might think himself one.  Either the Radical candidate for Bevisham stood self-deceived, or—­the other supposition.  Mr. Tuckham would venture to state that no English gentleman, exempt from an examination by order of the Commissioners of Lunacy, could be sincerely a Radical.  ‘Not a bit of it; nonsense,’ he replied to Miss Halkett’s hint at the existence of Radical views; ’that is, those views are out of politics; they are matters for the police.  Dutch dykes are built to shut away the sea from cultivated land, and of course it’s a part of the business of the Dutch Government to keep up the dykes,—­and of ours to guard against the mob; but that is only a political consideration after the mob has been allowed to undermine our defences.’

‘They speak,’ said Miss Halkett, ‘of educating the people to fit them—­’

‘They speak of commanding the winds and tides,’ he cut her short, with no clear analogy; ’wait till we have a storm.  It’s a delusion amounting to dementedness to suppose, that with the people inside our defences, we can be taming them and tricking them.  As for sending them to school after giving them power, it’s like asking a wild beast to sit down to dinner with us—­he wants the whole table and us too.  The best education for the people is government.  They’re beginning to see that in Lancashire at last.  I ran down to Lancashire for a couple of days on my landing, and I’m thankful to say Lancashire is preparing to take a step back.  Lancashire leads the country.  Lancashire men see what this Liberalism has done for the Labour-market.’

’Captain Beauchamp considers that the political change coming over the minds of the manufacturers is due to the large fortunes they have made,’ said Miss Halkett, maliciously associating a Radical prophet with him.

He was unaffected by it, and continued:  ’Property is ballast as well as treasure.  I call property funded good sense.  I would give it every privilege.  If we are to speak of patriotism, I say the possession of property guarantees it.  I maintain that the lead of men of property is in most cases sure to be the safe one.’

‘I think so,’ Colonel Halkett interposed, and he spoke as a man of property.

Mr. Tuckham grew fervent in his allusions to our wealth and our commerce.  Having won the race and gained the prize, shall we let it slip out of our grasp?  Upon this topic his voice descended to tones of priestlike awe:  for are we not the envy of the world?  Our wealth is countless, fabulous.  It may well inspire veneration.  And we have won it with our hands, thanks (he implied it so) to our religion.  We are rich in money and industry, in those two things only, and the corruption of an energetic industry is constantly threatened by the profusion of wealth giving it employment.  This being the case, either your Radicals do not know the first conditions of human nature, or they do; and if they do they are traitors, and the Liberals opening the gates to them