‘You’ve no one you could rely upon, I suppose, if you thought it necessary to save society—no band of patriots devoted to your person—no arms?’
‘There’s the public hammer; that’s all I know of.’
‘Well, well; turn it over in your mind. See what we have done at home. A few centuries ago we were no better off than you; every man with his bit of land for tillage, his common for grazing, a rather demoralising plenty in every hut—no really efficient slave class, in fact. But a patriotic nobility soon put a stop to that, enclosed the commons, broke up the small farms, and made a proletariat that is, to this day, the wonder and envy of the world. Then began industrial and imperial England. The old state was England for the English; but really they did not know what to do with it; the new one is, England for her betters—and see where we are now.’
‘Ah! it is wonderful how you manage things over there; it’s like a piece of watchmaking. But, bless you, our fingers are too clumsy.’
‘You have to master the principle of the movement—that is all. Teach a whole community to unite riches with righteousness as the object of its hunger and thirst; and the thirst, especially, will beget a tremulous cerebral excitement which will keep it always on the go. Do not carry this to excess, for it will never do to have your social movement confounded with the drinker’s “jumps.” Only remember that, as we argue, no wealth—no luxury; no luxury—no crumbs for Lazarus.’
‘Oh, dear!’ said Victoria.
‘Oh, deary, deary me!’ said the Ancient, wiping his brow.
‘You yourself might set an example in this matter. Such things often grow from very small beginnings. The Island diet, I perceive, is chiefly fish and vegetables. Now, in your position as Governor, you should eat meat at least three times a week. It would mark a difference; and, by-and-by, you might manage to get the more toothsome things, such as the sweetbreads and the guavas, reserved for your own table. The great principle is, not—as, I fear, you imagine—that one man’s best of service ought to count like another man’s best, in respect of his right to the needful things of life, but that, on the contrary, each bit of human helpfulness should be weighed in a balance, and more pudding given to those whose morsel weighs most. The nice adjustment of the quantity of the pudding to the nature of the service is our economic and, indeed, our moral ideal. We have long since given the requisite superfluity to our governors and other men of action; now the cry is, “More pudding to the seers;” and it is one of the most exhilarating cries of the day, in its evidence of our progress in true spirituality. A great preacher, a great penman, a great revealer of the beautiful in plastic art, soon has his plate heaped up.’
‘But won’t the others get less?’ said Victoria, now beginning, I thought, to repent of her part in the plot.
‘O yes; but the others are stupid.’