"That suit of armour has combated for the people before this,"
said Lord Valentine, "for it stood by Simon de Montfort on the
field of Evesham."
"My lord," said the other delegate, "it is well known that you
come from a great and honoured race; and we have seen enough
to-day to show that in intelligence and spirit you are not
unworthy of your ancestry. But the great question, which your
lordship has introduced, not us, is not to be decided by a
happy instance. Your ancestors may have done great things.
What wonder! They were members of a very limited class which
had the monopoly of action. And the people, have not they
shed their blood in battle, though they may have commanded
fleets less often than your lordship's relatives? And these
mines and canals that you have excavated and constructed,
these woods you have planted, these waters you have drained--
had the people no hand in these creations? What share in
these great works had that faculty of Labour whose sacred
claims we now urge, but which for centuries have been passed
over in contemptuous silence? No, my lord, we call upon you
to decide this question by the result. The Aristocracy of
England have had for three centuries the exercise of power;
for the last century and a half that exercise has been
uncontrolled; they form at this moment the most prosperous
class that the history of the world can furnish: as rich as
the Roman senators, with sources of convenience and enjoyment
which modern science could alone supply.
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