“There can be no new thoughts about that. The question has long since been exhausted”.
“Well, come “—with sudden decision—“I will tell you a thought of my own “. And he told.
If the English people paid the rent for England to themselves—to their government—instead of to a few Englishmen, then, by one day's labour in six, Englishmen would be much more rich in all things than a fisherman, by one day's labour in six, was rich in fish.
The expression which he awaited on the face before him was one of illuminated astonishment; but, with a chill in his nerves, he saw the workman's lips curve.
“Bah!” said the Manchester man, “that is an exploded theory!”
Exploded!!!
Hogarth was rather pale.
Yet he knew that it was true....Who, then, could have been exploding the Almighty?
“Who has exploded it?”
“Been exploded again and again!” said the Manchester man; “of all the theories of land-tenure, that is about the weakest: I should know, for I've studied them all. The fact is, no change in the system of land-tenure will have the least effect upon the lot of the masses; would only make things worse by unsettling the country—if it didn't mean a civil war”.