"Let us hear Mr. Manners," said a member.
Kingsley rose and addressed the meeting. He had for some little while past regarded this approaching event as of great importance, and had prepared himself for it. He said he was in favor of public meeting in all public spaces. He spoke strongly against the monopoly of brewers and distillers. He advocated universal suffrage, and he characterized as infamous the neglect of sanitary laws in the dwellings of the people. The whole aim of government, he said, should be for the benefit of the many, and not of the few. There were old-time privileges which, perhaps, could not be suddenly abolished, but to which, at all events, a limit should be set. He spoke for half an hour, and the tenor of his observations may be gathered from this brief description. When he sat down some were pleased, some were displeased, and some did not know exactly what to think.
"Mr. Manners," said Mr. Bartholomew, "has generalized almost as much as Richard Chappel."
"No," cried some of Kingsley's supporters; "there is a great difference between them."
"Let us hear and discuss," said Mr. Bartholomew; "it will open our minds."
"What does Richard Chappel say about universal suffrage?" asked a member.
Richard Chappel scratched his head. He had not given the subject that necessary consideration which enabled him to reply on the instant. Up jumped Mr. Bartholomew.
"I like that hesitation on Richard Chappel's part," he said. "Universal suffrage has bothered cleverer heads than any in this room."
"What do you say about it?" asked a bold member. Mr. Bartholomew laughed.
"I would give it to every man who has a right to it."