ,with our utmost soul's travail we could discover1 by the sublimest methods eulogized by all the world1 no abler ,englishman than this8 ,really it should make us pause upon the said sublime methods1 and ask ourselves very seriously1 whether1 notwithstanding the eulogy of all the world1 they can be other than extremely astonishing methods1 that require revisal and reconsideration very much indeed6 ,for the kind of man we get to govern us1 all conclusions whatsoever centre there1 and likewise all manner of issues flow infallibly therefrom4 ,ask well1 who is your ,chief ,governor1 says one3 for around him men like to him will infallibly gather1 and by degrees all the world will be made in his image4 ,he who is himself a noble man1 has a chance to know the nobleness of men2 he who is not1 has none4 ,and as for the poor ,public1--alas1 is not the kind of 'man' you set upon it the liveliest symbol of its and your veracity and victory and blessedness1 or unveracity and misery and cursedness2 the general summation and practical outcome of all else whatsoever in the ,public and in you8 ,time was when an incompetent ,governor could not be permitted among men4 ,he was1 and had to be1 by one method or the other1 clutched up from his place at the helm of affairs1 and hurled down into the hold1 perhaps even overboard1 if he could not really steer4 ,and we call those ages barbarous1 because they shuddered to see a ,phantasm at the helm of their affairs2 an eyeless ,pilot with constitutional spectacles1 steering by the ear mainly8 ,and we have changed all that2 no-government is now the best2 and a tailor's foreman1 who gives no trouble1 is preferable to any other for governing8 ,my friends1 such truly is the current idea2 but you dreadfully mistake yourselves1 and the fact is not such4 ,the fact1 now beginning to disclose itself again in distressed ,needlewomen1 famishing ,connaughts1 revolting ,colonies1 and a general rapid advance towards ,social ,ruin1 remains really what it always was1 and will so remain6 ,men have very much forgotten it at present2 and only here a man and there a man begins again to bethink himself of it3 but all men will gradually get reminded of it1 perhaps terribly to their cost2 and the sooner they all lay it to heart again1 ,i think it will be the better4 ,for in spite of our oblivion of it1 the thing remains forever true2 nor is there any ,constitution or body of ,constitutions1 were they clothed with never such venerabilities and general acceptabilities1 that avails to deliver a ,nation from the consequences of forgetting it4 ,nature1 ,i assure you1 does forevermore remember it2 and a hundred ,british ,constitutions are but as a hundred cobwebs between her and the penalty she levies for forgetting it4 ,tell me what kind of man governs a ,people1 you tell me1 with much exactness1 what the net sum-total of social worth in that ,people has for some time been4 ,whether they have loved the phylacteries or the eternal noblenesses2 whether they have been struggling heavenward like eagles1 brothers of the radiances1 or groping owl-like with horn-eyed diligence1 catching mice and balances at their banker's1--poor devils1 you will see it all in that one fact4 ,a fact long prepared beforehand2 which1 if it is a peaceably received one1 must have been acquiesced in1 judged to be best1 by the poor mousing owls1 intent only to have a large balance at their banker's and keep a whole skin4 ,such sordid populations1 which were long blind to ,heaven's light1 are getting themselves burnt up rapidly1 in these days1 by street-insurrection and ,hell-fire2--as is indeed inevitable1 my esteemed ,m',croudy6 ,light1 accept the blessed light1 if you will have it when ,heaven vouchsafes4 ,you refuse8 ,you prefer ,delolme on the ,british ,constitution1 the ,gospel according to ,m',croudy1 and a good balance at your banker's8 ,very well3 the light is more and more withdrawn2 and for some time you have a general dusk1 very favorable for catching mice2 and the opulent owlery is very happy1 and well-off at its banker's2--and furthermore1 by due sequence1 infallible as the foundations of the ,universe and ,nature's oldest law1 the light returns on you1 condensed1 this time1 into lightning1 which there is not any skin whatever too thick for taking in6 ,no4 ,,iv4 ,,the ,,new ,,downing ,,street4 ,april #ae1 #ahej4 ,in looking at this wreck of ,governments in all ,european countries1 there is one consideration that suggests itself1 sadly elucidative of our modern epoch4 ,these ,governments1 we may be well assured1 have gone to anarchy for this one reason inclusive of every other whatsoever1 ,that they were not wise enough2 that the spiritual talent embarked in them1 the virtue1 heroism1 intellect1 or by whatever other synonyms we designate it1 was not adequate1--probably had long been inadequate1 and so in its dim helplessness had suffered1 or perhaps invited falsity to introduce itself2 had suffered injustices1 and solecisms1 and contradictions of the ,divine ,fact1 to accumulate in more than tolerable measure2 whereupon said ,governments were overset1 and declared before all creatures to be too false4 ,this is a reflection sad but important to the modern ,governments now fallen anarchic1 ,that they had not spiritual talent enough4 ,and if this is so1 then surely the question1 ,how these ,governments came to sink for want of intellect8 is a rather interesting one4 ,intellect1 in some measure1 is born into every ,century2 and the ,nineteenth flatters itself that it is rather distinguished that way6 ,what had become of this celebrated ,nineteenth ,century's intellect8 ,surely some of it existed1 and was developed withal2--nay in the undeveloped1 unconscious1 or inarticulate state1 it is not dead2 but alive and at work1 if mutely not less beneficently1 some think even more so6 ,and yet ,governments1 it would appear1 could by no means get enough of it2 almost none of it came their way3 what had become of it8 ,truly there must be something very questionable1 either in the intellect of this celebrated ,century1 or in the methods ,governments now have of supplying their wants from the same4 ,one or other of two grand fundamental shortcomings1 in regard to intellect or human enlightenment1 is very visible in this enlightened ,century of ours2 for it has now become the most anarchic of ,centuries2 that is to say1 has fallen practically into such ,egyptian darkness that it cannot grope its way at all6 ,nay ,i rather think both of these shortcomings1 fatal deficits both1 are chargeable upon us2 and it is the joint harvest of both that we are now reaping with such havoc to our affairs4 ,i rather guess1 the intellect of the ,nineteenth ,century1 so full of miracle to ,heavyside and others1 is itself a mechanical or beaver intellect rather than a high or eminently human one4 ,a dim and mean though authentic kind of intellect1 this2 venerable only in defect of better4 ,this kind will avail but little in the higher enterprises of human intellect1 especially in that highest enterprise of guiding men ,heavenward1 which1 after all1 is the one real governing of them on this ,god's-,earth3--an enterprise not to be achieved by beaver intellect1 but by other higher and highest kinds4 ,this is deficit first4 ,and then secondly1 ,governments have1 really to a fatal and extraordinary extent1 neglected in late ages to supply themselves with what intellect was going2 having1 as was too natural in the dim time1 taken up a notion that human intellect1 or even beaver intellect1 was not necessary to them at all1 but that a little of the vulpine sort 7if attainable71 supported by routine1 red-tape traditions1 and tolerable parliamentary eloquence on occasion1 would very well suffice4 ,a most false and impious notion2 leading to fatal lethargy on the part of ,governments1 while ,nature and ,fact were preparing strange phenomena in contradiction to it4 ,these are two very fatal deficits2--the remedy of either of which would be the remedy of both1 could we but find it6 ,for indeed they are vitally connected3 one of them is sure to produce the other2 and both once in action together1 the advent of darkness1 certain enough to issue in anarchy by and by1 goes on with frightful acceleration4 ,if ,governments neglect to invite what noble intellect there is1 then too surely all intellect1 not omnipotent to resist bad influences1 will tend to become beaverish ignoble intellect2 and quitting high aims1 which seem shut up from it1 will help itself forward in the way of making money and such like2 or will even sink to be sham intellect1 helping itself by methods which are not only beaverish but vulpine1 and so ignoble as not to have common honesty4 ,the ,government1 taking no thought to choose intellect for itself1 will gradually find that there is less and less of a good quality to choose from3 thus1 as in all impieties it does1 bad grows worse at a frightful double rate of progression2 and your impiety is twice cursed4 ,if you are impious enough to tolerate darkness1 you will get ever more darkness to tolerate2 and at that inevitable stage of the account 7inevitable in all such accounts7 when actual light or else destruction is the alternative1 you will call to the ,heavens and the ,earth for light1 and none will come6 ,certainly this evil1 for one1 has not wrought its own cure2 but has wrought precisely the reverse1 and has been hourly eating away what possibilities of cure there were4 ,and so1 ,i fear1 in spite of rumors to the contrary1 it always is with evils1 with solecisms against ,nature1 and contradictions to the divine fact of things3 not an evil of them has ever wrought its own cure in my experience2--but has continually grown worse and wider and uglier1 till some good 7generally a good man7 not able to endure the abomination longer1 rose upon it and cured or else extinguished it4 ,evil ,governments1 divested of ,god's light because they have loved darkness rather1 are not likelier than other evils to work their own cure out of that bad plight4 ,it is urgent upon all ,governments to pause in this fatal course2 persisted in1 the goal is fearfully evident2 every hour's persistence in it is making return more difficult4 ,intellect exists in all countries2 and the function appointed it by ,heaven1--,governments had better not attempt to contradict that1 for they cannot6 ,intellect has to govern in this world and will do it1 if not in alliance with so-called ,governments of red-tape and routine1 then in divine hostility to such1 and sometimes alas in diabolic hostility to such2 and in the end1 as sure as ,heaven is higher than ,downing ,street1 and the ,laws of ,nature are tougher than red-tape1 with entire victory over them and entire ruin to them4 ,if there is one thinking man among the ,politicians of ,england1 ,i consider these things extremely well worth his attention just now4 ,who are available to your ,offices in ,downing ,street8 ,all the gifted souls1 of every rank1 who are born to you in this generation4 ,these are appointed1 by the true eternal divine right which will never become obsolete1 to be your governors and administrators2 and precisely as you employ them1 or neglect to employ them1 will your ,state be favored of ,heaven or disfavored4 ,this noble young soul1 you can have him on either of two conditions2 and on one of them1 since he is here in the world1 you must have him4 ,as your ally and coadjutor2 or failing that1 as your natural enemy3 which shall it be8 ,i consider that every ,government convicts itself of infatuation and futility1 or absolves and justifies itself before ,god and man1 according as it answers this question4 ,with all sublunary entities1 this is the question of questions4 ,what talent is born to you8 ,how do you employ that8 ,the crop of spiritual talent that is born to you1 of human nobleness and intellect and heroic faculty1 this is infinitely more important than your crops of cotton or corn1 or wine or herrings or whale-oil1 which the ,newspapers record with such anxiety every season4 ,this is not quite counted by seasons1 therefore the ,newspapers are silent3 but by generations and centuries1 ,i assure you it becomes amazingly sensible2 and surpasses1 as ,heaven does ,earth1 all the corn and wine1 and whale-oil and ,california bullion1 or any other crop you grow4 ,if that crop cease1 the other crops--please to take them also1 if you are anxious about them4 ,that once ceasing1 we may shut shop2 for no other crop whatever will stay with us1 nor is worth having if it would4 ,to promote men of talent1 to search and sift the whole society in every class for men of talent1 and joyfully promote them1 has not always been found impossible4 ,in many forms of polity they have done it1 and still do it1 to a certain degree4 ,the degree to which they succeed in doing it marks1 as ,i have said1 with very great accuracy the degree of divine and human worth that is in them1 the degree of success or real ultimate victory they can expect to have in this world4--,think1 for example1 of the old ,catholic ,church1 in its merely terrestrial relations to the ,state2 and see if your reflections1 and contrasts with what now is1 are of an exulting character4 ,progress of the species has gone on as with seven-league boots1 and in various directions has shot ahead amazingly1 with three cheers from all the world2 but in this direction1 the most vital and indispensable1 it has lagged terribly1 and has even moved backward1 till now it is quite gone out of sight in clouds of cotton-fuzz and railway-scrip1 and has fallen fairly over the horizon to rearward6 ,in those most benighted ,feudal societies1 full of mere tyrannous steel ,barons1 and totally destitute of ,tenpound ,franchises and ,ballot-boxes1 there did nevertheless authentically preach itself everywhere this grandest of gospels1 without which no other gospel can avail us much1 to all souls of men1 ,awake ye noble souls2 here is a noble career for you6 ,i say1 everywhere a road towards promotion1 for human nobleness1 lay wide open to all men4 ,the pious soul1--which1 if you reflect1 will mean the ingenuous and ingenious1 the gifted1 intelligent and nobly-aspiring soul1--such a soul1 in whatever rank of life it were born1 had one path inviting it2 a generous career1 whereon1 by human worth and valor1 all earthly heights and ,heaven itself were attainable4 ,in the lowest stratum of social thraldom1 nowhere was the noble soul doomed quite to choke1 and die ignobly4 ,the ,church1 poor old benighted creature1 had at least taken care of that3 the noble aspiring soul1 not doomed to choke ignobly in its penuries1 could at least run into the neighboring ,convent1 and there take refuge4 ,education awaited it there2 strict training not only to whatever useful knowledge could be had from writing and reading1 but to obedience1 to pious reverence1 self-restraint1 annihilation of self1--really to human nobleness in many most essential respects4 ,no questions asked about your birth1 genealogy1 quantity of money-capital or the like2 the one question was1 ,is there some human nobleness in you1 or is there not8 ,the poor neat-herd's son1 if he were a ,noble of ,nature1 might rise to ,priesthood1 to ,high-priesthood1 to the top of this world1--and best of all1 he had still high ,heaven lying high enough above him1 to keep his head steady1 on whatever height or in whatever depth his way might lie6 ,a thrice-glorious arrangement1 when ,i reflect on it2 most salutary to all high and low interests2 a truly human arrangement4 ,you made the born noble yours1 welcoming him as what he was1 the ,sent of ,heaven3 you did not force him either to die or become your enemy2 idly neglecting or suppressing him as what he was not1 a thing of no worth4 ,you accepted the blessed light2 and in the shape of infernal lightning it needed not to visit you4 ,how1 like an immense mine-shaft through the dim oppressed strata of society1 this ,institution of the ,priesthood ran2 opening1 from the lowest depths towards all heights and towards ,heaven itself1 a free road of egress and emergence towards virtuous nobleness1 heroism and well-doing1 for every born man4 ,this we may call the living lungs and blood-circulation of those old ,feudalisms4 ,when ,i think of that immeasurable all-pervading lungs2 present in every corner of human society1 every meanest hut a cell of said lungs2 inviting whatsoever noble pious soul was born there to the path that was noble for him2 and leading thereby sometimes1 if he were worthy1 to be the ,papa of ,christendom1 and ,commander of all ,kings1--,i perceive how the old ,christian society continued healthy1 vital1 and was strong and heroic4 ,when ,i contrast this with the noble aims now held out to noble souls born in remote huts1 or beyond the verge of ,palace-,yard2 and think of what your ,lordship has done in the way of making priests and papas1--,i see a society without lungs1 fast wheezing itself to death1 in horrid convulsions2 and deserving to die4 ,over ,europe generally in these years1 ,i consider that the ,state has died1 has fairly coughed its last in street musketry1 and fallen down dead1 incapable of any but galvanic life henceforth1--owing to this same fatal want of lungs1 which includes all other wants for a ,state4 ,and furthermore that it will never come alive again1 till it contrive to get such indispensable vital apparatus2 the outlook toward which consummation is very distant in most communities of ,europe4 ,if you let it come to death or suspended animation in ,states1 the case is very bad6 ,vain to call in universal-suffrage parliaments at that stage3 the universal-suffrage parliaments cannot give you any breath of life1 cannot find any wisdom for you2 by long impiety1 you have let the supply of noble human wisdom die out2 and the wisdom that now courts your universal suffrages is beggarly human attorneyism or sham-wisdom1 which is not an insight into the ,laws of ,god's ,universe1 but into the laws of hungry ,egoism and the ,devil's ,chicane1 and can in the end profit no community or man4 ,no2 the kind of heroes that come mounted on the shoulders of the universal suffrage1 and install themselves as ,prime ,ministers and healing ,statesmen by force of able editorship1 do not bid very fair to bring ,nations back to the ways of ,god4 ,eloquent high-lacquered pinchbeck specimens these1 expert in the arts of ,belial mainly2--fitter to be markers at some exceedingly expensive billiard-table than sacred chief-priests of men6 ,greeks of the ,lower ,empire2 with a varnish of parliamentary rhetoric2 and1 ,i suppose1 this other great gift1 toughness of character1--proof that they have persevered in their ,master's service4 ,poor wretches1 their industry is mob-worship1 place-worship1 parliamentary intrigue1 and the multiplex art of tongue-fence3 flung into that bad element1 there they swim for decades long1 throttling and wrestling one another according to their strength1--and the toughest or luckiest gets to land1 and becomes ,premier4 ,a more entirely unbeautiful class of ,premiers was never raked out of the ooze1 and set on high places1 by any ingenuity of man4 ,dame ,dubarry's petticoat was a better seine-net for fishing out ,premiers than that4 ,let all ,nations whom necessity is driving towards that method1 take warning in time6 ,alas1 there is1 in a manner1 but one ,nation that can still take warning6 ,in ,england alone of ,european ,countries the ,state yet survives2 and might help itself by better methods4 ,in ,england heroic wisdom is not yet dead1 and quite replaced by attorneyism3 the honest beaver faculty yet abounds with us1 the heroic manful faculty shows itself also to the observant eye1 not dead but dangerously sleeping4 ,i said there were many kings in ,england3 if these can yet be rallied into strenuous activity1 and set to govern ,england in ,downing ,street and elsewhere1 which their function always is1--then ,england can be saved from anarchies and universal suffrages2 and that ,apotheosis of ,attorneyism1 blackest of terrestrial curses1 may be spared us4 ,if these cannot1 the other issue1 in such forms as may be appropriate to us1 is inevitable4 ,what escape is there8 ,england must conform to the eternal laws of life1 or ,england too must die6 ,england with the largest mass of real living interests ever intrusted to a ,nation2 and with a mass of extinct imaginary and quite dead interests piled upon it to the very ,heavens1 and encumbering it from shore to shore1--does reel and stagger ominously in these years2 urged by the ,divine ,silences and the ,eternal ,laws to take practical hold of its living interests and manage them3 and clutching blindly into its venerable extinct and imaginary interests1 as if that were still the way to do it4 ,england must contrive to manage its living interests1 and quit its dead ones and their methods1 or else depart from its place in this world4 ,surely ,england is called as no ,nation ever was1 to summon out its kings1 and set them to that high work6--,huge inorganic ,england1 nigh choked under the exuviae of a thousand years1 and blindly sprawling amid chartisms1 ballot-boxes1 prevenient graces1 and bishops' nightmares1 must1 as the preliminary and commencement of organization1 learn to breathe again1--get lungs for herself again1 as we defined it4 ,that is imperative upon her3 she too will die1 otherwise1 and cough her last upon the streets some day2--how can she continue living8 ,to enfranchise whatsoever of ,wisdom is born in ,england1 and set that to the sacred task of coercing and amending what of ,folly is born in ,england3 ,heaven's blessing is purchasable by that2 by not that1 only ,heaven's curse is purchasable4 ,the reform contemplated1 my liberal friends perceive1 is a truly radical one2 no ballot-box ever went so deep into the roots3 a radical1 most painful1 slow and difficult1 but most indispensable reform of reforms6 ,how short and feeble an approximation to these high ulterior results1 the best ,reform of ,downing ,street1 presided over by the fittest ,statesman one can imagine to exist at present1 would be1 is too apparent to me4 ,a long time yet till we get our living interests put under due administration1 till we get our dead interests handsomely dismissed4 ,a long time yet till1 by extensive change of habit and ways of thinking and acting1 we get living lungs for ourselves6 ,nevertheless1 by ,reform of ,downing ,street1 we do begin to breathe3 we do start in the way towards that and all high results4 ,nor is there visible to me any other way4 ,blessed enough were the way once entered on2 could we1 in our evil days1 but see the noble enterprise begun1 and fairly in progress6 ,what the ,new ,downing ,street can grow to1 and will and