Relations which were established by force may, after a time, be made so beautiful that their origin is forgotten.  There must be no display of unnecessary force.  The battle having been decided, victor and vanquished change parts.  It pleases the conqueror to sign himself, “Your obedient servant,” and to inquire whether certain terms would be agreeable.  Of course they would be agreeable.  So says the disarmed man looking upward to his late foe, now become his protector.

And the conqueror with grave good will takes up the burden which Providence has imposed upon him.  Is not the motto of the true knight, Ich dien?  Such service as he can render shall be given ungrudgingly.

Now, this is not hypocrisy.  It may be Christianity and Chivalry and all sorts of fine things.  It is making the best of an accepted situation.  When relations which were established by force have been sanctioned by custom, and embodied in law, and sanctified by religion, they form a soil in which many pleasant things may grow.  In the vicinity of Vesuvius they will tell you that the best soils are of volcanic origin.

Hodge and Sir Lionel meet in the garden which one owns, and in which the other digs with the sweat of his brow.  There is kindly interest on the one hand, and decent respect on the other.  But all this sense of ordered righteousness is dependent on one condition.  Neither must eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge that grows in the midst of the garden.  A little knowledge is dangerous, a good deal of knowledge may be even more dangerous, to the relations which custom has established.

What right has Sir Lionel to lay down the law for Hodge?  Why should not Hodge have a right to have his point of view considered?  When Hodge begins seriously to ponder this question his manners suffer.  And when Sir Lionel begins to assert his superiority, instead of taking it for granted, his behavior lacks its easy charm.  It is very hard to explain such things in a gentlemanly way.

Now, the exasperation in the tone of political discussion in Great Britain, as elsewhere in the world, is largely explained by the fact that all sorts of superiorities have been challenged at the same time.  Everywhere the issue is sharply made.  “Who shall rule?”

Shall Ireland any longer submit to be ruled by the English?  The Irish Nationalists swear by all the saints that, rather than submit, they will overthrow the present Government and return to their former methods of agitation.

If the Home Rule Bill be enacted into law, will Ulster submit to be ruled by a Catholic majority?  The men of Ulster call upon the spirits of their heroic sires, who triumphed at the Boyne, to bear witness that they will never yield.

Will the masses of the people submit any longer to the existing inequalities in political representation?  No!  They demand immediate recognition of the principle, “One man, one vote.”  The many will not allow the few to make laws for them.