they were deluding. On the other hand, the Socialist papers (of
which three only, representing somewhat different schools, were
published in London) came out full to the throat of well-printed
matter. They were greedily bought by the whole public, who, of
course, like the Government, expected a manifesto in them. But they
found no word of reference to the great subject. It seemed as if
their editors had ransacked their drawers for articles which would
have been in place forty years before, under the technical name of
educational articles. Most of these were admirable and
straightforward expositions of the doctrines and practice of
Socialism, free from haste and spite and hard words, and came upon
the public with a kind of May-day freshness, amidst the worry and
terror of the moment; and though the knowing well understood that the
meaning of this move in the game was mere defiance, and a token of
irreconcilable hostility to the then rulers of society, and though,
also, they were meant for nothing else by 'the rebels,' yet they
really had their effect as 'educational articles.' However,
'education' of another kind was acting upon the public with
irresistible power, and probably cleared their heads a little.

"As to the Government, they were absolutely terrified by this act of
'boycotting' (the slang word then current for such acts of
abstention). Their counsels became wild and vacillating to the last
degree: one hour they were for giving way for the present till they
could hatch another plot; the next they all but sent an order for the
arrest in the lump of all the workmen's committees; the next they
were on the point of ordering their brisk young general to take any
excuse that offered for another massacre. But when they called to
mind that the soldiery in that 'Battle' of Trafalgar Square were so
daunted by the slaughter which they had made, that they could not be