of the alphabet are still runic enigmas to him. He passes by on the
other side; and that great spiritual kingdom, the toil-won conquest of
his own brothers, all that his brothers have conquered, is a thing not
extant for him. An invisible empire; he knows it not--suspects it not.
And is not this his withal; the conquest of his own brothers, the
lawfully acquired possession of all men? Baleful enchantment lies over
him, from generation to generation; he knows not that such an empire
is his--that such an empire is his at all.... Heavier wrong is not
done under the sun. It lasts from year to year, from century to
century; the blinded sire slaves himself out, and leaves a blinded
son; and men, made in the image of God, continue as two-legged beasts
of labour: and in the largest empire of the world it is a debate
whether a small fraction of the revenue of one day shall, after
thirteen centuries, be laid out on it, or not laid out on it. Have we
governors? Have we teachers? Have we had a Church these thirteen
hundred years? What is an overseer of souls, an archoverseer,
archiepiscopus? Is he something? If so, let him lay his hand on his
heart and say what thing!'

Nor was the man who in 1843 wrote as follows altogether at sea in
politics:

'Of Time Bill, Factory Bill, and other such Bills, the present editor
has no authority to speak. He knows not, it is for others than he to
know, in what specific ways it may be feasible to interfere with
legislation between the workers and the master-workers--knows only and
sees that legislative interference, and interferences not a few, are
indispensable. Nay, interference has begun; there are already factory
inspectors. Perhaps there might be mine inspectors too. Might there
not be furrow-field inspectors withal, to ascertain how, on _7s.