394 ON UNVEILING THE STATUE OF 



this subject, if haply a gleam might be discerned show- 

 ing the way towards amelioration. Braver or wiser 

 words were never addressed to the aristocracy of England 

 than those addressed to them by Carlyle. Braver or 

 wiser words were never addressed to the Radicalism of 

 England than those uttered by the same strenuous 

 spirit. He saw clearly the iniquity of the Corn Laws, 

 and his condemnation fell upon them, like the stone of 

 Scripture, grinding them to powder. With equal clear- 

 ness he saw the vanity of expecting political wisdom 

 from intellectual ignorance, however backed by num- 

 bers. It was like digging for diamonds in Thames 

 mud. Hence the pressing need of public education, 

 and hence his powerful advocacy, in advance, of what 

 his friend Forster has, in these later days, in great part 

 realised. He urged the necessity of an organised 

 system of emigration, and it might have been well had 

 his prevision been translated long ago into action. But 

 though, as regards these and other matters, he uttered 

 his views with a strength and clearness peculiar to him- 

 self, his aim, politically, was rather to elevate and en- 

 noble public life generally than to enunciate special 

 measures. His influence went far beyond the sphere 

 of politics. No man of his day and generation threw 

 so much of resolution and moral elevation into the 

 hearts and lives of the young. Concerning the claims 

 of duty and the dignity of work, never man spake like 

 this man. A friend and I agreed some time ago to 

 describe him as ' dynamic,' not ' didactic ' — a spiritual 

 force, which warmed, moved, and invigorated, but which 

 refused to be clipped into precepts. He desired truth 

 in the inward parts. To the Sham, however highly 

 placed and run after, his language was : ' Depart hence, 

 in the Devil's name, unworshipped by at least one man, 

 and leave the thoroughfare clear.' But his spirit leaped 