must if ,england is to have a ,downing ,street beyond a few years longer1 it is far from me1 in my remote watch-tower1 to say with precision4 ,a ,downing ,street inhabited by the gifted of the intellects of ,england2 directing all its energies upon the real and living interests of ,england1 and silently but incessantly1 in the alembics of the place1 burning up the extinct imaginary interests of ,england1 that we may see ,god's sky a little plainer overhead1 and have all of us a great accession of heroic wisdom to dispose of3 such a ,downing ,street--to draw the plan of it1 will require architects2 many successive architects and builders will be needed there4 ,let not editors1 and remote unprofessional persons1 interfere too much6--,change in the present edifice1 however1 radical change1 all men can discern to be inevitable2 and even1 if there shall not worse swiftly follow1 to be imminent4 ,outlines of the future edifice paint themselves against the sky 7to men that still have a sky1 and are above the miserable ,london fogs of the hour72 noble elements of new ,state ,architecture1 foreshadows of a new ,downing ,street for the ,new ,era that is come4 ,these with pious hope all men can see2 and it is good that all men1 with whatever faculty they have1 were earnestly looking thitherward2--trying to get above the fogs1 that they might look thitherward6 ,among practical men the idea prevails that ,government can do nothing but keep the peace4 ,they say all higher tasks are unsafe for it1 impossible for it1--and in fine not necessary for it or for us4 ,on this footing a very feeble ,downing ,street might serve the turn6--,i am well aware that ,government1 for a long time past1 has taken in hand no other public task1 and has professed to have no other1 but that of keeping the peace4 ,this public task1 and the private one of ascertaining whether ,dick or ,jack was to do it1 have amply filled the capabilities of ,government for several generations now4 ,hard tasks both1 it would appear4 ,in accomplishing the first1 for example1 have not heaven-born ,chancellors of the ,exchequer had to shear us very bare2 and to leave an overplus of ,debt1 or of fleeces shorn before they are grown1 justly esteemed among the wonders of the world8 ,not a first-rate keeping of the peace1 this1 we begin to surmise6 ,at least it seems strange to us4 ,for we1 and the overwhelming majority of all our acquaintances1 in this ,parish and ,nation and the adjacent ,parishes and ,nations1 are profoundly conscious to ourselves of being by nature peaceable persons2 following our necessary industries2 without wish1 interest or faintest intention to cut the skin of any mortal1 to break feloniously into his industrial premises1 or do any injustice to him at all4 ,because indeed1 independent of ,government1 there is a thing called conscience1 and we dare not4 ,so that it cannot but appear to us1 the peace1 under dexterous management1 might be very much more easily kept1 your ,lordship2 nay1 we almost think1 if well let alone1 it would in a measure keep itself among such a set of persons6 ,and how it happens that when a poor hardworking creature of us has laboriously earned sixpence1 the ,government comes in1 and 7as some compute7 says1 ,i will thank you for threepence of that1 as per account1 for getting you peace to spend the other threepence1 our amazement begins to be considerable1--and ,i think results will follow from it by and by4 ,not the most dexterous keeping of the peace1 your ,lordship1 unless it be more difficult to do than appears6 ,our domestic peace1 we cannot but perceive1 as good as keeps itself4 ,here and there a select ,equitable ,person1 appointed by the ,public for that end1 clad in ermine1 and backed by certain companies of blue ,police1 is amply adequate1 without immoderate outlay in money or otherwise1 to keep down the few exceptional individuals of the scoundrel kind2 who1 we observe1 by the nature of them1 are always weak and inconsiderable4 ,and as to foreign peace1 really all ,europe1 now especially with so many railroads1 public journals1 printed books1 penny-post1 bills of exchange1 and continual intercourse and mutual dependence1 is more and more becoming 7so to speak7 one ,parish2 the ,parishioners of which being1 as we ourselves are1 in immense majority peaceable hard-working people1 could1 if they were moderately well guided1 have almost no disposition to quarrel4 ,their economic interests are one1 ,to buy in the cheapest market1 and sell in the dearest2 their faith1 any religious faith they have1 is one1 ,to annihilate shams--by all methods1 street-barricades included4 ,why should they quarrel8 ,the ,czar of ,russia1 in the ,eastern parts of the ,parish1 may have other notions2 but he knows too well he must keep them to himself4 ,he1 if he meddled with the ,western parts1 and attempted anywhere to crush or disturb that sacred ,democratic ,faith of theirs1 is aware there would rise from a hundred and fifty million human throats such a ,hymn of the ,marseillaise as was never heard before2 and ,england1 ,france1 ,germany1 ,poland1 ,hungary1 and the ,nine ,kingdoms1 hurling themselves upon him in never-imagined fire of vengeance1 would swiftly reduce his ,russia and him to a strange situation6 ,wherefore he forbears1--and being a person of some sense1 will long forbear4 ,in spite of editorial prophecy1 the ,czar of ,russia does not disturb our night's rest4 ,and with the other parts of the ,parish our dreams and our thoughts are of anything but of fighting1 or of the smallest need to fight4 ,for keeping of the peace1 a thing highly desirable to us1 we strive to be grateful to your ,lordship4 ,intelligible to us1 also1 your ,lordship's reluctance to get out of the old routine4 ,but we beg to say farther1 that peace by itself has no feet to stand upon1 and would not suit us even if it had4 ,keeping of the peace is the function of a policeman1 and but a small fraction of that of any ,government1 ,king or ,chief of men4 ,are not all men bound1 and the ,chief of men in the name of all1 to do properly this3 ,to see1 so far as human effort under pain of eternal reprobation can1 ,god's ,kingdom incessantly advancing here below1 and ,his will done on ,earth as it is in ,heaven8 ,on ,sundays your ,lordship knows this well2 forgot it not on week-days4 ,i assure you it is forevermore a fact4 ,that is the immense divine and never-ending task which is laid on every man1 and with unspeakable increase of emphasis on every ,government or ,commonwealth of men4 ,your ,lordship1 that is the basis upon which peace and all else depends6 ,that basis once well lost1 there is no peace capable of being kept1--the only peace that could then be kept is that of the churchyard4 ,your ,lordship may depend on it1 whatever thing takes upon it the name of ,sovereign or ,government in an ,english ,nation such as this will have to get out of that old routine2 and set about keeping something very different from the peace1 in these days6 ,truly it is high time that same beautiful notion of ,no-,government should take itself away4 ,the world is daily rushing towards wreck1 while that lasts4 ,if your ,government is to be a ,constituted ,anarchy1 what issue can it have8 ,our one interest in such ,government is1 that it would be kind enough to cease and go its ways1 before the inevitable arrive4 ,the question1 ,who is to float atop no-whither upon the popular vertexes1 and act that sorry character1 carcass of the drowned ass upon the mud-deluge8 is by no means an important one for almost anybody1--hardly even for the drowned ass himself4 ,such drowned ass ought to ask himself1 ,if the function is a sublime one8 ,for him too1 though he looks sublime to the vulgar and floats atop1 a private situation1 down out of sight in his natural ooze1 would be a luckier one4 ,crabbe1 speaking of constitutional philosophies1 faith in the ballot-box and such like1 has this indignant passage3 ,if any voice of deliverance or resuscitation reach us1 in this our low and all but lost estate1 sunk almost beyond plummet's sounding in the mud of ,lethe1 and oblivious of all noble objects1 it will be an intimation that we must put away all this abominable nonsense1 and understand1 once more1 that ,constituted ,anarchy1 with however many ballot-boxes1 caucuses1 and hustings beer-barrels1 is a continual offence to gods and men4 ,that to be governed by small men is not only a misfortune1 but it is a curse and a sin2 the effect1 and alas the cause also1 of all manner of curses and sins4 ,that to profess subjection to phantasms1 and pretend to accept guidance from fractional parts of tailors1 is what ,smelfungus in his rude dialect calls it1 'a damned lie1' and nothing other4 ,a lie which1 by long use and wont1 we have grown accustomed to1 and do not the least feel to be a lie1 having spoken and done it continually everywhere for such a long time past2--but has ,nature grown to accept it as a veracity1 think you1 my friend8 ,have the ,parcae fallen asleep1 because you wanted to make money in the ,city8 ,nature at all moments knows well that it is a lie2 and that1 like all lies1 it is cursed and damned from the beginning4 ,even so1 ye indigent millionnaires1 and miserable bankrupt populations rolling in gold1--whose note-of-hand will go to any length in ,threadneedle ,street1 and to whom in ,heaven's ,bank the stern answer is1 ',no effects6' ,bankrupt1 ,i say2 and ,californias and ,eldorados will not save us4 ,and every time we speak such lie1 or do it or look it1 as we have been incessantly doing1 and many of us with clear consciousness1 for about a hundred and fifty years now1 ,nature marks down the exact penalty against us4 ',debtor to so much lying3 forfeiture of existing stock of worth to such extent2--approach to general damnation by so much4' ,till now1 as we look round us over a convulsed anarchic ,europe1 and at home over an anarchy not yet convulsed1 but only heaving towards convulsion1 and to judge by the ,mosaic sweating-establishments1 cannibal ,connaughts and other symptoms1 not far from convulsion now1 we seem to have pretty much exhausted our accumulated stock of worth2 and unless money's 'worth' and bullion at the ,bank will save us1 to be rubbing very close upon that ulterior bourn which ,i do not like to name again6 ,on behalf of nearly twenty-seven millions of my fellow-countrymen1 sunk deep in ,lethean sleep1 with mere owl-dreams of ,political ,economy and mice-catching1 in this pacific thrice-infernal slush-element2 and also of certain select thousands1 and hundreds and units1 awakened or beginning to awaken from it1 and with horror in their hearts perceiving where they are1 ,i beg to protest1 and in the name of ,god to say1 with poor human ink1 desirous much that ,i had divine thunder to say it with1 ,awake1 arise1--before you sink to death eternal6 ,unnamable destruction1 and banishment to ,houndsditch and ,gehenna1 lies in store for all ,nations that1 in angry perversity or brutal torpor and owlish blindness1 neglect the eternal message of the gods1 and vote for the ,worse while the ,better is there4 ,like owls they say1 ',barabbas will do2 any orthodox ,hebrew of the ,hebrews1 and peaceable believer in ,m',croudy and the ,faith of ,leave-alone will do3 the ,right ,honorable ,minimus is well enough2 he shall be our ,maximus1 under him it will be handy to catch mice1 and ,owldom shall continue a flourishing empire4' ,one thing is undeniable1 and must be continually repeated till it get to be understood again3 ,of all constitutions1 forms of government1 and political methods among men1 the question to be asked is even this1 ,what kind of man do you set over us8 ,all questions are answered in the answer to this4 ,another thing is worth attending to3 ,no people or populace1 with never such ballot-boxes1 can select such man for you2 only the man of worth can recognize worth in men2--to the commonplace man of no or of little worth1 you1 unless you wish to be misled1 need not apply on such an occasion4 ,those poor ,tenpound ,franchisers of yours1 they are not even in earnest2 the poor sniffing sniggering ,honorable ,gentlemen they send to ,parliament are as little so4 ,tenpound ,franchisers full of mere beer and balderdash2 ,honorable ,gentlemen come to ,parliament as to an ,almack's series of evening parties1 or big cockmain 7battle of all the cocks7 very amusing to witness and bet upon3 what can or could men in that predicament ever do for you8 ,nay1 if they were in life-and-death earnest1 what could it avail you in such a case8 ,i tell you1 a million blockheads looking authoritatively into one man of what you call genius1 or noble sense1 will make nothing but nonsense out of him and his qualities1 and his virtues and defects1 if they look till the end of time4 ,he understands them1 sees what they are2 but that they should understand him1 and see with rounded outline what his limits are1--this1 which would mean that they are bigger than he1 is forever denied them4 ,their one good understanding of him is that they at last should loyally say1 ,we do not quite understand thee2 we perceive thee to be nobler and wiser and bigger than we1 and will loyally follow thee4 ,the question therefore arises1 ,whether1 since reform of parliament and such like have done so little in that respect1 the problem might not be with some hope attacked in the direct manner8 ,suppose all our ,institutions1 and ,public ,methods of ,procedure1 to continue for the present as they are2 and suppose farther a ,reform ,premier1 and the ,english ,nation once awakening under him to a due sense of the infinite importance1 nay the vital necessity there is of getting able and abler men3--might not some heroic wisdom1 and actual ability to do what must be done1 prove discoverable to said ,premier2 and so the indispensable ,heaven's-blessing descend to us from above1 since none has yet sprung from below8 ,from above we shall have to try it2 the other is exhausted1--a hopeless method that6 ,the utmost passion of the house-inmates1 ignorant of masonry and architecture1 cannot avail to cure the house of smoke3 not if they vote and agitate forever1 and bestir themselves to the length even of street-barricades1 will the smoke in the least abate3 how can it8 ,their passion exercised in such ways1 till ,doomsday1 will avail them nothing4 ,let their passion rage steadily against the existing major-domos to this effect1 ,find us men skilled in house-building1 acquainted with the laws of atmospheric suction1 and capable to cure smoke2 something might come of it6 ,in the lucky circumstance of having one man of real intellect and courage to put at the head of the movement1 much would come of it2--a ,new ,downing ,street1 fit for the ,british ,nation and its bitter necessities in this ,now ,era1 would come2 and from that1 in answer to continuous sacred fidelity and valiant toil1 all good whatsoever would gradually come4 ,of the ,continental nuisance called ,bureaucracy1--if this should alarm any reader1--,i can see no risk or possibility in ,england4 ,democracy is hot enough here1 fierce enough2 it is perennial1 universal1 clearly invincible among us henceforth4 ,no danger it should let itself be flung in chains by sham secretaries of the ,pedant species1 and accept their vile ,age of ,pinchbeck for its ,golden ,age6 ,democracy clamors1 with its ,newspapers1 its ,parliaments1 and all its twenty-seven million throats1 continually in this ,nation forevermore4 ,i remark1 too1 that1 the unconscious purport of all its clamors is even this1 ,find us men skilled1--make a ,new ,downing ,street1 fit for the ,new ,era6 ,of the ,foreign ,office1 in its reformed state1 we have not much to say4 ,abolition of imaginary work1 and replacement of it by real1 is on all hands understood to be very urgent there4 ,large needless expenditures of money1 immeasurable ditto of hypocrisy and grimace2 embassies1 protocols1 worlds of extinct traditions1 empty pedantries1 foul cobwebs3--but we will by no means apply the live coal of our witty friend2 the ,foreign ,office will repent1 and not be driven to suicide6 ,a truer time will come for the ,continental ,nations too3 ,authorities based on truth1 and on the silent or spoken ,worship of ,human ,nobleness1 will again get themselves established there2 all ,sham-,authorities1 and consequent ,real-,anarchies based on universal suffrage and the ,gospel according to ,george ,sand1 being put away2 and noble action1 heroic new-developments of human faculty and industry1 and blessed fruit as of ,paradise getting itself conquered from the waste battle-field of the chaotic elements1 will once more1 there as here1 begin to show themselves4 ,when the ,continental ,nations have once got to the bottom of their ,augean ,stable1 and begun to have real enterprises based on the eternal facts again1 our ,foreign ,office may again have extensive concerns with them4 ,and at all times1 and even now1 there will remain the question to be sincerely put and wisely answered1 ,what essential concern has the ,british ,nation with them and their enterprises8 ,any concern at all1 except that of handsomely keeping apart from them8 ,if so1 what are the methods of best managing it8--,at present1 as was said1 while ,red ,republic but clashes with foul ,bureaucracy2 and ,nations1 sunk in blind ignavia1 demand a universal-suffrage ,parliament to heal their wretchedness2 and wild ,anarchy and ,phallus-,worship struggle with ,sham-,kingship and extinct or galvanized ,catholicism2 and in the ,cave of the ,winds all manner of rotten waifs and wrecks are hurled against each other1--our ,english interest in the controversy1 however huge said controversy grow1 is quite trifling2 we have only in a handsome manner to say to it3 ,tumble and rage along1 ye rotten waifs and wrecks2 clash and collide as seems fittest to you2 and smite each other into annihilation at your own good pleasure4 ,in that huge conflict1 dismal but unavoidable1 we1 thanks to our heroic ancestors1 having got so far ahead of you1 have now no interest at all4 ,our decided notion is1 the dead ought to bury their dead in such a case3 and so we have the honor to be1 with distinguished consideration1 your entirely devoted1--,,flimnap1 ,,sec4 ,,foreign ,,department4--,i really think ,flimnap1 till truer times come1 ought to treat much of his work in this way3 cautious to give offence to his neighbors2 resolute not to concern himself in any of their self-annihilating operations whatsoever4 ,foreign wars are sometimes unavoidable4 ,we ourselves1 in the course of natural merchandising and laudable business1 have now and then got into ambiguous situations2 into quarrels which needed to be settled1 and without fighting would not settle4 ,sugar ,islands1 ,spice ,islands1 ,indias1 ,canadas1 these1 by the real decree of ,heaven1 were ours2 and nobody would or could believe it1 till it was tried by cannon law1 and so proved4 ,such cases happen4 ,in former times especially1 owing very much to want of intercourse and to the consequent mutual ignorance1 there did occur misunderstandings3 and therefrom many foreign wars1 some of them by no means unnecessary4 ,with ,china1 or some distant country1 too unintelligent of us and too unintelligible to us1 there still sometimes rises necessary occasion for a war4 ,nevertheless wars--misunderstandings that get to the length of arguing themselves out by sword and cannon--have1 in these late generations of improved intercourse1 been palpably becoming less and less necessary2 have in a manner become superfluous1 if we had a little wisdom1 and our ,foreign ,office on a good footing4 ,of ,european wars ,i really hardly remember any1 since ,oliver ,cromwell's last ,protestant or ,liberation war with ,popish antichristian ,spain some two hundred years ago1 to which ,i for my own part could have contributed my life with any heartiness1 or in fact would have subscribed money itself to any considerable amount4 ,dutch ,william1 a man of some heroism1 did indeed get into troubles with ,louis ,fourteenth2 and there rested still some shadow of ,protestant ,interest1 and question of ,national and individual ,independence1 over those wide controversies2 a little money and human enthusiasm was still due to ,dutch ,william4 ,illustrious ,chatham also1 not to speak of his ,manilla ransoms and the like1 did one thing3 assisted ,fritz of ,prussia1 a brave man and king 7almost the only sovereign ,king ,i have known since ,cromwell's time7 like to be borne down by ignoble men and sham-kings2 for this let illustrious ,chatham too have a little money and human enthusiasm1--a little1 by no means much4 ,but what am ,i to say of heaven-born ,pitt the son of ,chatham8 ,england sent forth her fleets and armies2 her money into every country2 money as if the heaven-born ,chancellor had got a ,fortunatus' purse2 as if this ,island had become a volcanic fountain of gold1 or new terrestrial sun capable of radiating mere guineas4 ,the result of all which1 what was it8 ,elderly men can remember the tar-barrels burnt for success and thrice-immortal victory in the business2 and yet what result had we8 ,the ,french ,revolution1 a ,fact decreed in the ,eternal ,councils1 could not be put down3 the result was1 that heaven-born ,pitt had actually been fighting 7as the old ,hebrews would have said7 against the ,lord1--that the ,laws of ,nature were stronger than ,pitt4 ,of whom therefore there remains chiefly his unaccountable radiation of guineas1 for the gratitude of posterity4 ,thank you for nothing1--for eight hundred millions less than nothing6 ,our ,war ,offices1 ,admiralties1 and other ,fighting ,establishments1 are forcing themselves on everybody's attention at this time4 ,bull grumbles audibly3 ,the money you have cost me these five-and-thirty years1 during which you have stood elaborately ready to fight at any moment1 without at any moment being called to fight1 is surely an astonishing sum4 ,the ,national ,debt itself might have been half paid by that money1 which has all gone in pipe-clay and blank cartridges6 ,yes1 ,mr4 ,bull1 the money can be counted in hundreds of millions2 which certainly is something3--but the strenuously organized idleness1 and what mischief that amounts to1--have you computed it8 ,a perpetual solecism1 and blasphemy 7of its sort71 set to march openly among us1 dressed in scarlet6 ,bull1 with a more and more sulky tone1 demands that such solecism be abated2 that these ,fighting ,establishments be as it were disbanded1 and set to do some work in the ,creation1 since fighting there is now none for them4 ,this demand is irrefragably just1 is growing urgent too2 and yet this demand cannot be complied with1--not yet while the ,state grounds itself on unrealities1 and ,downing ,street continues what it is4 ,the old ,romans made their soldiers work during intervals of war4 ,the ,new ,downing ,street too1 we may predict1 will have less and less tolerance for idleness on the part of soldiers or others4 ,nay the ,new ,downing ,street1 ,i foresee1 when once it has got its ,industrial ,regiments organized1 will make these mainly do its fighting1 what fighting there is2 and so save immense sums4 ,or indeed1 all citizens of the ,commonwealth1 as is the right and the interest of every free man in this world1 will have themselves trained to arms2 each citizen ready to defend his country with his own body and soul1--he is not worthy to have a country otherwise4 ,in a ,state grounded on veracities1 that would be the rule4 ,downing ,street1 if it cannot bethink itself of returning to the veracities1 will have to vanish altogether6 ,to fight with its neighbors never was1 and is now less than ever1 the real trade of ,england4 ,for far other objects was the ,english ,people created into this world2 sent down from the ,eternities1 to mark with its history certain spaces in the current of sublunary ,time6 ,essential1 too1 that the ,english ,people should discover what its real objects are2 and resolutely follow these1 resolutely refusing to follow other than these4 ,the ,state will have victory so far as it can do that2 so far as it cannot1 defeat4 ,in the ,new ,downing ,street1 discerning what its real functions are1 and with sacred abhorrence putting away from it what its functions are not1 we can fancy changes enough in ,foreign ,office1 ,war ,office1 ,colonial ,office1 ,home ,office6 ,our ,war-soldiers ,industrial1 first of all2 doing nobler than ,roman works1 when fighting is not wanted of them4 ,seventy-fours not hanging idly by their anchors in the ,tagus1 or off ,sapienza 7one of the saddest sights under the sun71 but busy1 every ,seventy-four of them1 carrying over streams of ,british ,industrials to the immeasurable ,britain that lies beyond the sea in every zone of the world4 ,a ,state grounding itself on the veracities1 not on the semblances and the injustices3 every citizen a soldier for it4 ,here would be new real ,secretaryships and ,ministries1 not for foreign war and diplomacy1 but for domestic peace and utility4 ,minister of ,works2 ,minister of ,justice1--clearing his ,model ,prisons of their scoundrelism2 shipping his scoundrels wholly abroad1 under hard and just drill-sergeants 7hundreds of such stand wistfully ready for you1 these thirty years1 in the ,rag-and-,famish ,club and elsewhere67 into fertile desert countries2 to make railways1--one big railway 7says the ,major ,footnote3 ,major ,carmichael ,smith2 see his ,pamphlets on this subject7 quite across ,america2 fit to employ all the able-bodied ,scoundrels and efficient ,half-pay ,officers in ,nature6 ,lastly1--or rather firstly1 and as the preliminary of all1 would there not be a ,minister of ,education8 ,minister charged to get this ,english ,people taught a little1 at his and our peril6 ,minister of ,education2 no longer dolefully embayed amid the wreck of moribund religions1 but clear ahead of all that2 steering1 free and piously fearless1 towards his divine goal under the eternal stars6--,o heaven1 and are these things forever impossible1 then8 ,not a whit4 ,to-morrow morning they might all begin to be1 and go on through blessed centuries realizing themselves1 if it were not that--alas1 if it were not that we are most of us insincere persons1 sham talking-machines and hollow windy fools6 ,which it is not impossible that we should cease to be1 ,i hope8 ,constitutions for the ,colonies are now on the anvil2 the discontented ,colonies are all to be cured of their miseries by ,constitutions4 ,whether that will cure their miseries1 or only operate as a ,godfrey's-cordial to stop their whimpering1 and in the end worsen all their miseries1 may be a sad doubt to us4 ,one thing strikes a remote spectator in these ,colonial questions3 the singular placidity with which the ,british ,statesman at this time1 backed by ,m',croudy and the ,british moneyed classes1 is prepared to surrender whatsoever interest ,britain1 as foundress of those establishments1 might pretend to have in the decision4 ,if you want to go from us1 go2 we by no means want you to stay3 you cost us money yearly1 which is scarce2 desperate quantities of trouble too3 why not go1 if you wish it8 ,such is the humor of the ,british ,statesman1 at this time4--,men clear for rebellion1 annexation as they call it1 walk openly abroad in our ,american ,colonies2 found newspapers1 hold platform palaverings4 ,from ,canada there comes duly by each mail a regular statistic of ,annexationism3 increasing fast in this quarter1 diminishing in that2--,majesty's ,chief ,governor seeming to take it as a perfectly open question2 ,majesty's ,chief ,governor in fact seldom appearing on the scene at all1 except to receive the impact of a few rotten eggs on occasion1 and then duck in again to his private contemplations4 ,and yet one would think the ,majesty's ,chief ,governor ought to have a kind of interest in the thing8 ,public liberty is carried to a great length in some portions of her ,majesty's dominions4 ,but the question1 ,are we to continue subjects of her ,majesty1 or start rebelling against her8 ,so many as are for rebelling1 hold up your hands6 ,here is a public discussion of a very extraordinary nature to be going on under the nose of a ,governor of ,canada4 ,how the ,governor of ,canada1 being a ,british piece of flesh and blood1 and not a ,canadian lumber-log of mere pine and rosin1 can stand it1 is not very conceivable at first view4 ,he does it1 seemingly1 with the stoicism of a ,zeno4 ,it is a constitutional sight like few4 ,and yet an instinct deeper than the ,gospel of ,m',croudy teaches all men that ,colonies are worth something to a country6 ,that if1 under the present ,colonial ,office1 they are a vexation to us and themselves1 some other ,colonial ,office can and must be contrived which shall render them a blessing2 and that the remedy will be to contrive such a ,colonial ,office or method of administration1 and by no means to cut the ,colonies loose4 ,colonies are not to be picked off the street every day2 not a ,colony of them but has been bought dear1 well purchased by the toil and blood of those we have the honor to be sons of2 and we cannot just afford to cut them away because ,m',croudy finds the present management of them cost money4 ,the present management will indeed require to be cut away2--but as for the ,colonies1 we purpose through ,heaven's blessing to retain them a while yet6 ,shame on us for unworthy sons of brave fathers if we do not4 ,brave fathers1 by valiant blood and sweat1 purchased for us1 from the bounty of ,heaven1 rich possessions in all zones2 and we1 wretched imbeciles1 cannot do the function of administering them8 ,and because the accounts do not stand well in the ledger1 our remedy is1 not to take shame to ourselves1 and repent in sackcloth and ashes1 and amend our beggarly imbecilities and insincerities in that as in other departments of our business1 but to fling the business overboard1 and declare the business itself to be bad8 ,we are a hopeful set of heirs to a big fortune6 ,it does not suit our ,manton gunneries1 grouse-shootings1 mousings in the ,city2 and like spirited young gentlemen we will give it up1 and let the attorneys take it8 ,is there no value1 then1 in human things1 but what can write itself down in the cash-ledger8 ,all men know1 and even ,m',croudy in his inarticulate heart knows1 that to men and ,nations there are invaluable values which cannot be sold for money at all4 ,george ,robins is great2 but he is not onmipotent4 ,george ,robins cannot quite sell ,heaven and ,earth by auction1 excellent though he be at the business4 ,nay1 if ,m',croudy offered his own life for sale in ,threadneedle ,street1 would anybody buy it8 ,not ,i1 for one4 ,nobody bids3 pass on to the next lot1 answers ,robins4 ,and yet to ,m',croudy this unsalable lot is worth all the ,universe3--nay1 ,i believe1 to us also it is worth something2 good monitions1 as to several things1 do lie in this ,professor of the dismal science2 and considerable sums even of money1 not to speak of other benefit1 will yet come out of his life and him1 for which nobody bids6 ,robins has his own field where he reigns triumphant2 but to that we will restrict him with iron limits2 and neither ,colonies nor the lives of ,professors1 nor other such invaluable objects shall come under his hammer4 ,bad state of the ledger will demonstrate that your way of dealing with your ,colonies is absurd1 and urgently in want of reform2 but to demonstrate that the ,empire itself must be dismembered to bring the ledger straight8 ,oh never4 ,something else than the ledger must intervene to do that4 ,why does not ,england repudiate ,ireland1 and insist on the ,repeal1 instead of prohibiting it under death-penalties8 ,ireland has never been a paying speculation yet1 nor is it like soon to be6 ,why does not ,middlesex repudiate ,surrey1 and ,chelsea ,kensington1 and each county and each parish1 and in the end each individual set up for himself and his cash-box1 repudiating the other and his1 because their mutual interests have got into an irritating course8 ,they must change the course1 seek till they discover a soothing one2 that is the remedy1 when limbs of the same body come to irritate one another4 ,because the paltry tatter of a garment1 reticulated for you out of thrums and listings in ,downing ,street1 ties foot and hand together in an intolerable manner1 will you relieve yourself by cutting off the hand or the foot8 ,you will cut off the paltry tatter of a pretended body-coat1 ,i think1 and fling that to the nettles2 and imperatively require one that fits your size better4 ,miserabler theory than that of money on the ledger being the primary rule for ,empires1 or for any higher entity than ,city owls and their mice-catching1 cannot well be propounded4 ,and ,i would by no means advise ,felicissimus1 ill at ease on his high-trotting and now justly impatient ,sleswicker1 to let the poor horse in its desperation go in that direction for a momentary solace4 ,if by lumber-log ,governors1 by ,godfrey's cordial ,constitutions or otherwise1 be contrived to cut off the ,colonies or any real right the big ,british ,empire has in her ,colonies1 both he and the ,british ,empire will bitterly repent it one day6 ,the ,sleswicker1 relieved in ledger for a moment1 will find that it is wounded in heart and honor forever2 and the turning of its wild forehoofs upon ,felicissimus as he lies in the ditch combed off1 is not a thing ,i like to think of6 ,britain1 whether it be known to ,felicissimus or not1 has other tasks appointed her in ,god's ,universe than the making of money2 and woe will betide her if she forget those other withal4 ,tasks1 colonial and domestic1 which are of an eternally divine nature1 and compared with which all money1 and all that is procurable by money1 are in strict arithmetic an imponderable quantity1 have been assigned this ,nation2 and they also at last are coming upon her again1 clamorous1 abstruse1 inevitable1 much to her bewilderment just now6 ,this poor ,nation1 painfully dark about said tasks and the way of doing them1 means to keep its ,colonies nevertheless1 as things which somehow or other must have a value1 were it better seen into4 ,they are portions of the general ,earth1 where the children of ,britain now dwell2 where the gods have so far sanctioned their endeavor1 as to say that they have a right to dwell4 ,england will not readily admit that her own children are worth nothing but to be flung out of doors6 ,england looking on her ,colonies can say3 ,here are lands and seas1 spice-lands1 corn-lands1 timber-lands1 overarched by zodiacs and stars1 clasped by many-sounding seas2 wide spaces of the ,maker's building1 fit for the cradle yet of mighty ,nations and their ,sciences and ,heroisms4 ,fertile continents still inhabited by wild beasts are mine1 into which all the distressed populations of ,europe might pour themselves1 and make at once an ,old ,world and a ,new ,world human4 ,by the eternal fiat of the gods1 this must yet one day be2 this1 by all the ,divine ,silences that rule this ,universe1 silent to fools1 eloquent and awful to the hearts of the wise1 is incessantly at this moment1 and at all moments1 commanded to begin to be4 ,unspeakable deliverance1 and new destiny of thousand-fold expanded manfulness for all men1 dawns out of the ,future here4 ,to me has fallen the godlike task of initiating all that3 of me and of my ,colonies1 the abstruse ,future asks1 ,are you wise enough for so sublime a destiny8 ,are you too foolish8 ,that you ask advice of whatever wisdom is to be had in the ,colony1 and even take note of what unwisdom is in it1 and record that too as an existing fact1 will certainly be very advantageous4 ,but ,i suspect the kind of ,parliament that will suit a ,colony is much of a secret just now6 ,mr4 ,wakefield1 a democratic man in all fibres of him1 and acquainted with ,colonial ,socialities as few are1 judges that the franchise for your ,colonial ,parliament should be decidedly select1 and advises a high money-qualification2 as there is in all ,colonies a fluctuating migratory mass1 not destitute of money1 but very much so of loyalty1 permanency1 or civic availability2 whom it is extremely advantageous not to consult on what you are about attempting for the ,colony or ,mother ,country4 ,this ,i can well believe2--and also that a high money-qualification1 in the present sad state of human affairs1 might be some help to you in selecting2 though whether even that would quite certainly bring wisdom1 the one thing indispensable1 is much a question with me4 ,it might help1 it might help6 ,and if by any means you could 7which you cannot7 exclude the ,fourth ,estate1 and indicate decisively that ,wise ,advice was the thing wanted here1 and ,parliamentary ,eloquence was not the thing wanted anywhere just now1--there might really some light of experience and human foresight1 and a truly valuable benefit1 be found for you in such assemblies4 ,and there is one thing1 too apt to be forgotten1 which it much behooves us to remember3 ,in the ,colonies1 as everywhere else in this world1 the vital point is not who decides1 but what is decided on6 ,that measures tending really to the best advantage temporal and spiritual of the ,colony be adopted1 and strenuously put in execution2 there lies the grand interest of every good citizen ,british and ,colonial4 ,such measures1 whosoever have originated and prescribed them1 will gradually be sanctioned by all men and gods2 and clamors of every kind in reference to them may safely to a great extent be neglected1 as clamorous merely1 and sure to be transient4 ,colonial ,governor1 ,colonial ,parliament1 whoever or whatever does an injustice1 or resolves on an unwisdom1 he is the pernicious object1 however parliamentary he be6 ,i have known things done1 in this or the other ,colony1 in the most parliamentary way before now1 which carried written on the brow of them sad symptoms of eternal reprobation2 not to be mistaken1 had you painted an inch thick4 ,in ,montreal1 for example1 at this moment1 standing amid the ruins of the ,elgin ,marbles 7as they call the burnt walls of the ,parliament ,house there71 what rational ,british soul but is forced to institute the mournfulest constitutional reflection8 ,some years ago the ,canadas1 probably not without materials for discontent1 and blown upon by skilful artists1 blazed up into crackling of musketry1 open flame of rebellion2 a thing smacking of the gallows in all countries that pretend to have any ,government4 ,which flame of rebellion1 had there been no loyal population to fling themselves upon it at peril of their life1 might have ended we know not how4 ,it ended speedily1 in the good way2 ,canada got a ,godfrey's-cordial ,constitution2 and for the moment all was varnished into some kind of feasibility again4 ,a most poor feasibility2 momentary1 not lasting1 nor like to be of profit to ,canada6 ,for this year1 the ,canadian most constitutional ,parliament1 such a congeries of persons as one can imagine1 decides that the aforesaid flame of rebellion shall not only be forgotten as per bargain1 but that--the loyal population1 who flung their lives upon it and quenched it in the nick of time1 shall pay the rebels their damages6 ,of this1 ,i believe1 on sadly conclusive evidence1 there is no doubt whatever4 ,such1 when you wash off the constitutional pigments1 is the ,death's-head that discloses itself4 ,i can only say1 if all the ,parliaments in the world were to vote that such a thing was just1 ,i should feel painfully constrained to answer1 at my peril1 ,no1 by the ,eternal1 never6 ,and ,i would recommend any ,british ,governor who might come across that ,business1 there or here1 to overhaul it again4 ,what the meaning of a ,governor1 if he is not to overhaul and control such things1 may be1 ,i cannot conjecture4 ,a ,canadian ,lumber-log may as well be made ,governor4 ,he might have some cast-metal hand or shoulder-crank 7a thing easily contrivable in ,birmingham7 for signing his name to ,acts of the ,colonial ,parliament2 he would be a native of the country too1 with popularity on that score if on no other2--he is your man1 if you really want a ,log ,governor6-- ,i perceive therefore that1 besides choosing ,parliaments never so well1 the ,new ,colonial ,office will have another thing to do3 ,contrive to send out a new kind of ,governors to the ,colonies4 ,this will be the mainspring of the business2 without this the business will not go at all4 ,an experienced1 wise and valiant ,british man1 to represent the ,imperial ,interest2 he1 with such a speaking or silent ,collective ,wisdom as he can gather round him in the ,colony1 will evidently be the condition of all good between the ,mother ,country and it4 ,if you can find such a man1 your point is gained2 if you cannot1 lost4 ,by him and his ,collective ,wisdom all manner of true relations1 mutual interests and duties such as they do exist in fact between ,mother ,country and ,colony1 can be gradually developed into practical methods and results2 and all manner of true and noble successes1 and veracities in the way of governing1 be won4 ,choose well your ,governor2--not from this or that poor section of the ,aristocracy1 military1 naval1 or red-tapist2 wherever there are born kings of men1 you had better seek them out1 and breed them to this work4 ,all sections of the ,british ,population will be open to you3 and1 on the whole1 you must succeed in finding a man fit4 ,and having found him1 ,i would farther recommend you to keep him some time6 ,it would be a great improvement to end this present nomadism of ,colonial ,governors4 ,give your ,governor due power2 and let him know withal that he is wedded to his enterprise1 and having once well learned it1 shall continue with it2 that it is not a ,canadian ,lumber-log you want there1 to tumble upon the vertexes and sign its name by a ,birmingham shoulder-crank1 but a ,governor of ,men2 who1 you mean1 shall fairly gird himself to his enterprise1 and fail with it and conquer with it1 and as it were live and die with it3 he will have much to learn2 and having once learned it1 will stay1 and turn his knowledge to account4 ,from this kind of ,governor1 were you once in the way of finding him with moderate certainty1 from him and his ,collective ,wisdom1 all good whatsoever might be anticipated4 ,and surely1 were the ,colonies once enfranchised from red-tape1 and the poor ,mother ,country once enfranchised from it2 were our idle ,seventy-fours all busy carrying out streams of ,british ,industrials1 and those ,scoundrel ,regiments all working1 under divine drill-sergeants1 at the grand ,atlantic and ,pacific ,junction ,railway1--poor ,britain and her poor ,colonies might find that they had true relations to each other3 that the ,imperial ,mother and her constitutionally obedient ,daughters were not a red-tape fiction1 provoking bitter mockery as at present1 but a blessed ,god's-,fact destined to fill half the world with its fruits one day6 ,but undoubtedly our grand primary concern is the ,home ,office1 and its ,irish ,giant named of ,despair4 ,when the ,home ,office begins dealing with this ,irish ,giant1 which it is vitally urgent for us the ,home ,office should straightway do1 it will find its duties enlarged to a most unexpected extent1 and1 as it were1 altered from top to bottom4 ,a changed time now when the question is1 ,what to do with three millions of paupers 7come upon you for food1 since you have no work for them7 increasing at a frightful rate per day8 ,home ,office1 ,parliament1 ,king1 ,constitution will find that they have now1 if they will continue in this world long1 got a quite immense new question and continually recurring set of questions4 ,that huge question of the ,irish ,giant with his ,scotch and ,english ,giant-,progeny advancing open-mouthed upon us1 will1 as ,i calculate1 change from top to bottom not the ,home ,office only but all manner of ,offices and ,institutions whatsoever1 and gradually the structure of ,society itself4 ,i perceive1 it will make us a new ,society1 if we are to continue a ,society at all4 ,for the alternative is not1 ,stay where we are1 or change8 ,but ,change1 with new wise effort fit for the new time1 to true and wider nobler ,national ,life2 or ,change1 by indolent folding of the arms1 as we are now doing1 in horrible anarchies and convulsions to ,dissolution1 to ,national ,death1 or ,suspended-animation8 ,suspended-animation itself is a frightful possibility for ,britain3 this ,anarchy whither all ,europe has preceded us1 where all ,europe is now weltering1 would suit us as ill as any6 ,the question for the ,british ,nation is3 ,can we work our course pacifically1 on firm land1 into the ,new ,era2 or must it be1 for us too1 as for all the others1 through black abysses of ,anarchy1 hardly escaping1 if we do with all our struggles escape1 the jaws of eternal ,death8 ,for ,pauperism1 though it now absorbs its high figure of millions annually1 is by no means a question of money only1 but of infinitely higher and greater than all conceivable money4 ,if our ,chancellor of the ,exchequer had a ,fortunatus' purse1 and miraculous sacks of ,indian meal that would stand scooping from forever1--,i say1 even on these terms ,pauperism could not be endured2 and it would vitally concern all ,british ,citizens to abate ,pauperism1 and never rest till they had ended it again4 ,pauperism is the general leakage through every joint of the ship