78 



school. Now I cannot believe so ill of them as this. 

 Still, Mr. Hughes knows his friends better than I 

 do. When Foote, the actor and buffoon, was taken 

 by an aristocratic acquaintance to one of his parties, 

 where were collected a number of his friends, he 

 good naturedly said, " Mr. Foote, your handkerchief 

 is hanging- out of your pocket." u Thank you, my 

 Lord," said Foote, looking* round suspiciously and 

 thrusting- his handkerchief down to the bottom of 

 his pocket, " Thank you, my Lord, you know your 

 friends- better than I do." So Mr. Hug-hes oug-ht 

 to be right. Now, I know very well, that the un- 

 cultivated classes are narrow-minded and short- 

 sighted, and therefore unmitigated protectionists. 

 I know they are pugnacious in disposition, and 

 therefore prone to war. I know that their views 

 about property are apt to be (to say the least of it) 

 different from the views generally entertained by the 

 cultivated classes ; and, I know that in connection 

 with their trade unions some terribly ugly stories of 

 tyranny, violence, and brutality are told.* Still, as 

 I say, I cannot bring myself to believe that working 

 men are, as a class, governed by such utter selfish- 

 ness and narrow-minded jealousy as their friend 

 Mr. Hughes gives us to understand. 



By the bye, I often wonder wh} T a man who lives 



in a large town should have a vote and a voice in 



the representation of the country, whilst the man 



who lives in a small village has none. From sta- 



* See Appendix. 



