: they are too oblivious of every national
consideration but that of extending England's (i.e. their own) commerce.
Chivalrous feeling, disinterestedness, pride in honour, is too dead in their
hearts. A land ruled by them alone would too often make ignominious submission -
not at all from the motives Christ teaches, but rather from those Mammon
instils. During the late war, the tradesmen of England would have endured
buffets from the French on the right cheek and on the left; their cloak they
would have given to Napoleon, and then have politely offered him their coat
also, nor would they have withheld their waistcoat if urged: they would have
prayed permission only to retain their one other garment, for the sake of the
purse in its pocket. Not one spark of spirit, not one symptom of resistance
would they have shown till the hand of the Corsican bandit had grasped that
beloved purse; then, perhaps, transfigured at once into British bull-dogs, they
would have sprung at the robber's throat, and there they would have fastened,
and there hung - inveterate, insatiable, till the treasure had been restored.
Tradesmen, when they speak against war, always profess to hate it because it is
a bloody and barbarous proceeding: you would think, to hear them talk, that they
are peculiarly civilized - especially gentle and kindly of disposition to their
fellowmen. This is not the case. Many of them are extremely narrow and
cold-hearted, have no good feeling for any class but their own, are distant -
even hostile to all others; call them useless; seem to question their right to
exist; seem to grudge them the very air they breathe, and to think the
circumstance of their eating, drinking, and living in decent houses, quite
unjustifiable. They do not know what others do in the way of helping, pleasing,
or teaching their race; they will not trouble themselves to inquire: whoever is
not in trade is accused of eating the bread of idleness, of passing a useless
existence. Long may it be ere England really becomes a nation of shopkeepers!
    We have already said that Moore was no self-sacrificing patriot, and we have
also explained what circumstances rendered him specially prone to confine his
attention and efforts to the furtherance of his individual interest;
accordingly, when he felt himself urged a second time to the brink of ruin, none
struggled harder than he against the influences which would have thrust him
over. What he could do towards stirring agitation in the north against the war,
he did, and he instigated others whose