that it is rotten4 ,were all men doing their duty1 or even seriously trying to do it1 there would be no ,pauper4 ,were the pretended ,captains of the world at all in the habit of commanding2 were the pretended ,teachers of the world at all in the habit of teaching1--of admonishing said ,captains among others1 and with sacred zeal apprising them to what place such neglect was leading1--how could ,pauperism exist8 ,pauperism would lie far over the horizon2 we should be lamenting and denouncing quite inferior sins of men1 which were only tending afar off towards ,pauperism4 ,a true ,captaincy2 a true ,teachership1 either making all men and ,captains know and devoutly recognize the eternal law of things1 or else breaking its own heart1 and going about with sackcloth round its loins1 in testimony of continual sorrow and protest1 and prophecy of ,god's vengeance upon such a course of things3 either of these divine equipments would have saved us2 and it is because we have neither of them that we are come to such a pass6 ,we may depend upon it1 where there is a ,pauper1 there is a sin2 to make one ,pauper there go many sins4 ,pauperism is our ,social ,sin grown manifest2 developed from the state of a spiritual ignobleness1 a practical impropriety and base oblivion of duty1 to an affair of the ledger4 ,here is not now an unheeded sin against ,god2 here is a concrete ugly bulk of ,beggary demanding that you should buy ,indian meal for it4 ,men of reflection have long looked with a horror for which there was no response in the idle public1 upon ,pauperism2 but the quantity of meal it demands has now awakened men of no reflection to consider it4 ,pauperism is the poisonous dripping from all the sins1 and putrid unveracities and god-forgetting greedinesses and devil-serving cants and jesuitisms1 that exist among us4 ,not one idle ,sham lounging about ,creation upon false pretences1 upon means which he has not earned1 upon theories which he does not practise1 but yields his share of ,pauperism somewhere or other4 ,his sham-work oozes down2 finds at last its issue as human ,pauperism1--in a human being that by those false pretences cannot live4 ,the ,idle ,workhouse1 now about to burst of overfilling1 what is it but the scandalous poison-tank of drainage from the universal ,stygian quagmire of our affairs8 ,workhouse ,paupers2 immortal sons of ,adam rotted into that scandalous condition1 subter-slavish1 demanding that you would make slaves of them as an unattainable blessing6 ,my friends1 ,i perceive the quagmire must be drained1 or we cannot live4 ,and farther1 ,i perceive1 this of ,pauperism is the corner where we must begin1--the levels all pointing thitherward1 the possibilities lying all clearly there4 ,on that ,problem we shall find that innumerable things1 that all things whatsoever hang4 ,by courageous steadfast persistence in that1 ,i can foresee ,society itself regenerated4 ,in the course of long strenuous centuries1 ,i can see the ,state become what it is actually bound to be1 the keystone of a most real ,organization of ,labor1--and on this ,earth a world of some veracity1 and some heroism1 once more worth living in6 ,the ,state in all ,european countries1 and in ,england first of all1 as ,i hope1 will discover that its functions are now1 and have long been1 very wide of what the ,state in old pedant ,downing ,streets has aimed at2 that the ,state is1 for the present1 not a reality but in great part a dramatic speciosity1 expending its strength in practices and objects fallen many of them quite obsolete2 that it must come a little nearer the true aim again1 or it cannot continue in this world4 ,the ,champion of ,england eased in iron or tin1 and able to mount his horse with little assistance1--this ,champion and the thousand-fold cousinry of ,phantasms he has1 nearly all dead now but still walking as ghosts1 must positively take himself away3 who can endure him1 and his solemn trumpetings and obsolete gesticulations1 in a ,time that is full of deadly realities1 coming open-mouthed upon us8 ,at ,drury ,lane1 let him play his part1 him and his thousand-fold cousinry2 and welcome1 so long as any public will pay a shilling to see him3 but on the solid earth1 under the extremely earnest stars1 we dare not palter with him1 or accept his tomfooleries any more4 ,ridiculous they seem to some2 horrible they seem to me3 all lies1 if one look whence they come and whither they go1 are horrible4 ,alas1 it will be found1 ,i doubt1 that in ,england more than in any country1 our ,public ,life and our ,private1 our ,state and our ,religion1 and all that we do and speak 7and the most even of what we think71 is a tissue of half-truths and whole-lies2 of hypocrisies1 conventionalisms1 worn-out traditionary rags and cobwebs2 such a life-garment of beggarly incredible and uncredited falsities as no honest souls of ,adam's ,posterity were ever enveloped in before4 ,and we walk about in it with a stately gesture1 as if it were some priestly stole or imperial mantle2 not the foulest beggar's gabardine that ever was4 ,no ,englishman dare believe the truth1 says one3 he stands1 for these two hundred years1 enveloped in lies of every kind2 from nadir to zenith an ocean of traditionary cant surrounds him as his life-element4 ,he really thinks the truth dangerous4 ,poor wretch1 you see him everywhere endeavoring to temper the truth by taking the falsity along with it1 and welding them together2 this he calls 'safe course1' 'moderate course1' and other fine names2 there1 balanced between ,god and the ,devil1 he thinks he can serve two masters1 and that things will go well with him4 ,in the cotton-spinning and similar departments our ,english friend knows well that truth or ,god will have nothing to do with the ,devil or falsehood1 but will ravel all the web to pieces if you introduce the ,devil or ,non-veracity in any form into it3 in this department1 therefore1 our ,english friend avoids falsehood4 ,but in the religious1 political1 social1 moral1 and all other spiritual departments he freely introduces falsehood1 nothing doubting2 and has long done so1 with a profuseness not elsewhere met with in the world4 ,the unhappy creature1 does he not know1 then1 that every lie is accursed1 and the parent of mere curses8 ,that he must think the truth2 much more speak it8 ,that1 above all things1 by the oldest law of ,heaven and ,earth which no man violates with impunity1 he must not and shall not wag the tongue of him except to utter his thought8 ,that there is not a grin or beautiful acceptable grimace he can execute upon his poor countenance1 but is either an express veracity1 the image of what passes within him2 or else is a bit of ,devil-worship which he and the rest of us will have to pay for yet8 ,alas1 the grins he executes upon his poor mind 7which is all tortured into ,st4 ,vitus dances1 and ghastly merry-andrewisms1 by the practice7 are the most extraordinary this sun ever saw4 ,we have ,puseyisms1 black-and-white surplice controversies3--do not1 officially and otherwise1 the select of the longest heads in ,england sit with intense application and iron gravity1 in open forum1 judging of prevenient grace8 ,not a head of them suspects that it can be improper so to sit1 or of the nature of treason against the ,power who gave an ,intellect to man2--that it can be other than the duty of a good citizen to use his god-given intellect in investigating prevenient grace1 supervenient moonshine1 or the color of the ,bishop's nightmare1 if that happened to turn up4 ,i consider them far ahead of ,cicero's ,roman ,augurs with their chicken-bowels3 ,behold these divine chicken-bowels1 ,o ,senate and ,roman ,people2 the midriff has fallen eastward6 solemnly intimates one ,augur4 ,by ,proserpina and the triple ,hecate6 exclaims the other1 ,i say the midriff has fallen to the west6 ,and they look at one another with the seriousness of men prepared to die in their opinion1--the authentic seriousness of men betting at ,tattersall's1 or about to receive judgment in ,chancery4 ,there is in the ,englishman something great1 beyond all ,roman greatness1 in whatever line you meet him2 even as a ,latter-,day ,augur he seeks his fellow6--,poor devil1 ,i believe it is his intense love of peace1 and hatred of breeding discussions which lead no-whither1 that has led him into this sad practice of amalgamating true and false4 ,he has been at it these two hundred years2 and has now carried it to a terrible length4 ,he couldn't follow ,oliver ,cromwell in the ,puritan path heavenward1 so steep was it1 and beset with thorns1--and becoming uncertain withal4 ,he much preferred1 at that juncture1 to go heavenward with his ,charles ,second and merry ,nell ,gwynns1 and old decent formularies and good respectable aristocratic company1 for escort2 sore he tried1 by glorious restorations1 glorious revolutions and so forth1 to perfect this desirable amalgam2 hoped always it might be possible2--is only just now1 if even now1 beginning to give up the hope2 and to see with wide-eyed horror that it is not at ,heaven he is arriving1 but at the ,stygian marshes1 with their thirty thousand ,needlewomen1 cannibal ,connaughts1 rivers of lamentation1 continual wail of infants1 and the yellow-burning gleam of a ,hell-on-,earth6--,bull1 my friend1 you must strip that astonishing pontiff-stole1 imperial mantle1 or whatever you imagine it to be1 which ,i discern to be a garment of curses1 and poisoned ,nessus'-shirt now at last about to take fire upon you2 you must strip that off your poor body1 my friend2 and1 were it only in a soul's suit of ,utilitarian buff1 and such belief as that a big loaf is better than a small one1 come forth into contact with your world1 under true professions again1 and not false4 ,you wretched man1 you ought to weep for half a century on discovering what lies you have believed1 and what every lie leads to and proceeds from4 ,o my friend1 no honest fellow in this ,planet was ever so served by his cooks before2 or has eaten such quantities and qualities of dirt as you have been made to do1 for these two centuries past4 ,arise1 my horribly maltreated yet still beloved ,bull2 steep yourself in running water for a long while1 my friend2 and begin forthwith in every conceivable direction1 physical and spiritual1 the long-expected ,scavenger ,age4 ,many doctors have you had1 my poor friend2 but ,i perceive it is the ,water-,cure alone that will help you3 a complete course of scavengerism is the thing you need6 ,a new and veritable heart-divorce of ,england from the ,babylonish woman1 who is ,jesuitism and ,unveracity1 and dwells not at ,rome now1 but under your own nose and everywhere2 whom1 and her foul worship of ,phantasms and ,devils1 poor ,england had once divorced1 with a divine heroism not forgotten yet1 and well worth remembering now3 a ,phantasms which have too long nestled thick there1 under those astonishing ,defenders of the ,faith1--,defenders of the ,hypocrisies1 the spiritual ,vampires and obscene ,nightmares1 under which ,england lies in syncope2--this is what you need2 and if you cannot get it1 you must die1 my poor friend6 ,like people1 like priest4 ,priest1 ,king1 ,home ,office1 all manner of establishments and offices among a people bear a striking resemblance to the people itself4 ,it is because ,bull has been eating so much dirt that his ,home ,offices have got into such a shockingly dirty condition1--the old pavements of them quite gone out of sight and out of memory1 and nothing but mountains of long-accumulated dung in which the poor cattle are sprawling and tumbling4 ,had his own life been pure1 had his own daily conduct been grounding itself on the clear pavements or actual beliefs and veracities1 would he have let his ,home ,offices come to such a pass8 ,not in ,downing ,street only1 but in all other thoroughfares and arenas and spiritual or physical departments of his existence1 running water and ,herculean scavengerism have become indispensable1 unless the poor man is to choke in his own exuviae1 and die the sorrowfulest death4 ,if the ,state could once get back to the real sight of its essential function1 and with religious resolution begin doing that1 and putting away its multifarious imaginary functions1 and indignantly casting out these as mere dung and insalubrious horror and abomination 7which they are71 what a promise of reform were there6 ,the ,british ,home ,office1 surely this and its kindred ,offices exist1 if they will think of it1 that life and work may continue possible1 and may not become impossible1 for ,british men4 ,if honorable existence1 or existence on human terms at all1 have become impossible for millions of ,british men1 how can the ,home ,office or any other ,office long exist8 ,with thirty thousand ,needlewomen1 a ,connaught fallen into potential cannibalism1 and the ,idle ,workhouse everywhere bursting1 and declaring itself an inhumanity and stupid ruinous brutality not much longer to be tolerated among rational human creatures1 it is time the ,state were bethinking itself4 ,so soon as the ,state attacks that tremendous cloaca of ,pauperism1 which will choke the world if it be not attacked1 the ,state will find its real functions very different indeed from what it had long supposed them6 ,the ,state is a reality1 and not a dramaturgy2 it exists here to render existence possible1 existence desirable and noble1 for the ,state's subjects4 ,the ,state1 as it gets into the track of its real work1 will find that same expand into whole continents of new unexpected1 most blessed activity2 as its dramatic functions1 declared superfluous1 more and more fall inert1 and go rushing like huge torrents of extinct exuviae1 dung and rubbish1 down to the ,abyss forever4 ,o ,heaven1 to see a ,state that knew a little why it was there1 and on what ground1 in this ,year #ahej1 it could pretend to exist1 in so extremely earnest a world as ours is growing6 ,the ,british ,state1 if it will be the crown and keystone of our ,british ,social ,existence1 must get to recognize1 with a veracity very long unknown to it1 what the real objects and indispensable necessities of our ,social ,existence are4 ,good ,heavens1 it is not prevenient grace1 or the color of the ,bishop's nightmare1 that is pinching us2 it is the impossibility to get along any farther for mountains of accumulated dung and falsity and horror2 the total closing-up of noble aims from every man1--of any aim at all1 from many men1 except that of rotting out in ,idle ,workhouses an existence below that of beasts6 ,suppose the ,state to have fairly started its ,industrial ,regiments of the ,new ,era1 which alas1 are yet only beginning to be talked of1--what continents of new real work opened out1 for the ,home and all other ,public ,offices among us6 ,suppose the ,home ,office looking out1 as for life and salvation1 for proper men to command these ,regiments4 ,suppose the announcement were practically made to all ,british souls that the want of wants1 more indispensable than any jewel in the crown1 was that of men able to command men in ways of industrial and moral well-doing2 that the ,state would give its very life for such men2 that such men were the ,state2 that the quantity of them to be found in ,england lamentably small at present1 was the exact measure of ,england's worth1--what a new dawn of everlasting day for all ,british souls6 ,noble ,british soul1 to whom the gods have given faculty and heroism1 what men call genius1 here at last is a career for thee4 ,it will not be needful now to swear fealty to the ,incredible1 and traitorously cramp thyself into a cowardly canting play-actor in ,god's ,universe2 or1 solemnly forswearing that1 into a mutinous rebel and waste bandit in thy generation3 here is an aim that is clear and credible1 a course fit for a man4 ,no need to become a tormenting and self-tormenting mutineer1 banded with rebellious souls1 if thou wouldst live2 no need to rot in suicidal idleness2 or take to platform preaching1 and writing in ,radical ,newspapers1 to pull asunder the great ,falsity in which thou and all of us are choking4 ,the great ,falsity1 behold it has become1 in the very heart of it1 a great ,truth of ,truths2 and invites thee and all brave men to cooperate with it in transforming all the body and the joints into the noble likeness of that heart6 ,thrice-blessed change4 ,the ,state aims1 once more1 with a true aim2 and has loadstars in the eternal ,heaven4 ,struggle faithfully for it2 noble is this struggle2 thou too1 according to thy faculty1 shalt reap in due time1 if thou faint not4 ,thou shalt have a wise command of men1 thou shalt be wisely commanded by men1--the summary of all blessedness for a social creature here below4 ,the sore struggle1 never to be relaxed1 and not forgiven to any son of man1 is once more a noble one2 glory to the ,highest1 it is now once more a true and noble one1 wherein a man can afford to die6 ,our path is now again ,heavenward4 ,forward1 with steady pace1 with drawn weapons1 and unconquerable hearts1 in the name of ,god that made us all6-- ,wise obedience and wise command1 ,i foresee that the regimenting of ,pauper ,banditti into ,soldiers of ,industry is but the beginning of this blessed process1 which will extend to the topmost heights of our ,society2 and1 in the course of generations1 make us all once more a ,governed ,commonwealth1 and ,civitas ,dei1 if it please ,god6 ,waste-land ,industrials succeeding1 other kinds of ,industry1 as cloth-making1 shoe-making1 plough-making1 spade-making1 house-building1--in the end1 all kinds of ,industry whatsoever1 will be found capable of regimenting4 ,mill-operatives1 all manner of free operatives1 as yet unregimented1 nomadic under private masters1 they1 seeing such example and its blessedness1 will say3 ,masters1 you must regiment us a little2 make our interests with you permanent a little1 instead of temporary and nomadic2 we will enlist with the ,state otherwise6 ,this will go on1 on the one hand1 while the ,state-operation goes on1 on the other3 thus will all ,masters of ,workmen1 private ,captains of ,industry1 be forced to incessantly co-operate with the ,state and its public ,captains2 they regimenting in their way1 the ,state in its way1 with ever-widening field2 till their fields meet 7so to speak7 and coalesce1 and there be no unregimented worker1 or such only as are fit to remain unregimented1 any more4--,o my friends1 ,i clearly perceive this horrible cloaca of ,pauperism1 wearing nearly bottomless now1 is the point where we must begin4 ,here1 in this plainly unendurable portion of the general quagmire1 the lowest point of all1 and hateful even to ,m',croudy1 must our main drain begin3 steadily prosecuting that1 tearing that along with ,herculean labor and divine fidelity1 we shall gradually drain the entire ,stygian swamp1 and make it all once more a fruitful field6 ,for the ,state1 ,i perceive1 looking out with right sacred earnestness for persons able to command1 will straightway also come upon the question3 ,what kind of schools and seminaries1 and teaching and also preaching establishments have ,i1 for the training of young souls to take command and to yield obedience8 ,wise command1 wise obedience3 the capability of these two is the net measure of culture1 and human virtue1 in every man2 all good lies in the possession of these two capabilities2 all evil1 wretchedness and ill-success in the want of these4 ,he is a good man that can command and obey2 he that cannot is a bad4 ,if my teachers and my preachers1 with their seminaries1 high schools and cathedrals1 do train men to these gifts1 the thing they are teaching and preaching must be true2 if they do not1 not true6 ,the ,state1 once brought to its veracities by the thumb-screw in this manner1 what will it think of these same seminaries and cathedrals6 ,i foresee that our ,etons and ,oxfords with their nonsense-verses1 college-logics1 and broken crumbs of mere speech1--which is not even ,english or ,teutonic speech1 but old ,grecian and ,italian speech1 dead and buried and much lying out of our way these two thousand years last past1--will be found a most astonishing seminary for the training of young ,english souls to take command in human ,industries1 and act a valiant part under the sun6 ,the ,state does not want vocables1 but manly wisdoms and virtues3 the ,state1 does it want parliamentary orators1 first of all1 and men capable of writing books8 ,what a rag-fair of extinct monkeries1 high-piled here in the very shrine of our existence1 fit to smite the generations with atrophy and beggarly paralysis1--as we see it do6 ,the ,minister of ,education will not want for work1 ,i think1 in the ,new ,downing ,street6 ,how it will go with ,souls'-,overseers1 and what the new kind will be1 we do not prophesy just now4 ,clear it is1 however1 that the last finish of the ,state's efforts1 in this operation of regimenting1 will be to get the true ,souls'-,overseers set over men's souls1 to regiment1 as the consummate flower of all1 and constitute into some ,sacred ,corporation1 bearing authority and dignity in their generation1 the ,chosen of the ,wise1 of the ,spiritual and ,devout-minded1 the ,reverent who deserve reverence1 who are as the ,salt of the ,earth2--that not till this is done can the ,state consider its edifice to have reached the first story1 to be safe for a moment1 to be other than an arch without the keystones1 and supported hitherto on mere wood4 ,how will this be done8 ,ask not2 let the second or the third generation after this begin to ask6--,alas1 wise men do exist1 born duly into the world in every current generation2 but the getting of them regimented is the highest pitch of human ,polity1 and the feat of all feats in political engineering3--impossible for us1 in this poor age1 as the building of ,st4 ,paul's would be for ,canadian ,beavers1 acquainted only with the architecture of fish-dams1 and with no trowel but their tail4 ,literature1 the strange entity so called1--that indeed is here4 ,if ,literature continue to be the haven of expatriated spiritualisms1 and have its ,johnsons1 ,goethes and true ,archbishops of the ,world1 to show for itself as heretofore1 there may be hope in ,literature4 ,if ,literature dwindle1 as is probable1 into mere merry-andrewism1 windy twaddle1 and feats of spiritual legerdemain1 analogous to rope-dancing1 opera-dancing1 and street-fiddling with a hat carried round for halfpence1 or for guineas1 there will be no hope in ,literature4 ,what if our next set of ,souls'-,overseers were to be silent ones very mainly8--,alas1 alas1 why gaze into the blessed continents and delectable mountains of a ,future based on truth1 while as yet we struggle far down1 nigh suffocated