“We’ll have to do something,” said Gorman.
“Arrest the ringleaders? Imprison Malcolmson?”
“Lord, no. We may be fools, but we’re not such fools as that.”
“Still,” I said, “he’s broken the law. After all, a party like yours in close alliance with the Government of the country must do something to maintain the majesty of the law.”
“Law be damned,” said Gorman. “What the devil does law matter to us or the Government either? What we’ve got to consider is popular opinion.”
“And that,” I said, “seems to be setting against you. According to the theory of democracy as I understand it, you’re bound to go the way popular opinion is blowing you. You can’t, without gross inconsistency, start beating to windward against it.”
“Winds sometimes change,” said Gorman.
“They do. This one has. It was all in your favour a fortnight ago. Now, what with your ‘plot’ and this really striking little episode in Larne——”
“The art of government,” said Gorman, “consists in manipulating the wind, making it blow the way it’s wanted to. What we’ve got to do is to go one better than the Ulster men.”
“Ah,” I said, “they imported rifles. You might land a shipload of large cannons. Is that the idea?”