
And what on earth are you contending for?«
    »Freedom of thought, for one thing.«
    »We have quite enough free-thinking.«
    »There 's not enough if there 's not perfect freedom.«
    »Dangerous!« quoth Mr. Austin.
    »But it 's that danger which makes men, sir; and it 's fear of the danger
that makes our modern Englishman.«
    »Oh! Oh!« cried Tuckham in the voice of a Parliamentary Opposition. »Well,
you start your paper, we 'll assume it: what class of men will you get to
write?«
    »I shall get good men for the hire.«
    »You won't get the best men; you may catch a clever youngster or two, and an
old rogue of talent; you won't get men of weight. They 're prejudiced, I dare
say. The Journals which are commercial speculations give us a guarantee that
they mean to be respectable; they must, if they wouldn't collapse. That 's why
the best men consent to write for them.«
    »Money will do it,« said Beauchamp.
    Mr. Austin disagreed with that observation.
    »Some patriotic spirit, I may hope, sir.«
    Mr. Austin shook his head. »We put different constructions upon patriotism.«
    »Besides - fiddle! nonsense!« exclaimed Tuckham in the mildest interjections
he could summon for a vent in society to his offended common sense; »the better
your men the worse your mark. You 're not dealing with an intelligent people.«
    »There 's the old charge against the people.«
    »But they 're not. You can madden, you can't elevate them by writing and
writing. Defend us from the uneducated English! The common English are doltish;
except in the North, where you won't do much with them. Compare them with the
Yankees for shrewdness, the Spaniards for sobriety, the French for ingenuity,
the Germans for enlightenment, the Italians in the Arts; yes, the Russians for
good-humour and obedience - where are they? They 're only worth something when
they 're led. They fight well; there 's good stuff in them.«
    »I've heard all that before,« returned Beauchamp, unruffled. »You don't know
them. I mean to educate them by giving them an interest in their country. At
present they have next to none. Our governing class is decidedly unintelligent,
in my opinion