in a slough of lies1 uncertain whether or how we shall be able to climb at all6 ,who will begin the long steep journey with us2 who of living statesmen will snatch the standard1 and say1 like a hero on the forlorn-hope for his country1 ,forward6 ,or is there none2 no one that can and dare8 ,and our lot too1 then1 is ,anarchy by barricade or ballot-box1 and ,social ,death8--,we will not think so4 ,whether ,sir ,robert ,peel will undertake the ,reform of ,downing ,street for us1 or any ,ministry or ,reform farther1 is not known4 ,he1 they say1 is getting old1 does himself recoil from it1 and shudder at it2 which is possible enough4 ,the clubs and coteries appear to have settled that he surely will not2 that this melancholy wriggling seesaw of red-tape ,trojans and ,protectionist ,greeks must continue its course till--what can happen1 my friends1 if this go on continuing8 ,and yet1 perhaps1 ,england has by no means so settled it4 ,quit the clubs and coteries1 you do not hear two rational men speak long together upon politics1 without pointing their inquiries towards this man4 ,a ,minister that will attack the ,augeas ,stable of ,downing ,street1 and begin producing a real ,management1 no longer an imaginary one1 of our affairs2 he1 or else in few years ,chartist ,parliament and the ,deluge come3 that seems the alternative4 ,as ,i read the omens1 there was no man in my time more authentically called to a post of difficulty1 of danger1 and of honor than this man4 ,the enterprise is ready for him1 if he is ready for it4 ,he has but to lift his finger in this enterprise1 and whatsoever is wise and manful in ,england will rally round him4 ,if the faculty and heart for it be in him1 he1 strangely and almost tragically if we look upon his history1 is to have leave to try it2 he now1 at the eleventh hour1 has the opportunity for such a feat in reform as has not1 in these late generations1 been attempted by all our reformers put together4 ,as for ,protectionist jargon1 who in these earnest days would occupy many moments of his time with that8 ,a ,costermonger in this street1 says ,crabbe1 finding lately that his rope of onions1 which he hoped would have brought a shilling1 was to go for only sevenpence henceforth1 burst forth into lamentation1 execration and the most pathetic tears4 ,throwing up the window1 ,i perceived the other costermongers preparing impatiently to pack this one out of their company as a disgrace to it1 if he would not hold his peace and take the market-rate for his onions4 ,i looked better at this ,costermonger4 ,to my astonished imagination1 a star-and-garter dawned upon the dim figure of the man2 and ,i perceived that here was no ,costermonger to be expelled with ignominy1 but a sublime goddess-born ,ducal ,individual1 whom ,i forbear to name at this moment6 ,what an omen2--nay to my astonished imagination1 there dawned still fataler omens4 ,surely1 of all human trades ever heard of1 the trade of ,owning ,land in ,england ought not to bully us for drink--money just now6 ,hansard's ,debates1 continues ,crabbe farther on1 present many inconsistencies of speech2 lamentable unveracities uttered in ,parliament1 by one and indeed by all2 in which sad list ,sir ,robert ,peel stands for his share among others4 ,unveracities not a few were spoken in ,parliament3 in fact1 to one with a sense of what is called ,god's truth1 it seemed all one unveracity1 a talking from the teeth outward1 not as the convictions but as the expediencies and inward astucities directed2 and1 in the sense of ,god's truth1 ,i have heard no true word uttered in ,parliament at all4 ,most lamentable unveracities continually spoken in ,parliament1 by almost every one that had to open his mouth there4 ,but the largest veracity ever done in ,parliament in our time1 as we all know1 was of this man's doing2--and that1 you will find1 is a very considerable item in the calculation6 ,yes1 and ,i believe ,england in her dumb way remembers that too4 ,and the ,traitor ,peel can very well afford to let innumerable ,ducal ,costermongers1 parliamentary ,adventurers1 and lineal representatives of the ,impenitent ,thief1 say all their say about him1 and do all their do4 ,with a virtual ,england at his back1 and an actual eternal sky above him1 there is not much in the total net-amount of that4 ,when the master of the horse rides abroad1 many dogs in the village bark2 but he pursues his journey all the same4 ,no4 ,v4 ,,stump-,,orator4 ,may #a1 #ahej4 ,it lies deep in our habits1 confirmed by all manner of educational and other arrangements for several centuries back1 to consider human talent as best of all evincing itself by the faculty of eloquent speech4 ,our earliest schoolmasters teach us1 as the one gift of culture they have1 the art of spelling and pronouncing1 the rules of correct speech2 rhetorics1 logics follow1 sublime mysteries of grammar1 whereby we may not only speak but write4 ,and onward to the last of our schoolmasters in the highest university1 it is still intrinsically grammar1 under various figures grammar4 ,to speak in various languages1 on various things1 but on all of them to speak1 and appropriately deliver ourselves by tongue or pen1--this is the sublime goal towards which all manner of beneficent preceptors and learned professors1 from the lowest hornbook upwards1 are continually urging and guiding us4 ,preceptor or professor1 looking over his miraculous seedplot1 seminary as he well calls it1 or crop of young human souls1 watches with attentive view one organ of his delightful little seedlings growing to be men1--the tongue4 ,he hopes we shall all get to speak yet1 if it please ,heaven4 ,some of you shall be book-writers1 eloquent review-writers1 and astonish mankind1 my young friends3 others in white neckcloths shall do sermons by ,blair and ,lindley ,murray1 nay by ,jeremy ,taylor and judicious ,hooker1 and be priests to guide men heavenward by skilfully brandished handkerchief and the torch of rhetoric4 ,for others there is ,parliament and the election beer-barrel1 and a course that leads men very high indeed2 these shall shake the senate-house1 the ,morning ,newspapers1 shake the very spheres1 and by dexterous wagging of the tongue disenthrall mankind1 and lead our afflicted country and us on the way we are to go4 ,the way if not where noble deeds are done1 yet where noble words are spoken1--leading us if not to the real ,home of the ,gods1 at least to something which shall more or less deceptively resemble it6 ,so fares it with the son of ,adam1 in these bewildered epochs2 so1 from the first opening of his eyes in this world1 to his last closing of them1 and departure hence4 ,speak1 speak1 oh speak2--if thou have any faculty1 speak it1 or thou diest and it is no faculty6 ,so in universities1 and all manner of dames' and other schools1 of the very highest class as of the very lowest2 and ,society at large1 when we enter there1 confirms with all its brilliant review-articles1 successful publications1 intellectual tea-circles1 literary gazettes1 parliamentary eloquences1 the grand lesson we had4 ,other lesson in fact we have none1 in these times4 ,if there be a human talent1 let it get into the tongue1 and make melody with that organ4 ,the talent that can say nothing for itself1 what is it8 ,nothing2 or a thing that can do mere drudgeries1 and at best make money by railways4 ,all this is deep-rooted in our habits1 in our social1 educational and other arrangements2 and all this1 when we look at it impartially1 is astonishing4 ,directly in the teeth of all this it may be asserted that speaking is by no means the chief faculty a human being can attain to2 that his excellence therein is by no means the best test of his general human excellence1 or availability in this world2 nay that1 unless we look well1 it is liable to become the very worst test ever devised for said availability4 ,the matter extends very far1 down to the very roots of the world1 whither the ,british reader cannot conveniently follow me just now2 but ,i will venture to assert the three following things1 and invite him to consider well what truth he can gradually find in them3-- ,first1 that excellent speech1 even speech really excellent1 is not1 and never was1 the chief test of human faculty1 or the measure of a man's ability1 for any true function whatsoever2 on the contrary1 that excellent silence needed always to accompany excellent speech1 and was and is a much rarer and more difficult gift4 ,secondly1 that really excellent speech--which ,i1 being possessed of the ,hebrew ,bible or ,book1 as well as of other books in my own and foreign languages1 and having occasionally heard a wise man's word among the crowd of unwise1 do almost unspeakably esteem1 as a human gift--is terribly apt to get confounded with its counterfeit1 sham-excellent speech6 ,and furthermore1 that if really excellent human speech is among the best of human things1 then sham-excellent ditto deserves to be ranked with the very worst4 ,false speech1--capable of becoming1 as some one has said1 the falsest and basest of all human things3--put the case1 one were listening to that as to the truest and noblest6 ,which1 little as we are conscious of it1 ,i take to be the sad lot of many excellent souls among us just now4 ,so many as admire parliamentary eloquence1 divine popular literature1 and such like1 are dreadfully liable to it just now3 and whole nations and generations seem as if getting themselves asphyxiaed1 constitutionally into their last sleep1 by means of it just now6 ,for alas1 much as we worship speech on all hands1 here is a third assertion which a man may venture to make1 and invite considerate men to reflect upon3 ,that in these times1 and for several generations back1 there has been1 strictly considered1 no really excellent speech at all1 but sham-excellent merely2 that is to say1 false or quasi-false speech getting itself admired and worshipped1 instead of detested and suppressed4 ,a truly alarming predicament2 and not the less so if we find it a quite pleasant one for the time being1 and welcome the advent of asphyxia1 as we would that of comfortable natural sleep2--as1 in so many senses1 we are doing6 ,surly judges there have been who did not much admire the ,bible of ,modern ,literature1 or anything you could distil from it1 in contrast with the ancient ,bibles2 and found that in the matter of speaking1 our far best excellence1 where that could be obtained1 was excellent silence1 which means endurance and exertion1 and good work with lips closed2 and that our tolerablest speech was of the nature of honest commonplace introduced where indispensable1 which only set up for being brief and true1 and could not be mistaken for excellent4 ,these are hard sayings for many a ,british reader1 unconscious of any damage1 nay joyfully conscious to himself of much profit1 from that side of his possessions4 ,surely on this side1 if on no other1 matters stood not ill with him8 ,the ingenuous arts had softened his manners2 the parliamentary eloquences supplied him with a succedaneum for government1 the popular literatures with the finer sensibilities of the heart3 surely on this windward side of things the ,british reader was not ill off8--,unhappy ,british reader6 ,in fact1 the spiritual detriment we unconsciously suffer1 in every province of our affairs1 from this our prostrate respect to power of speech is incalculable4 ,for indeed it is the natural consummation of an epoch such as ours4 ,given a general insincerity of mind for several generations1 you will certainly find the ,talker established in the place of honor2 and the ,doer1 hidden in the obscure crowd1 with activity lamed1 or working sorrowfully forward on paths unworthy of him4 ,all men are devoutly prostrate1 worshipping the eloquent talker2 and no man knows what a scandalous idol he is4 ,out of whom in the mildest manner1 like comfortable natural rest1 comes mere asphyxia and death everlasting6 ,probably there is not in ,nature a more distracted phantasm than your commonplace eloquent speaker1 as he is found on platforms1 in parliaments1 on ,kentucky stumps1 at tavern-dinners1 in windy1 empty1 insincere times like ours4 ,the excellent ,stump-orator1 as our admiring ,yankee friends define him1 he who in any occurrent set of circumstances can start forth1 mount upon his stump1 his rostrum1 tribune1 place in parliament1 or other ready elevation1 and pour forth from him his appropriate excellent speech1 his interpretation of the said circumstances1 in such manner as poor windy mortals round him shall cry bravo to1--he is not an artist ,i can much admire1 as matters go6 ,alas1 he is in general merely the windiest mortal of them all2 and is admired for being so1 into the bargain4 ,not a windy blockhead there who kept silent but is better off than this excellent stump-orator4 ,better off1 for a great many reasons2 for this reason1 were there no other3 the silent one is not admired2 the silent suspects1 perhaps partly admits1 that he is a kind of blockhead1 from which salutary self-knowledge the excellent stump-orator is debarred4 ,a mouthpiece of ,chaos to poor benighted mortals that lend ear to him as to a voice from ,cosmos1 this excellent stump-orator fills me with amazement4 ,not empty these musical wind-utterances of his2 they are big with prophecy2 they announce1 too audibly to me1 that the end of many things is drawing nigh6 ,let the ,british reader consider it a little2 he too is not a little interested in it4 ,nay he1 and the ,european reader in general1 but he chiefly in these days1 will require to consider it a great deal1--and to take important steps in consequence by and by1 if ,i mistake not4 ,and in the mean while1 sunk as he himself is in that bad element1 and like a jaundiced man struggling to discriminate yellow colors1--he will have to meditate long before he in any measure get the immense meanings of the thing brought home to him2 and discern1 with astonishment1 alarm1 and almost terror and despair1 towards what fatal issues1 in our ,collective ,wisdom and elsewhere1 this notion of talent meaning eloquent speech1 so obstinately entertained this long while1 has been leading us6 ,whosoever shall look well into origins and issues1 will find this of eloquence and the part it now plays in our affairs1 to be one of the gravest phenomena2 and the excellent stump-orator of these days to be not only a ridiculous but still more a highly tragical personage4 ,while the many listen to him1 the few are used to pass rapidly1 with some gust of scornful laughter1 some growl of impatient malediction2 but he deserves from this latter class a much more serious attention4 ,in the old ,ages1 when ,universities and ,schools were first instituted1 this function of the schoolmaster1 to teach mere speaking1 was the natural one4 ,in those healthy times1 guided by silent instincts and the monition of ,nature1 men had from of old been used to teach themselves what it was essential to learn1 by the one sure method of learning anything1 practical apprenticeship to it4 ,this was the rule for all classes2 as it now is the rule1 unluckily1 for only one class4 ,the ,working ,man as yet sought only to know his craft2 and educated himself sufficiently by ploughing and hammering1 under the conditions given1 and in fit relation to the persons given3 a course of education1 then as now and ever1 really opulent in manful culture and instruction to him2 teaching him many solid virtues1 and most indubitably useful knowledges2 developing in him valuable faculties not a few both to do and to endure1--among which the faculty of elaborate grammatical utterance1 seeing he had so little of extraordinary to utter1 or to learn from spoken or written utterances1 was not bargained for2 the grammar of ,nature1 which he learned from his mother1 being still amply sufficient for him4 ,this was1 as it still is1 the grand education of the ,working ,man4 ,as for the ,priest1 though his trade was clearly of a reading and speaking nature1 he knew also in those veracious times that grammar1 if needful1 was by no means the one thing needful1 or the chief thing4 ,by far the chief thing needful1 and indeed the one thing then as now1 was1 ,that there should be in him the feeling and the practice of reverence to ,god and to men2 that in his life's core there should dwell1 spoken or silent1 a ray of pious wisdom fit for illuminating dark human destinies2--not so much that he should possess the art of speech1 as that he should have something to speak6 ,and for that latter requisite the ,priest also trained himself by apprenticeship1 by actual attempt to practise1 by manifold long-continued trial1 of a devout and painful nature1 such as his superiors prescribed to him4 ,this1 when once judged satisfactory1 procured him ordination2 and his grammar-learning1 in the good times of priesthood1 was very much of a parergon with him1 as indeed in all times it is intrinsically quite insignificant in comparison4 ,the young ,noble again1 for whom grammar schoolmasters were first hired and high seminaries founded1 he too without these1 or above and over these1 had from immemorial time been used to learn his business by apprenticeship4 ,the young ,noble1 before the schoolmaster as after him1 went apprentice to some elder noble2 entered himself as page with some distinguished earl or duke2 and here1 serving upwards from step to step1 under wise monition1 learned his chivalries1 his practice of arms and of courtesies1 his baronial duties and manners1 and what it would beseem him to do and to be in the world1--by practical attempt of his own1 and example of one whose life was a daily concrete pattern for him4 ,to such a one1 already filled with intellectual substance1 and possessing what we may call the practical gold-bullion of human culture1 it was an obvious improvement that he should be taught to speak it out of him on occasion2 that he should carry a spiritual banknote producible on demand for what of gold-bullion he had1 not so negotiable otherwise1 stored in the cellars of his mind4 ,a man1 with wisdom1 insight and heroic worth already acquired for him1 naturally demanded of the schoolmaster this one new faculty1 the faculty of uttering in fit words what he had4 ,a valuable superaddition of faculty3--and yet we are to remember it was scarcely a new faculty2 it was but the tangible sign of what other faculties the man had in the silent state3 and many a rugged inarticulate chief of men1 ,i can believe1 was most enviably educated1 who had not a ,book on his premises2 whose signature1 a true sign-manual1 was the stamp of his iron hand duly inked and clapt upon the parchment2 and whose speech in ,parliament1 like the growl of lions1 did indeed convey his meaning1 but would have torn ,lindley ,murray's nerves to pieces6 ,to such a one the schoolmaster adjusted himself very naturally in that manner2 as a man wanted for teaching grammatical utterance2 the thing to utter being already there4 ,the thing to utter1 here was the grand point6 ,and perhaps this is the reason why among earnest nations1 as among the ,romans for example1 the craft of the schoolmaster was held in little regard2 for indeed as mere teacher of grammar1 of ciphering on the abacus and such like1 how did he differ much from the dancing-master or fencing-master1 or deserve much regard8--,such was the rule in the ancient healthy times4 ,can it be doubtful that this is still the rule of human education2 that the human creature needs first of all to be educated not that he may speak1 but that he may have something weighty and valuable to say6 ,if speech is the bank-note of an inward capital of culture1 of insight and noble human worth1 then speech is precious1 and the art of speech shall be honored4 ,but if there is no inward capital2 if speech represent no real culture of the mind1 but an imaginary culture2 no bullion1 but the fatal and now almost hopeless deficit of such8 ,alas1 alas1 said bank-note is then a forged one2 passing freely current in the market2 but bringing damages to the receiver1 to the payer1 and to all the world1 which are in sad truth infallible1 and of amount incalculable4 ,few think of it at present2 but the truth remains forever so4 ,in parliaments and other loud assemblages1 your eloquent talk1 disunited from ,nature and her facts1 is taken as wisdom and the correct image of said facts3 but ,nature well knows what it is1 ,nature will not have it as such1 and will reject your forged note one day1 with huge costs4 ,the foolish traders in the market pass freely1 nothing doubting1 and rejoice in the dexterous execution of the piece3 and so it circulates from hand to hand1 and from class to class2 gravitating ever downwards towards the practical class2 till at last it reaches some poor working hand1 who can pass it no farther1 but must take it to the bank to get bread with it1 and there the answer is1 ,unhappy caitiff1 this note is forged4 ,it does not mean performance and reality1 in parliaments and elsewhere1 for thy behoof2 it means fallacious semblance of performance2 and thou1 poor dupe1 art thrown into the stocks on offering it here6 ,alas1 alas1 looking abroad over ,irish difficulties1 ,mosaic sweating-establishments1 ,french barricades1 and an anarchic ,europe1 is it not as if all the populations of the world were rising or had risen into incendiary madness2--unable longer to endure such an avalanche of forgeries1 and of penalties in consequence1 as had accumulated upon them8 ,the speaker is excellent2 the notes he does are beautiful8 ,beautifully fit for the market1 yes2 he is an excellent artist in his business2--and the more excellent he is1 the more is my desire to lay him by the heels1 and fling him into the treadmill1 that ,i might save the poor sweating tailors1 ,french ,sansculottes1 and ,irish ,sanspotatoes from bearing the smart6 ,for the smart must be borne2 some one must bear it1 as sure as ,god lives4 ,every word of man is either a note or a forged note3--have these eternal skies forgotten to be in earnest1 think you1 because men go grinning like enchanted apes8 ,foolish souls1 this now as of old is the unalterable law of your existence4 ,if you know the truth and do it1 the ,universe itself seconds you1 bears you on to sure victory everywhere3--and1 observe1 to sure defeat everywhere if you do not do the truth4 ,and alas1 if you know only the eloquent fallacious semblance of the truth1 what chance is there of your ever doing it8 ,you will do something very different from it1 ,i think6--,he who well considers1 will find this same art of speech1 as we moderns have it1 to be a truly astonishing product of the ,ages2 and the longer he considers it1 the more astonishing and alarming4 ,i reckon it the