And there was
no man in England more in earnest, more truly desirous of Reform,
than Mr. Monk. It was his great political idea that political
advantages should be extended to the people, whether the people
clamoured for them or did not clamour for them,--even whether they
desired them or did not desire them. "You do not ask a child whether
he would like to learn his lesson," he would say. "At any rate, you
do not wait till he cries for his book." When, therefore, men said to
him that there was no earnestness in the cry for Reform, that the cry
was a false cry, got up for factious purposes by interested persons,
he would reply that the thing to be done should not be done in
obedience to any cry, but because it was demanded by justice, and was
a debt due to the people.
Our hero in the autumn had written to Mr. Monk on the politics of the
moment, and the following had been Mr. Monk's reply:--
Longroyston, October 12, 186--.
MY DEAR FINN,
I am staying here with the Duke and Duchess of St.
Bungay. The house is very full, and Mr. Mildmay was
here last week; but as I don't shoot, and can't play
billiards, and have no taste for charades, I am becoming
tired of the gaieties, and shall leave them to-morrow.
Of course you know that we are not to have the autumn
session.
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