He rehearsed to me the course of a meeting at which he had been
present, and the somewhat long discourse which he had there
pronounced, calling into question the wisdom and even the good faith
of the Union delegates; and although he had escaped himself through
flush times and starvation times with a handsomely provided purse, he
had so little faith in either man or master, and so profound a terror
for the unerring Nemesis of mercantile affairs, that he could think
of no hope for our country outside of a sudden and complete political
subversion. Down must go Lords and Church and Army; and capital, by
some happy direction, must change hands from worse to better, or
England stood condemned. Such principles, he said, were growing
'like a seed.'
From this mild, soft, domestic man, these words sounded unusually
ominous and grave. I had heard enough revolutionary talk among my
workmen fellow-passengers; but most of it was hot and turgid, and
fell discredited from the lips of unsuccessful men. This man was
calm; he had attained prosperity and ease; he disapproved the policy
which had been pursued by labour in the past; and yet this was his
panacea, - to rend the old country from end to end, and from top to
bottom, and in clamour and civil discord remodel it with the hand of
violence.
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