saddest of all the curses that now lie heavy on us4 ,with horror and amazement1 one perceives that this much-celebrated art1 so diligently practised in all corners of the world just now1 is the chief destroyer of whatever good is born to us 7softly1 swiftly shutting up all nascent good1 as if under exhausted glass receivers1 there to choke and die72 and the grand parent manufactory of evil to us1--as it were1 the last finishing and varnishing workshop of all the ,devil's ware that circulates under the sun4 ,no ,devil's sham is fit for the market till it have been polished and enamelled here2 this is the general assaying-house for such1 where the artists examine and answer1 ,fit for the market2 not fit6 ,words will not express what mischiefs the misuse of words has done1 and is doing1 in these heavy-laden generations4 ,do you want a man not to practise what he believes1 then encourage him to keep often speaking it in words4 ,every time he speaks it1 the tendency to do it will grow less4 ,his empty speech of what he believes1 will be a weariness and an affliction to the wise man4 ,but do you wish his empty speech of what he believes1 to become farther an insincere speech of what he does not believe8 ,celebrate to him his gift of speech2 assure him that he shall rise in ,parliament by means of it1 and achieve great things without any performance2 that eloquent speech1 whether performed or not1 is admirable4 ,my friends1 eloquent unperformed speech1 in ,parliament or elsewhere1 is horrible6 ,the eloquent man that delivers1 in ,parliament or elsewhere1 a beautiful speech1 and will perform nothing of it1 but leaves it as if already performed1--what can you make of that man8 ,he has enrolled himself among the ,ignes ,fatui and ,children of the ,wind2 means to serve1 as beautifully illuminated ,chinese ,lantern1 in that corps henceforth4 ,i think1 the serviceable thing you could do to that man1 if permissible1 would be a severe one3 ,to clip off a bit of his eloquent tongue by way of penance and warning2 another bit1 if he again spoke without performing2 and so again1 till you had clipt the whole tongue away from him1--and were delivered1 you and he1 from at least one miserable mockery3 ,there1 eloquent friend1 see now in silence if there be any redeeming deed in thee2 of blasphemous wind-eloquence1 at least1 we shall have no more6 ,how many pretty men have gone this road1 escorted by the beautifulest marching music from all the public organs2 and have found at last that it ended--where8 ,it is the broad road1 that leads direct to ,limbo and the ,kingdom of the ,inane4 ,gifted men1 and once valiant nations1 and as it were the whole world with one accord1 are marching thither1 in melodious triumph1 all the drums and hautboys giving out their cheerfulest ,ca-ira4 ,it is the universal humor of the world just now4 ,my friends1 ,i am very sure you will arrive1 unless you halt6-- ,considered as the last finish of education1 or of human culture1 worth and acquirement1 the art of speech is noble1 and even divine2 it is like the kindling of a ,heaven's light to show us what a glorious world exists1 and has perfected itself1 in a man4 ,but if no world exist in the man2 if nothing but continents of empty vapor1 of greedy self-conceits1 common-place hearsays1 and indistinct loomings of a sordid chaos exist in him1 what will be the use of light to show us that8 ,better a thousand times that such a man do not speak2 but keep his empty vapor and his sordid chaos to himself1 hidden to the utmost from all beholders4 ,to look on that1 can be good for no human beholder2 to look away from that1 must be good4 ,and if1 by delusive semblances of rhetoric1 logic1 first-class degrees1 and the aid of elocution-masters and parliamentary reporters1 the poor proprietor of said chaos should be led to persuade himself1 and get others persuaded1--which it is the nature of his sad task to do1 and which1 in certain eras of the world1 it is fatally possible to do1--that this is a cosmos which he owns2 that he1 being so perfect in tongue-exercise and full of college-honors1 is an educated man1 and pearl of great price in his generation2 that round him1 and his parliament emulously listening to him1 as round some divine apple of gold set in a picture of silver1 all the world should gather to adore3 what is likely to become of him and the gathering world8 ,an apple of ,sodom set in the clusters of ,gomorrah3 that1 little as he suspects it1 is the definition of the poor chaotically eloquent man1 with his emulous parliament and miserable adoring world6--,considered as the whole of education1 or human culture1 which it now is in our modern manners2 all apprenticeship except to mere handicraft having fallen obsolete1 and the educated man being with us emphatically and exclusively the man that can speak well with tongue or pen1 and astonish men by the quantities of speech he has heard 7tremendous reader1 walking encyclopaedia1 and such like71--the ,art of ,speech is probably definable in that case as the short summary of all the ,black ,arts put together4 ,but the ,schoolmaster is secondary1 an effect rather than a cause in this matter3 what the ,schoolmaster with his universities shall manage or attempt to teach will be ruled by what the ,society with its practical industries is continually demanding that men should learn4 ,we spoke once of vital lungs for ,society3 and in fact this question always rises as the alpha and omega of social questions1 ,what methods the ,society has of summoning aloft into the high places1 for its help and governance1 the wisdom that is born to it in all places1 and of course is born chiefly in the more populous or lower places8 ,for this1 if you will consider it1 expresses the ultimate available result1 and net sum-total1 of all the efforts1 struggles and confused activities that go on in the ,society2 and determines whether they are true and wise efforts1 certain to be victorious1 or false and foolish1 certain to be futile1 and to fall captive and caitiff4 ,how do men rise in your ,society8 ,in all ,societies1 ,turkey included1 and ,i suppose ,dahomey included1 men do rise2 but the question of questions always is1 ,what kind of men8 ,men of noble gifts1 or men of ignoble8 ,it is the one or the other2 and a life-and-death inquiry which6 ,for in all places and all times1 little as you may heed it1 ,nature most silently but most inexorably demands that it be the one and not the other4 ,and you need not try to palm an ignoble sham upon her1 and call it noble2 for she is a judge4 ,and her penalties1 as quiet as she looks1 are terrible3 amounting to world-earthquakes1 to anarchy and death everlasting2 and admit of no appeal6-- ,surely ,england still flatters herself that she has lungs2 that she can still breathe a little8 ,or is it that the poor creature1 driven into mere blind industrialisms2 and as it were1 gone pearl-diving this long while many fathoms deep1 and tearing up the oyster-beds so as never creature did before1 hardly knows1--so busy in the belly of the oyster chaos1 where is no thought of breathing1--whether she has lungs or not8 ,nations of a robust habit1 and fine deep chest1 can sometimes take in a deal of breath before diving2 and live long1 in the muddy deeps1 without new breath3 but they too come to need it at last1 and will die if they cannot get it6 ,to the gifted soul that is born in ,england1 what is the career1 then1 that will carry him1 amid noble ,olympic dust1 up to the immortal gods8 ,for his country's sake1 that it may not lose the service he was born capable of doing it2 for his own sake1 that his life be not choked and perverted1 and his light from ,heaven be not changed into lightning from the ,other ,place1--it is essential that there be such a career4 ,the country that can offer no career in that case1 is a doomed country2 nay it is already a dead country3 it has secured the ban of ,heaven upon it2 will not have ,heaven's light1 will have the ,other ,place's lightning2 and may consider itself as appointed to expire1 in frightful coughings of street musketry or otherwise1 on a set day1 and to be in the eye of law dead4 ,in no country is there not some career1 inviting to it either the noble ,hero1 or the tough ,greek of the ,lower ,empire3 which of the two do your careers invite8 ,there is no question more important4 ,the kind of careers you offer in countries still living1 determines with perfect exactness the kind of the life that is in them1--whether it is natural blessed life1 or galvanic accursed ditto1 and likewise what degree of strength is in the same4 ,our ,english careers to born genius are twofold4 ,there is the silent or unlearned career of the ,industrialisms1 which are very many among us2 and there is the articulate or learned career of the three professions1 ,medicine1 ,law 7under which we may include ,politics71 and the ,church4 ,your born genius1 therefore1 will first have to ask himself1 ,whether he can hold his tongue or cannot8 ,true1 all human talent1 especially all deep talent1 is a talent to do1 and is intrinsically of silent nature2 inaudible1 like the ,sphere ,harmonies and ,eternal ,melodies1 of which it is an incarnated fraction4 ,all real talent1 ,i fancy1 would much rather1 if it listened only to ,nature's monitions1 express itself in rhythmic facts than in melodious words1 which latter at best1 where they are good for anything1 are only a feeble echo and shadow or foreshadow of the former4 ,but talents differ much in this of power to be silent2 and circumstances1 of position1 opportunity and such like1 modify them still more2--and ,nature's monitions1 oftenest quite drowned in foreign hearsays1 are by no means the only ones listened to in deciding6--,the ,industrialisms are all of silent nature2 and some of them are heroic and eminently human2 others1 again1 we may call unheroic1 not eminently human3 beaverish rather1 but still honest2 some are even vulpine1 altogether inhuman and dishonest4 ,your born genius must make his choice4 ,if a soul is born with divine intelligence1 and has its lips touched with hallowed fire1 in consecration for high enterprises under the sun1 this young soul will find the question asked of him by ,england every hour and moment3 ,canst thou turn thy human intelligence into the beaver sort1 and make honest contrivance1 and accumulation of capital by it8 ,if so1 do it2 and avoid the vulpine kind1 which ,i don't recommend4 ,honest triumphs in engineering and machinery await thee2 scrip awaits thee1 commercial successes1 kingship in the counting-room1 on the stock-exchange2--thou shalt be the envy of surrounding flunkies1 and collect into a heap more gold than a dray-horse can draw4--,gold1 so much gold8 answers the ingenuous soul1 with visions of the envy of surrounding flunkies dawning on him2 and in very many cases decides that he will contract himself into beaverism1 and with such a horse-draught of gold1 emblem of a never-imagined success in beaver heroism1 strike the surrounding flunkies yellow4 ,this is our common course2 this is in some sort open to every creature1 what we call the beaver career2 perhaps more open in ,england1 taking in ,america too1 than it ever was in any country before4 ,and1 truly1 good consequences follow out of it3 who can be blind to them8 ,half of a most excellent and opulent result is realized to us in this way2 baleful only when it sets up 7as too often now7 for being the whole result4 ,a half-result which will be blessed and heavenly so soon as the other half is had1--namely wisdom to guide the first half4 ,let us honor all honest human power of contrivance in its degree4 ,the beaver intellect1 so long as it steadfastly refuses to be vulpine1 and answers the tempter pointing out short routes to it with an honest ,no1 no1 is truly respectable to me2 and many a highflying speaker and singer whom ,i have known1 has appeared to me much less of a developed man than certain of my mill-owning1 agricultural1 commercial1 mechanical1 or otherwise industrial friends1 who have held their peace all their days and gone on in the silent state4 ,if a man can keep his intellect silent1 and make it even into honest beaverism1 several very manful moralities1 in danger of wreck on other courses1 may comport well with that1 and give it a genuine and partly human character2 and ,i will tell him1 in these days he may do far worse with himself and his intellect than change it into beaverism1 and make honest money with it4 ,if indeed he could become a heroic industrial1 and have a life eminently human6 ,but that is not easy at present4 ,probably some ninety-nine out of every hundred of our gifted souls1 who have to seek a career for themselves1 go this beaver road4 ,whereby the first half-result1 national wealth namely1 is plentifully realized2 and only the second half1 or wisdom to guide it1 is dreadfully behindhand4 ,but now if the gifted soul be not of taciturn nature1 be of vivid1 impatient1 rapidly productive nature1 and aspire much to give itself sensible utterance1--,i find that1 in this case1 the field it has in ,england is narrow to an extreme2 is perhaps narrower than ever offered itself1 for the like object1 in this world before4 ,parliament1 ,church1 ,law3 let the young vivid soul turn whither he will for a career1 he finds among variable conditions one condition invariable1 and extremely surprising1 ,that the proof of excellence is to be done by the tongue4 ,for heroism that will not speak1 but only act1 there is no account kept3--,the ,english ,nation does not need that silent kind1 then1 but only the talking kind8 ,most astonishing4 ,of all the organs a man has1 there is none held in account1 it would appear1 but the tongue he uses for talking4 ,premiership1 woolsack1 mitre1 and quasi-crown3 all is attainable if you can talk with due ability4 ,everywhere your proof-shot is to be a well-fired volley of talk4 ,contrive to talk well1 you will get to ,heaven1 the modern ,heaven of the ,english4 ,do not talk well1 only work well1 and heroically hold your peace1 you have no chance whatever to get thither2 with your utmost industry you may get to ,threadneedle ,street1 and accumulate more gold than a dray-horse can draw4 ,is not this a very wonderful arrangement8 ,i have heard of races done by mortals tied in sacks2 of human competitors1 high aspirants1 climbing heavenward on the soaped pole2 seizing the soaped pig2 and clutching with cleft fist1 at full gallop1 the fated goose tied aloft by its foot2--which feats do prove agility1 toughness and other useful faculties in man3 but this of dexterous talk is probably as strange a competition as any4 ,and the question rises1 ,whether certain of these other feats1 or perhaps an alternation of all of them1 relieved now and then by a bout of grinning through the collar1 might not be profitably substituted for the solitary proof-feat of talk1 now getting rather monotonous by its long continuance8 ,alas1 ,mr4 ,bull1 ,i do find it is all little other than a proof of toughness1 which is a quality ,i respect1 with more or less expenditure of falsity and astucity superadded1 which ,i entirely condemn4 ,toughness plus astucity3--perhaps a simple wooden mast set up in ,palace-,yard1 well soaped and duly presided over1 might be the honester method8 ,such a method as this by trial of talk1 for filling your chief offices in ,church and ,state1 was perhaps never heard of in the solar system before4 ,you are quite used to it1 my poor friend2 and nearly dead by the consequences of it3 but in the other ,planets1 as in other epochs of your own ,planet it would have done had you proposed it1 the thing awakens incredulous amazement1 world-wide ,olympic laughter1 which ends in tempestuous hootings1 in tears and horror6 ,my friend1 if you can1 as heretofore this good while1 find nobody to take care of your affairs but the expertest talker1 it is all over with your affairs and you4 ,talk never yet could guide any man's or nation's affairs2 nor will it yours1 except towards the ,limbus ,patrum1 where all talk1 except a very select kind of it1 lodges at last4 ,medicine1 guarded too by preliminary impediments1 and frightful medusa-heads of quackery1 which deter many generous souls from entering1 is of the half-articulate professions1 and does not much invite the ardent kinds of ambition4 ,the intellect required for medicine might be wholly human1 and indeed should by all rules be1--the profession of the ,human ,healer being radically a sacred one and connected with the highest priesthoods1 or rather being itself the outcome and acme of all priesthoods1 and divinest conquests of intellect here below4 ,as will appear one day1 when men take off their old monastic and ecclesiastic spectacles1 and look with eyes again6 ,in essence the ,physician's task is always heroic1 eminently human3 but in practice most unluckily at present we find it too become in good part beaverish2 yielding a money-result alone4 ,and what of it is not beaverish1--does not that too go mainly to ingenious talking1 publishing of yourself1 ingratiating of yourself2 a partly human exercise or waste of intellect1 and alas a partly vulpine ditto2--making the once sacred ,gr4 ',iatros1 or ,human ,healer1 more impossible for us than ever6 ,angry basilisks watch at the gates of ,law and ,church just now2 and strike a sad damp into the nobler of the young aspirants4 ,hard bonds are offered you to sign2 as it were1 a solemn engagement to constitute yourself an impostor1 before ever entering2 to declare your belief in incredibilities1--your determination1 in short1 to take ,chaos for ,cosmos1 and ,satan for the ,lord of things1 if he come with money in his pockets1 and horsehair and bombazine decently wrapt about him4 ,fatal preliminaries1 which deter many an ingenuous young soul1 and send him back from the threshold1 and ,i hope will deter ever more4 ,but if you do enter1 the condition is well known3 ,talk2 who can talk best here8 ,his shall be the mouth of gold1 and the purse of gold2 and with my ,gr4 mitra 7once the head-dress of unfortunate females1 ,i am told7 shall his sacred temples be begirt4 ,ingenuous souls1 unless forced to it1 do now much shudder at the threshold of both these careers1 and not a few desperately turn back into the wilderness rather1 to front a very rude fortune1 and be devoured by wild beasts as is likeliest4 ,but as to ,parliament1 again1 and its eligibility if attainable1 there is yet no question anywhere2 the ingenuous soul1 if possessed of money-capital enough1 is predestined by the parental and all manner of monitors to that career of talk2 and accepts it with alacrity and clearness of heart1 doubtful only whether he shall be able to make a speech4 ,courage1 my brave young fellow4 ,if you can climb a soaped pole of any kind1 you will certainly be able to make a speech4 ,all mortals have a tongue2 and carry on some jumble1 if not of thought1 yet of stuff which they could talk4 ,the weakest of animals has got a cry in it1 and can give voice before dying4 ,if you are tough enough1 bent upon it desperately enough1 ,i engage you shall make a speech2--but whether that will be the way to ,heaven for you1 ,i do not engage4 ,these1 then1 are our two careers for genius3 mute ,industrialism1 which can seldom become very human1 but remains beaverish mainly3 and the three ,professions named learned1--that is to say1 able to talk4 ,for the heroic or higher kinds of human intellect1 in the silent state1 there is not the smallest inquiry anywhere2 apparently a thing not wanted in this country at present4 ,what the supply may be1 ,i cannot inform ,m',croudy2 but the market-demand1 he may himself see1 is nil4 ,these are our three professions that require human intellect in part or whole1 not able to do with mere beaverish2 and such a part does the gift of talk play in one and all of them4 ,whatsoever is not beaverish seems to go forth in the shape of talk4 ,to such length is human intellect wasted or suppressed in this world6 ,if the young aspirant is not rich enough for ,parliament1 and is deterred by the basilisks or otherwise from entering on ,law or ,church1 and cannot altogether reduce his human intellect to the beaverish condition1 or satisfy himself with the prospect of making money1--what becomes of him in such case1 which is naturally the case of very many1 and ever of more8 ,in such case there remains but one outlet for him1 and notably enough that too is a talking one3 the outlet of ,literature1 of trying to write ,books4 ,since1 owing to preliminary basilisks1 want of cash1 or superiority to cash1 he cannot mount aloft by eloquent talking1 let him try it by dexterous eloquent writing4 ,here happily1 having three fingers1 and capital to buy a quire of paper1 he can try it to all lengths and in spite of all mortals3 in this career there is happily no public impediment that can turn him back2 nothing but private starvation--which is itself a finis or kind of goal--can pretend to hinder a ,british man from prosecuting ,literature to the very utmost1 and wringing the final secret from her3 ,a talent is in thee2 ,no talent is in thee4 ,to the ,british subject who fancies genius may be lodged in him1 this liberty remains2 and truly it is1 if well computed1 almost the only one he has4 ,a crowded portal this of ,literature1 accordingly6 ,the haven of expatriated spiritualisms1 and alas also of expatriated vanities and prurient imbecilities3 here do the windy aspirations1 foiled activities1 foolish ambitions1 and frustrate human energies reduced to the vocable condition1 fly as to the one refuge left2 and the ,republic of ,letters increases in population at a faster rate than even the ,republic of ,america4 ,the strangest regiment in her ,majesty's service1 this of the ,soldiers of ,literature3--would your ,lordship much like to march through ,coventry with them8 ,the immortal gods are there 7quite irrecognizable under these disguises71 and also the lowest broken valets2--an extremely miscellaneous regiment4 ,in fact the regiment1 superficially viewed1 looks like an immeasurable motley flood of discharged play-actors1 funambulists1 false prophets1 drunken ballad-singers2 and marches not as a regiment1 but as a boundless canaille1--without drill1 uniform1 captaincy or billet2 with huge over-proportion of drummers2 you would say1 a regiment gone wholly to the drum1 with hardly a good musket to be seen in it1--more a canaille than a regiment4 ,canaille of all the loud-sounding levities1 and general winnowings of ,chaos1 marching through the world in a most ominous manner2 proclaiming1 audibly if you have ears3 ,twelfth hour of the ,night2 ancient graves yawning2 pale clammy ,puseyisms screeching in their winding-sheets2 owls busy in the ,city regions2 many goblins abroad6 ,awake ye living2 dream no more2 arise to judgment6 ,chaos and ,gehenna are broken loose2 the ,devil with his ,bedlams must be flung in chains again1 and the ,last of the ,days is about to dawn6 ,such is ,literature to the reflective soul at this moment4 ,but what now concerns us most is the circumstance that here too the demand is1 ,vocables1 still vocables4 ,in all appointed courses of activity and paved careers for human genius1 and in this unpaved1 unappointed1 broadest career of ,literature1 broad way that leadeth to destruction for so many1 the one duty laid upon you is still1 ,talk1 talk4 ,talk well with pen or tongue1 and it shall be well with you2 do not talk well1 it shall be ill with you4 ,to wag the tongue with dexterous acceptability1 there is for human worth and faculty1 in our ,england of the ,nineteenth ,century1 that one method of emergence and no other4 ,silence1 you would say1 means annihilation for the ,englishman of the ,nineteenth ,century4 ,the worth that has not spoken itself1 is not2 or is potentially only1 and as if it were not4 ,vox is the ,god of this ,universe4 ,if you have human intellect1 it avails nothing unless you either make it into beaverism1 or talk with it4 ,make it into beaverism1 and gather money2 or else make talk with it1 and gather what you can4 ,such is everywhere the demand for talk among us3 to which1 of course1 the supply is proportionate4 ,from dinners up to woolsacks and divine mitres1 here in ,england1 much may be gathered by talk2 without talk1 of the human sort nothing4 ,is ,society become wholly a bag of wind1 then1 ballasted by guineas8 ,are our interests in it as a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal8--,in ,army or ,navy1 when unhappily we have war on hand1 there is1 almost against our will1 some kind of demand for certain of the silent talents4 ,but in peace1 that too passes into mere demand of the ostentations1 of the pipeclays and the blank cartridges2 and1--except that ,naval men are occasionally1 on long voyages1 forced to hold their tongue1 and converse with the dumb elements1 and illimitable oceans1 that moan and rave there without you and within you1 which is a great advantage to the ,naval man1--our poor ,united ,services have to make conversational windbags and ostentational paper-lanterns of themselves1 or do worse1 even as the others4 ,my friends1 must ,i assert1 then1 what surely all men know1 though all men seem to have forgotten it1 ,that in the learned professions as in the unlearned1 and in human things throughout1 in every place and in every time1 the true function of intellect is not that of talking1 but of understanding and discerning with a view to performing6 ,an intellect may easily talk too much1 and perform too little4 ,gradually1 if it get into the noxious habit of talk1 there will less and less performance come of it1 talk being so delightfully handy in comparison with work2 and at last there will no work1 or thought of work1 be got from it at all4 ,talk1 except as the preparation for work1 is worth almost nothing2--sometimes it is worth infinitely less than nothing2 and becomes1 little conscious of playing such a fatal part1 the general summary of pretentious nothingnesses1 and the chief of all the curses the ,posterity of ,adam are liable to in this sublunary world6 ,would you discover the ,atropos of ,human ,virtue2 the sure ,destroyer1 by painless extinction1 of ,human ,veracities1 ,performances1 and ,capabilities to perform or to be veracious1--it is this1 you have it here4 ,unwise talk is matchless in unwisdom4 ,unwise work1 if it but persist1 is everywhere struggling towards correction1 and restoration to health2 for it is still in contact with ,nature1 and all ,nature incessantly contradicts it1 and will heal it or annihilate it3 not so with unwise talk1 which addresses itself1 regardless of veridical ,nature1 to the universal suffrages2 and can if it be dexterous1 find harbor there till all the suffrages are bankrupt and gone to ,houndsditch1 ,nature not interfering with her protest till then4 ,false speech1 definable as the acme of unwise speech1 is capable1 as we already said1 of becoming the falsest of all things4 ,falsest of all things3--and whither will the general deluge of that1 in ,parliament and ,synagogue1 in ,book and ,broadside1 carry you and your affairs1 my friend1 when once they are embarked on it as now8 ,parliament1 ,parliamentum1 is by express appointment the ,talking ,apparatus2 yet not in ,parliament either is the essential function1 by any means1 talk4 ,not to speak your opinion well1 but to have a good and just opinion worth speaking1--for every ,parliament1 as for every man1 this latter is the point4 ,contrive to have a true opinion1 you will get it told in some way1 better or worse2 and it will be a blessing to all creatures4 ,have a false opinion1 and tell it with the tongue of ,angels1 what can that profit8 ,the better you tell it1 the worse it will be6 ,in ,parliament and out of ,parliament1 and everywhere in this ,universe1 your one salvation is1 ,that you can discern with just insight1 and follow with noble valor1 what the law of the case before you is1 what the appointment of the ,maker in regard to it has been4 ,get this out of one man1 you are saved2 fail to get this out of the most ,august ,parliament wrapt in the sheepskins of a thousand years1 you are lost1--your ,parliament1 and you1 and all your sheepskins are lost4 ,beautiful talk is by no means the most pressing want in ,parliament6 ,we have had some reasonable modicum of talk in ,parliament6 ,what talk has done for us in ,parliament1 and is now doing1 the dullest of us at length begins to see6 ,much has been said of ,parliament's breeding men to business2 of the training an ,official ,man gets in this school of argument and talk4 ,he is here inured to patience1 tolerance2 sees what is what in the ,nation and in the ,nation's ,government attains official knowledge1 official courtesy and manners--in short1 is polished at all points into official articulation1 and here better than elsewhere qualifies himself to be a ,governor of men4 ,so it is said4--,doubtless1 ,i think1 he will see and suffer much in ,parliament1 and inure himself to several things2--he will1 with what eyes he has1 gradually see ,parliament itself1 for one thing2 what a high-soaring1 helplessly floundering1 ever-babbling yet inarticulate dark dumb ,entity it is 7certainly one of the strangest under the sun just now73 which doubtless1 if he have in view to get measures voted there one day1 will be an important acquisition for him4 ,but as to breeding himself for a ,doer of ,work1 much more for a ,king1 or ,chief of ,doers1 here in this element of talk2 as to that ,i confess the fatalest doubts1 or rather1 alas1 ,i have no doubt6 ,alas1 it is our fatalest misery just now1 not easily alterable1 and yet urgently requiring to be altered1 ,that no ,british man can attain to be a ,statesman1 or ,chief of ,workers1 till he has first proved himself a ,chief of ,talkers3 which mode of trial for a ,worker1 is it not precisely1 of all the trials you could set him upon1 the falsest and unfairest8 ,nay1 ,i doubt much you are not likely ever to meet the fittest material for a ,statesman1 or ,chief of ,workers1 in such an element as that4 ,your ,potential ,chief of ,workers1 will he come there at all1 to try whether he can talk8 ,your poor tenpound franchisers and electoral world generally1 in love with eloquent talk1 are they the likeliest to discern what man it is that has worlds of silent work in him8 ,no4 ,or is such a man1 even if born in the due rank for it1 the likeliest to present himself1 and court their most sweet voices8 ,again1 no4 ,the ,age that admires talk so much can have little discernment for inarticulate work1 or for anything that is deep and genuine4 ,nobody1 or hardly anybody1 having in himself an earnest sense for truth1 how can anybody recognize an inarticulate ,veracity1 or ,nature-fact of any kind2 a ,human ,doer especially1 who is the most complex1 profound1 and inarticulate of all ,nature's ,facts8 ,nobody can recognize him3 till once he is patented1 get some public stamp of authenticity1 and has been articulately proclaimed1 and asserted to be a ,doer4 ,to the worshipper of talk1 such a one is a sealed book4 ,an excellent human soul1 direct from ,heaven1--how shall any excellence of man become recognizable to this unfortunate8 ,not except by announcing and placarding itself as excellent1--which1 ,i reckon1 it above other things will probably be in no great haste to do4 ,wisdom1 the divine message which every soul of man brings into this world2 the divine prophecy of what the new man has got the new and peculiar capability to do1 is intrinsically of silent nature4 ,it cannot at once1 or completely at all1 be read off in words2 for it is written in abstruse facts1 of endowment1 position1 desire1 opportunity1 granted to the man2--interprets itself in presentiments1 vague struggles1 passionate endeavors and is only legible in whole when his work is done4 ,not by the noble monitions of ,nature1 but by the ignoble1 is a man much tempted to publish the secret of his soul in words4 ,words1 if he have a secret1 will be forever inadequate to it4 ,words do but disturb the real answer of fact which could be given to it2 disturb1 obstruct1 and will in the end abolish1 and render impossible1 said answer4 ,no grand ,doer in this world can be a copious speaker about his doings4 ,william the ,silent spoke himself best in a country liberated2 ,oliver ,cromwell did not shine in rhetoric2 ,goethe1 when he had but a book in view1 found that he must say nothing even of that1 if it was to succeed with him4 ,then as to politeness1 and breeding to business4 ,an official man must be bred to business2 of course he must3 and not for essence only1 but even for the manners of office he requires breeding4 ,besides his intrinsic faculty1 whatever that may be1 he must be cautious1 vigilant1 discreet1--above all things1 he must be reticent1 patient1 polite4 ,certain of these qualities are by nature imposed upon men of station2 and they are trained from birth to some exercise of them3 this constitutes their one intrinsic qualification for office2--this is their one advantage in the ,new ,downing ,street projected for this ,new ,era2 and it will not go for much in that ,institution4 ,one advantage1 or temporary advantage2 against which there are so many counterbalances4 ,it is the indispensable preliminary for office1 but by no means the complete outfit1--a miserable outfit where there is nothing farther4 ,will your ,lordship give me leave to say that1 practically1 the intrinsic qualities will presuppose these preliminaries too1 but by no means vice versa4 ,that1 on the whole1 if you have got the intrinsic qualities1 you have got everything1 and the preliminaries will prove attainable2 but that if you have got only the preliminaries1 you have yet got nothing4 ,a man of real dignity will not find it impossible to bear himself in a dignified manner2 a man of real understanding and insight will get to know1 as the fruit of his very first study1 what the laws of his situation are1 and will conform to these4 ,rough old ,samuel ,johnson1 blustering ,boreas and rugged ,arctic ,bear as he often was1 defined himself1 justly withal1 as a polite man3 a noble manful attitude of soul is his2 a clear1 true and loyal sense of what others are1 and what he himself is1 shines through the rugged coating of him2 comes out as grave deep rhythmus when his ,king honors him1 and he will not bandy compliments with his ,king2--is traceable too in his indignant trampling down of the ,chesterfield patronages1 tailor-made insolences1 and contradictions of sinners2 which may be called his revolutionary movements1 hard and peremptory by the law of them2 these could not be soft like his constitutional ones1 when men and kings took him for somewhat like the thing he was4 ,given a noble man1 ,i think your ,lordship may expect by and by a polite man4 ,no politer man was to be found in ,britain than the rustic ,robert ,burns3 high duchesses were captivated with the chivalrous ways of the man2 recognized that here was the true chivalry1 and divine nobleness of bearing1--as indeed they well might1 now when the ,peasant ,god and ,norse ,thor had come down among them again6 ,chivalry this1 if not as they do chivalry in ,drury ,lane or ,west-,end drawing-rooms1 yet as they do it in ,valhalla and the ,general ,assembly of the ,gods4 ,for indeed1 who invented chivalry1 politeness1 or anything that is noble and melodious and beautiful among us1 except precisely the like of ,johnson and of ,burns8 ,the select few who in the generations of this world were wise and valiant1 they1 in spite of all the tremendous majority of blockheads and slothful belly-worshippers1 and noisy ugly persons1 have devised whatsoever is noble in the manners of man to man4 ,i expect they will learn to be polite1 your ,lordship1 when you give them a chance6--,nor is it as a school of human culture1 for this or for any other grace or gift1 that ,parliament will be found first-rate or indispensable4 ,as experience in the river is indispensable to the ferryman1 so is knowledge of his ,parliament to the ,british ,peel or ,chatham2--so was knowledge of the ,o,eil-de-,boeuf to the ,french ,choiseul4 ,where and how said river1 whether ,parliament with ,wilkeses1 or ,o,eil-de-,boeuf with ,pompadours1 can be waded1 boated1 swum2 how the miscellaneous cargoes1 measures so called1 can be got across it1 according to their kinds1 and landed alive on the hither side as facts3--we have all of us our ferries in this world2 and must know the river and its ways1 or get drowned some day6 ,in that sense1 practice in ,parliament is indispensable to the ,british ,statesman2 but not in any other sense4 ,a school1 too1 of manners and of several other things1 the ,parliament will doubtless be to the aspirant ,statesman2 a school better or worse2--as the ,o,eil-de-,boeuf likewise was1 and as all scenes where men work or live are sure to be4 ,especially where many men work together1 the very rubbing against one another will grind and polish off their angularities into roundness1 into politeness after a sort2 and the official man1 place him how you may1 will never want for schooling1 of extremely various kinds4 ,a first-rate school one cannot call this ,parliament for him2--,i fear to say what rate at present6 ,in so far as it teaches him vigilance1 patience1 courage1 toughness of lungs or of soul1 and skill in any kind of swimming1 it is a good school4 ,in so far as it forces him to speak where ,nature orders silence2 and even1 lest all the world should learn his secret 7which often enough would kill his secret1 and little profit the world71 forces him to speak falsities1 vague ambiguities1 and the froth-dialect usual in ,parliaments in these times1 it may be considered one of the worst schools ever devised by man2 and1 ,i think1 may almost challenge the ,o,eil-de-,boeuf to match it in badness4 ,parliament will train your men to the manners required of a statesman2 but in a much less degree to the intrinsic functions of one4 ,to these latter1 it is capable of mistraining as nothing else can4 ,parliament will train you to talk2 and above all things to hear1 with patience1 unlimited quantities of foolish talk4 ,to tell a good story for yourself1 and to make it appear that you have done your work3 this1 especially in constitutional countries1 is something2--and yet in all countries1 constitutional ones too1 it is intrinsically nothing1 probably even less4 ,for it is not the function of any mortal1 in ,downing ,street or elsewhere here below1 to wag the tongue of him1 and make it appear that he has done work2 but to wag some quite other organs of him1 and to do work2 there is no danger of his work's appearing by and by4 ,such an accomplishment1 even in constitutional countries1 ,i grieve to say1 may become much less than nothing4 ,have you at all computed how much less8 ,the human creature who has once given way to satisfying himself with appearances1 to seeking his salvation in appearances1 the moral life of such human creature is rapidly bleeding out of him4 ,depend upon it1 ,beelzebub1 ,satan1 or however you may name the too authentic ,genius of ,eternal ,death1 has got that human creature in his claws4 ,by and by you will have a dead parliamentary bagpipe1 and your living man fled away without return6 ,such parliamentary bagpipes ,i myself have heard play tunes1 much to the satisfaction of the people4 ,every tune lies within their compass2 and their mind 7for they still call it mind7 is ready as a hurdy-gurdy on turning of the handle3 ,my ,lords1 this question now before the ,house--,ye ,heavens1 ,o ye divine ,silences1 was there in the womb of ,chaos1 then1 such a product1 liable to be evoked by human art1 as that same8 ,while the galleries were all applausive of heart1 and the ,fourth ,estate looked with eyes enlightened1 as if you had touched its lips with a staff dipped in honey1--,i have sat with reflections too ghastly to be uttered4 ,a poor human creature and learned friend1 once possessed of many fine gifts1 possessed of intellect1 veracity1 and manful conviction on a variety of objects1 has he now lost all that2--converted all that into a glistering phosphorescence which can show itself on the outside2 while within1 all is dead1 chaotic1 dark2 a painted sepulchre full of dead-men's bones6 ,discernment1 knowledge1 intellect1 in the human sense of the words1 this man has now none4 ,his opinion you do not ask on any matter3 on the matter he has no opinion1 judgment1 or insight2 only on what may be said about the matter1 how it may be argued of1 what tune may be played upon it to enlighten the eyes of the ,fourth ,estate4 ,such a soul1 though to the eye he still keeps tumbling about in the ,parliamentary element1 and makes motions1 and passes bills1 for aught ,i know1--are we to define him as a living one1 or as a dead8 ,partridge the ,almanac-,maker1 whose ,publications still regularly appear1 is known to be dead6 ,the dog that was drowned last summer1 and that floats up and down the ,thames with ebb and flood ever since1--is it not dead8 ,alas1 in the hot months1 you meet here and there such a floating dog2 and at length1 if you often use the river steamers1 get to know him by sight4 ,there he is again1 still astir there in his quasi-stygian element6 you dejectedly exclaim 7perhaps reading your ,morning ,newspaper at the moment72 and reflect1 with a painful oppression of nose and imagination1 on certain completed professors of parliamentary eloquence in modern times4 ,dead long since1 but not resting2 daily doing motions in that ,westminster region still1--daily from ,vauxhall to ,blackfriars1 and back again2 and cannot get away at all6 ,daily 7from ,newspaper or river steamer7 you may see him at some point of his fated course1 hovering in the eddies1 stranded in the ooze1 or rapidly progressing with flood or ebb2 and daily the odor of him is getting more intolerable3 daily the condition of him appeals more tragically to gods and men4 ,nature admits no lie2 most men profess to be aware of this1 but few in any measure lay it to heart4 ,except in the departments of mere material manipulation1 it seems to be taken practically as if this grand truth were merely a polite flourish of rhetoric4 ,what is a lie8 ,the question is worth asking1 once and away1 by the practical ,english mind4 ,a voluntary spoken divergence from the fact as it stands1 as it has occurred and will proceed to develop itself3 this clearly1 if adopted by any man1 will so far forth mislead him in all practical dealing with the fact2 till he cast that statement out of him1 and reject it as an unclean poisonous thing1 he can have no success in dealing with the fact4 ,if such spoken divergence from the truth be involuntary1 we lament it as a misfortune2 and are entitled1 at least the speaker of it is1 to lament it extremely as the most palpable of all misfortunes1 as the indubitablest losing of his way1 and turning aside from the goal instead of pressing towards it1 in the race set before him4 ,if the divergence is voluntary1--there superadds itself to our sorrow a just indignation3 we call the voluntary spoken divergence a lie1 and justly abhor it as the essence of human treason and baseness1 the desertion of a man to the ,enemy of men against himself and his brethren4 ,a lost deserter2 who has gone over to the ,enemy1 called ,satan2 and cannot but be lost in the adventure6 ,such is every liar with the tongue2 and such in all nations is he1 at all epochs1 considered4 ,men pull his nose1 and kick him out of doors2 and by peremptory expressive methods signify that they can and will have no trade with him4 ,such is spoken divergence from the fact2 so fares it with the practiser of that sad art4 ,but have we well considered a divergence in thought from what is the fact8 ,have we considered the man whose very thought is a lie to him and to us6 ,he too is a frightful man2 repeating about this ,universe on every hand what is not1 and driven to repeat it2 the sure herald of ruin to all that follow him1 that know with his knowledge6 ,and would you learn how to get a mendacious thought1 there is no surer recipe than carrying a loose tongue4 ,the lying thought1 you already either have it1 or will soon get it by that method4 ,he who lies with his very tongue1 he clearly enough has long ceased to think truly in his mind4 ,does he1 in any sense1 think8 ,all his thoughts and imaginations1 if they extend beyond mere beaverisms1 astucities and sensualisms1 are false1 incomplete1 perverse1 untrue even to himself4 ,he has become a false mirror of this ,universe2 not a small mirror only1 but a crooked1 bedimmed and utterly deranged one4 ,but all loose tongues too are akin to lying ones2 are insincere at the best1 and go rattling with little meaning2 the thought lying languid at a great distance behind them1 if thought there be behind them at all4 ,gradually there will be none or little6 ,how can the thought of such a man1 what he calls thought1 be other than false8 ,alas1 the palpable liar with his tongue does at least know that he is lying1 and has or might have some faint vestige of remorse and chance of amendment2 but the impalpable liar1 whose tongue articulates mere accepted commonplaces1 cants and babblement1 which means only1 ,admire me1 call me an excellent stump-orator6--of him what hope is there8 ,his thought1 what thought he had1 lies dormant1 inspired only to invent vocables and plausibilities2 while the tongue goes so glib1 the thought is absent1 gone a wool-gathering2 