“By prudence and moderation you mean ignorance and timidity,” said Thornberry scornfully.
“Not exactly that, I hope,” said Endymion; “but you cannot deny that the home market is a most important element in the consideration of our public wealth, and it mainly rests upon the agriculture of the country.”
“Then it rests upon a very poor foundation,” said Thornberry.
“But if any persons should be more tempted than others by free exchange, it should be the great body of the consumers of this land, who pay unjust and excessive prices for every article they require. No, my dear Mr. Ferrars; the question is a very simple one, and we may talk for ever, and we shall never alter it. The laws of this country are made by the proprietors of land, and they make them for their own benefit. A man with a large estate is said to have a great stake in the country because some hundreds of people or so are more or less dependent on him. How has he a greater interest in the country than a manufacturer who has sunk 100,000 pounds in machinery, and has a thousand people, as I had, receiving from him weekly wages? No home market, indeed! Pah! it is an affair of rent, and nothing more or less. And England is to be ruined to keep up rents. Are you going? Well, I am glad we have met. Perhaps we shall have another talk together some day. I shall not return to the works. There is little doing there, and I must think now of other things. The subscriptions to the League begin to come in apace. Say what they like in the House of Commons and the vile London press, the thing is stirring.”
Wishing to turn the conversation a little, Endymion asked Mrs. Thornberry whether she occasionally went to London.
“Never was there,” she said, in a sharp, clear voice; “but I hope to go soon.”
“You will have a great deal to see.”
“All I want to see, and hear, is the Rev. Servetus Frost,” replied the lady. “My idea of perfect happiness is to hear him every Sunday. He comes here sometimes, for his sister is settled here; a very big mill. He preached here a month ago. Should not I have liked the bishop to have heard him, that’s all! But he would not dare to go; he could not answer a point.”
“My wife is of the Unitarian persuasion,” said Thornberry. “I am not. I was born in our Church, and I keep to it; but I often go to chapel with my wife. As for religion generally, if a man believes in his Maker and does his duty to his neighbours, in my mind that is sufficient.”
Endymion bade them good-bye, and strolled musingly towards his hotel.