He had not lost
belief in the pamphlet, as a channel for spreading ideas. He liked it, as
he liked a well-thumbed book which, being opened at a page, so remained,
instead of shutting with a snap. And of his venture, which never came
off, he meditated, 'Might it not do good? They don't seem, even now, to
understand all these matters--the real human nature of them. You hear
talk of politics when it isn't politics at all, but men and women and
children. Proceed on that principle and difficulties will quickly
disappear.' He sought to brush aside any veil of words, of terms, which
might confuse and darken problems.
His study-story of some Irish estate, granted by Queen Elizabeth to an
English nobleman, showed how language might determine history. He noted
there, a force at work that tended to cloud the mind and influence the
imagination, in considering such affairs. The estate was called 'a
princely property,' and the new holder was the 'aristocratic owner of the
soil.' He had 'extensive lands in England;' perhaps he had 'the most
beautiful demesne' and 'the finest mansion' in that country. If the
Elizabethan landlord, planted in Ireland, drove along the high road, he
was described as the 'noble occupant of the carriage.' Did he spend, on
the improvement of his property, a little of the wealth won by the toil,
privation, and suffering of others, why, he was credited with 'unbounded
liberality.
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