getting itself drugged with the applausive ,hear1 hear6--what will become of such a man8 ,his idle thought has run all to seed1 and grown false and the giver of falsities2 the inner light of his mind is gone out2 all his light is mere putridity and phosphorescence henceforth4 ,whosoever is in quest of ruin1 let him with assurance follow that man2 he or no one is on the right road to it4 ,good ,heavens1 from the wisest ,thought of a man to the actual truth of a ,thing as it lies in ,nature1 there is1 one would suppose1 a sufficient interval6 ,consider it1--and what other intervals we introduce6 ,the faithfulest1 most glowing word of a man is but an imperfect image of the thought1 such as it is1 that dwells within him2 his best word will never but with error convey his thought to other minds3 and then between his poor thought and ,nature's ,fact1 which is the ,thought of the ,eternal1 there may be supposed to lie some discrepancies1 some shortcomings6 ,speak your sincerest1 think your wisest1 there is still a great gulf between you and the fact4 ,and now1 do not speak your sincerest1 and what will inevitably follow out of that1 do not think your wisest1 but think only your plausiblest1 your showiest for parliamentary purposes1 where will you land with that guidance8--,i invite the ,british ,parliament1 and all the ,parliamentary and other ,electors of ,great ,britain1 to reflect on this till they have well understood it2 and then to ask1 each of himself1 ,what probably the horoscopes of the ,british ,parliament1 at this epoch of ,world-,history1 may be8-- ,fail1 by any sin or any misfortune1 to discover what the truth of the fact is1 you are lost so far as that fact goes6 ,if your thought do not image truly but do image falsely the fact1 you will vainly try to work upon the fact4 ,the fact will not obey you1 the fact will silently resist you2 and ever1 with silent invincibility1 will go on resisting you1 till you do get to image it truly instead of falsely4 ,no help for you whatever1 except in attaining to a true image of the fact4 ,needless to vote a false image true2 vote it1 revote it by overwhelming majorities1 by jubilant unanimities and universalities2 read it thrice or three hundred times1 pass acts of parliament upon it till the ,statute-book can hold no more1--it helps not a whit3 the thing is not so1 the thing is otherwise than so2 and ,adam's whole ,posterity1 voting daily on it till the world finish1 will not alter it a jot4 ,can the sublimest sanhedrim1 constitutional parliament1 or other ,collective ,wisdom of the world1 persuade fire not to burn1 sulphuric acid to be sweet milk1 or the ,moon to become green cheese8 ,the fact is much the reverse3--and even the ,constitutional ,british ,parliament abstains from such arduous attempts as these latter in the voting line2 and leaves the multiplication-table1 the chemical1 mechanical and other qualities of material substances to take their own course2 being aware that voting and perorating1 and reporting in ,hansard1 will not in the least alter any of these4 ,which is indisputably wise of the ,british ,parliament4 ,unfortunately the ,british ,parliament does not1 at present1 quite know that all manner of things and relations of things1 spiritual equally with material1 all manner of qualities1 entities1 existences whatsoever1 in this strange visible and invisible ,universe1 are equally inflexible of nature2 that1 they will1 one and all1 with precisely the same obstinacy1 continue to obey their own law1 not our law2 deaf as the adder to all charm of parliamentary eloquence1 and of voting never so often repeated2 silently1 but inflexibly and forevermore1 declining to change themselves1 even as sulphuric acid declines to become sweet milk1 though you vote so to the end of the world4 ,this1 it sometimes seems to me1 is not quite sufficiently laid hold of by the ,british and other ,parliaments just at present4 ,which surely is a great misfortune to said ,parliaments6 ,for1 it would appear1 the grand point1 after all constitutional improvements1 and such wagging of wigs in ,westminster as there has been1 is precisely what it was before any constitution was yet heard of1 or the first official wig had budded out of nothing3 namely1 to ascertain what the truth of your question1 in ,nature1 really is6 ,verily so4 ,in this time and place1 as in all past and in all future times and places4 ,to-day in ,st4 ,stephen's1 where constitutional1 philanthropical1 and other great things lie in the mortar-kit2 even as on the ,plain of ,shinar long ago1 where a certain ,tower1 likewise of a very philanthropic nature1 indeed one of the desirablest towers ,i ever heard of1 was to be built1--but couldn't6 ,my friends1 ,i do not laugh2 truly ,i am more inclined to weep4 ,get1 by six hundred and fifty-eight votes1 or by no vote at all1 by the silent intimation of your own eyesight and understanding given you direct out of ,heaven1 and more sacred to you than anything earthly1 and than all things earthly1--a correct image of the fact in question1 as ,god and ,nature have made it3 that is the one thing needful2 with that it shall be well with you in whatsoever you have to do with said fact4 ,get1 by the sublimest constitutional methods1 belauded by all the world1 an incorrect image of the fact3 so shall it be other than well with you2 so shall you have laud from able editors and vociferous masses of mistaken human creatures2 and from the ,nature's ,fact1 continuing quite silently the same as it was1 contradiction1 and that only4 ,what else8 ,will ,nature change1 or sulphuric acid become sweet milk1 for the noise of vociferous blockheads8 ,surely not4 ,nature1 ,i assure you1 has not the smallest intention of doing so4 ,on the contrary1 ,nature keeps silently a most exact ,savings-bank1 and official register correct to the most evanescent item1 ,debtor and ,creditor1 in respect to one and all of us2 silently marks down1 ,creditor by such and such an unseen act of veracity and heroism2 ,debtor to such a loud blustery blunder1 twenty-seven million strong or one unit strong1 and to all acts and words and thoughts executed in consequence of that1--,debtor1 ,debtor1 ,debtor1 day after day1 rigorously as ,fate 7for this is ,fate that is writing72 and at the end of the account you will have it all to pay1 my friend2 there is the rub6 ,not the infinitesimalest fraction of a farthing but will be found marked there1 for you and against you2 and with the due rate of interest you will have to pay it1 neatly1 completely1 as sure as you are alive4 ,you will have to pay it even in money if you live3--and1 poor slave1 do you think there is no payment but in money8 ,there is a payment which ,nature rigorously exacts of men1 and also of ,nations1 and this ,i think when her wrath is sternest1 in the shape of dooming you to possess money4 ,to possess it2 to have your bloated vanities fostered into monstrosity by it1 your foul passions blown into explosion by it1 your heart and perhaps your very stomach ruined with intoxication by it2 your poor life and all its manful activities stunned into frenzy and comatose sleep by it1--in one word1 as the old ,prophets said1 your soul forever lost by it4 ,your soul2 so that1 through the ,eternities1 you shall have no soul1 or manful trace of ever having had a soul2 but only1 for certain fleeting moments1 shall have had a money-bag1 and have given soul and heart and 7frightfuler still7 stomach itself in fatal exchange for the same4 ,you wretched mortal1 stumbling about in a ,god's ,temple1 and thinking it a brutal ,cookery-shop6 ,nature1 when her scorn of a slave is divinest1 and blazes like the blinding lightning against his slavehood1 often enough flings him a bag of money1 silently saying3 ,that6 ,away2 thy doom is that6-- ,for no man1 and for no body or biggest multitude of men1 has ,nature favor1 if they part company with her facts and her4 ,excellent stump-orator2 eloquent parliamentary dead-dog1 making motions1 passing bills2 reported in the ,morning ,newspapers1 and reputed the best speaker going8 ,from the ,universe of ,fact he has turned himself away2 he is gone into partnership with the ,universe of ,phantasm2 finds it profitablest to deal in forged notes1 while the foolish shopkeepers will accept them4 ,nature for such a man1 and for ,nations that follow such1 has her patibulary forks1 and prisons of death everlasting3--dost thou doubt it8 ,unhappy mortal1 ,nature otherwise were herself a ,chaos and no ,cosmos4 ,nature was not made by an ,impostor2 not she1 ,i think1 rife as they are6--,in fact1 by money or otherwise1 to the uttermost fraction of a calculable and incalculable value1 we have1 each one of us1 to settle the exact balance in the above-said ,savings-bank1 or official register kept by ,nature3 ,creditor by the quantity of veracities we have done1 ,debtor by the quantity of falsities and errors2 there is not1 by any conceivable device1 the faintest hope of escape from that issue for one of us1 nor for all of us4 ,this used to be a well-known fact2 and daily still1 in certain edifices1 steeple-houses1 joss-houses1 temples sacred or other1 everywhere spread over the world1 we hear some dim mumblement of an assertion that such is still1 what it was always and will forever be1 the fact3 but meseems it has terribly fallen out of memory nevertheless2 and1 from ,dan to ,beersheba1 one in vain looks out for a man that really in his heart believes it4 ,in his heart he believes1 as we perceive1 that scrip will yield dividends3 but that ,heaven too has an office of account1 and unerringly marks down1 against us or for us1 whatsoever thing we do or say or think1 and treasures up the same in regard to every creature1--this ,i do not so well perceive that he believes4 ,poor blockhead1 no3 he reckons that all payment is in money1 or approximately representable by money2 finds money go a strange course2 disbelieves the parson and his ,day of ,judgment2 discerns not that there is any judgment except in the small or big debt court2 and lives 7for the present7 on that strange footing in this ,universe4 ,the unhappy mortal1 what is the use of his civilizations and his useful knowledges1 if he have forgotten that beginning of human knowledge2 the earliest perception of the awakened human soul in this world2 the first dictate of ,heaven's inspiration to all men8 ,i cannot account him a man any more2 but only a kind of human beaver1 who has acquired the art of ciphering4 ,he lives without rushing hourly towards suicide1 because his soul1 with all its noble aspirations and imaginations1 is sunk at the bottom of his stomach1 and lies torpid there1 unaspiring1 unimagining1 unconsidering1 as if it were the vital principle of a mere four-footed beaver4 ,a soul of a man1 appointed for spinning cotton and making money1 or1 alas1 for merely shooting grouse and gathering rent2 to whom ,eternity and ,immortality1 and all human ,noblenesses and divine ,facts that did not tell upon the stock-exchange1 were meaningless fables1 empty as the inarticulate wind4 ,he will recover out of that persuasion one day1 or be ground to powder1 ,i believe6-- ,to such a pass1 by our beaverisms and our mammonisms2 by canting of prevenient grace everywhere1 and so boarding and lodging our poor souls upon supervenient moonshine everywhere1 for centuries long2 by our sordid stupidities and our idle babblings2 through faith in the divine ,stump-orator1 and ,constitutional ,palaver1 or august ,sanhedrim of ,orators1--have men and ,nations been reduced1 in this sad epoch6 ,i cannot call them happy ,nations2 ,i must call them ,nations like to perish2 ,nations that will either begin to recover1 or else soon die4 ,recovery is to be hoped2--yes1 since there is in ,nature an ,almighty ,beneficence1 and ,his voice1 divinely terrible1 can be heard in the world-whirlwind now1 even as from of old and forevermore4 ,recovery1 or else destruction and annihilation1 is very certain2 and the crisis1 too1 comes rapidly on3 but by ,stump-,orator and ,constitutional ,palaver1 however perfected1 my hopes of recovery have long vanished4 ,not by them1 ,i should imagine1 but by something far the reverse of them1 shall we return to truth and ,god6-- ,i tell you1 the ignoble intellect cannot think the truth1 even within its own limits1 and when it seriously tries6 ,and of the ignoble intellect that does not seriously try1 and has even reached the ignobleness of seriously trying the reverse1 and of lying with its very tongue1 what are we to expect8 ,it is frightful to consider4 ,sincere wise speech is but an imperfect corollary1 and insignificant outer manifestation1 of sincere wise thought4 ,he whose very tongue utters falsities1 what has his heart long been doing8 ,the thought of his heart is not its wisest1 not even its wisest2 it is its foolishest2--and even of that we have a false and foolish copy4 ,and it is ,nature's ,fact1 or the ,thought of the ,eternal1 which we want to arrive at in regard to the matter1--which if we do not arrive at1 we shall not save the matter1 we shall drive the matter into shipwreck6 ,the practice of modern ,parliaments1 with reporters sitting among them1 and twenty-seven millions mostly fools listening to them1 fills me with amazement4 ,in regard to no thing1 or fact as ,god and ,nature have made it1 can you get so much as the real thought of any honorable head1--even so far as it1 the said honorable head1 still has capacity of thought4 ,what the honorable gentleman's wisest thought is or would have been1 had he led from birth a life of piety and earnest veracity and heroic virtue1 you1 and he himself poor deep-sunk creature1 vainly conjecture as from immense dim distances far in the rear of what he is led to say4 ,and again1 far in the rear of what his thought is1--surely long infinitudes beyond all he could ever think1--lies the ,thought of ,god ,almighty1 the ,image itself of the ,fact1 the thing you are in quest of1 and must find or do worse6 ,even his1 the honorable gentleman's1 actual bewildered1 falsified1 vague surmise or quasi-thought1 even this is not given you2 but only some falsified copy of this1 such as he fancies may suit the reporters and twenty-seven millions mostly fools4 ,and upon that latter you are to act2--with what success1 do you expect8 ,that is the thought you are to take for the ,thought of the ,eternal ,mind1--that double-distilled falsity of a blockheadism from one who is false even as a blockhead6 ,do ,i make myself plain to ,mr4 ,peter's understanding8 ,perhaps it will surprise him less that parliamentary eloquence excites more wonder than admiration in me2 that the fate of countries governed by that sublime alchemy does not appear the hopefulest just now4 ,not by that method1 ,i should apprehend1 will the ,heavens be scaled and the ,earth vanquished2 not by that1 but by another4 ,a benevolent man once proposed to me1 but without pointing out the methods how1 this plan of reform for our benighted world3 ,to cut from one generation1 whether the current one or the next1 all the tongues away1 prohibiting ,literature too2 and appoint at least one generation to pass its life in silence4 ,there1 thou one blessed generation1 from the vain jargon of babble thou art beneficently freed4 ,whatsoever of truth1 traditionary or original1 thy own god-given intellect shall point out to thee as true1 that thou wilt go and do4 ,in doing of it there will be a verdict for thee2 if a verdict of ,true1 thou wilt hold by it1 and ever again do it2 if of ,untrue1 thou wilt never try it more1 but be eternally delivered from it4 ,to do aught because the vain hearsays order thee1 and the big clamors of the sanhedrim of fools1 is not thy lot1--what worlds of misery are spared thee6 ,nature's voice heard in thy own inner being1 and the sacred ,commandment of thy ,maker3 these shall be thy guidances1 thou happy tongueless generation4 ,what is good and beautiful thou shalt know2 not merely what is said to be so4 ,not to talk of thy doings1 and become the envy of surrounding flunkies1 but to taste of the fruit of thy doings themselves1 is thine4 ,what the ,eternal ,laws will sanction for thee1 do2 what the ,froth ,gospels and multitudinous long-eared ,hearsays never so loudly bid1 all this is already chaff for thee1--drifting rapidly along1 thou knowest whitherward1 on the eternal winds4 ,good ,heavens1 if such a plan were practicable1 how the chaff might be winnowed out of every man1 and out of all human things2 and ninety-nine hundredths of our whole big ,universe1 spiritual and practical1 might blow itself away1 as mere torrents of chaff whole trade-winds of chaff1 many miles deep1 rushing continually with the voice of whirlwinds towards a certain ,,fire1 which knows how to deal with it6 ,ninety-nine hundredths blown away2 all the lies blown away1 and some skeleton of a spiritual and practical ,universe left standing for us which were true3 ,o ,heavens1 is it forever impossible1 then8 ,by a generation that had no tongue it really might be done2 but not so easily by one that had4 ,tongues1 platforms1 parliaments1 and fourth-estates2 unfettered presses1 periodical and stationary literatures3 we are nearly all gone to tongue1 ,i think2 and our fate is very questionable4 ,truly1 it is little known at present1 and ought forthwith to become better known1 what ruin to all nobleness and fruitfulness and blessedness in the genius of a poor mortal you generally bring about1 by ordering him to speak1 to do all things with a view to their being seen6 ,few good and fruitful things ever were done1 or could be done1 on those terms4 ,silence1 silence2 and be distant ye profane1 with your jargonings and superficial babblements1 when a man has anything to do6 ,eye-service1--dost thou know what that is1 poor ,england8--eye-service is all the man can do in these sad circumstances2 grows to be all he has the idea of doing1 of his or any other man's ever doing1 or ever having done1 in any circumstances4 ,sad1 enough4 ,alas1 it is our saddest woe of all2--too sad for being spoken of at present1 while all or nearly all men consider it an imaginary sorrow on my part6 ,let the young ,english soul1 in whatever logic-shop and nonsense-verse establishment of an ,eton1 ,oxford1 ,edinburgh1 ,halle1 ,salamanca1 or other ,high ,finishing-,school1 he may be getting his young idea taught how to speak and spout1 and print sermons and review-articles1 and thereby show himself and fond patrons that it is an idea1--lay this solemnly to heart2 this is my deepest counsel to him6 ,the idea you have once spoken1 if it even were an idea1 is no longer yours2 it is gone from you1 so much life and virtue is gone1 and the vital circulations of your self and your destiny and activity are henceforth deprived of it4 ,if you could not get it spoken1 if you could still constrain it into silence1 so much the richer are you4 ,better keep your idea while you can3 let it still circulate in your blood1 and there fructify2 inarticulately inciting you to good activities2 giving to your whole spiritual life a ruddier health4 ,when the time does come for speaking it1 you will speak it all the more concisely1 the more expressively1 appropriately2 and if such a time should never come1 have you not already acted it1 and uttered it as no words can8 ,think of this1 my young friend2 for there is nothing truer1 nothing more forgotten in these shabby gold-laced days4 ,incontinence is half of all the sins of man4 ,and among the many kinds of that base vice1 ,i know none baser1 or at present half so fell and fatal1 as that same ,incontinence of ,tongue4 ,public speaking1 parliamentary eloquence3 it is a ,moloch1 before whom young souls are made to pass through the fire4 ,they enter1 weeping or rejoicing1 fond parents consecrating them to the red-hot ,idol1 as to the ,highest ,god3 and they come out spiritually dead4 ,dead enough2 to live thenceforth a galvanic life of mere ,stump-,oratory2 screeching and gibbering1 words without wisdom1 without veracity1 without conviction more than skin-deep4 ,a divine gift1 that8 ,it is a thing admired by the vulgar1 and rewarded with seats in the ,cabinet and other preciosities2 but to the wise1 it is a thing not admirable1 not adorable2 unmelodious rather1 and ghastly and bodeful1 as the speech of sheeted spectres in the streets at midnight6 ,be not a ,public ,orator1 thou brave young ,british man1 thou that art now growing to be something3 not a ,stump-,orator1 if thou canst help it4 ,appeal not to the vulgar1 with its long ears and its seats in the ,cabinet2 not by spoken words to the vulgar2 hate the profane vulgar1 and bid it begone4 ,appeal by silent work1 by silent suffering if there be no work1 to the gods1 who have nobler than seats in the ,cabinet for thee6 ,talent for ,literature1 thou hast such a talent8 ,believe it not1 be slow to believe it6 ,to speak1 or to write1 ,nature did not peremptorily order thee2 but to work she did4 ,and know this3 there never was a talent even for real ,literature1 not to speak of talents lost and damned in doing sham ,literature1 but was primarily a talent for something infinitely better of the silent kind4 ,of ,literature1 in all ways1 be shy rather than otherwise1 at present6 ,there where thou art1 work1 work2 whatsoever thy hand findeth to do1 do it1--with the hand of a man1 not of a phantasm2 be that thy unnoticed blessedness and exceeding great reward4 ,thy words1 let them be few1 and well-ordered4 ,love silence rather than speech in these tragic days1 when1 for very speaking1 the voice of man has fallen inarticulate to man2 and hearts1 in this loud babbling1 sit dark and dumb towards one another4 ,witty1--above all1 oh be not witty3 none of us is bound to be witty1 under penalties2 to be wise and true we all are1 under the terriblest penalties6 ,brave young friend1 dear to me1 and known too in a sense1 though never seen1 nor to be seen by me1--you are1 what ,i am not1 in the happy case to learn to be something and to do something1 instead of eloquently talking about what has been and was done and may be6 ,the old are what they are1 and will not alter2 our hope is in you4 ,england's hope1 and the world's1 is that there may once more be millions such1 instead of units as now4 ,macte2 i fausto pede4 ,and may future generations1 acquainted again with the silences1 and once more cognizant of what is noble and faithful and divine1 look back on us with pity and incredulous astonishment6 ,italicized text is represented in the etext with underscores thusly4 ,greek text has been transliterated into ,english1 with notation ,gr4 appended to it4 ,otherwise the etext has been left as it was in the printed text4 ,footnotes have been embedded directly into the text1 with the notation ,footnote3 4444