long
I have lived to see honourable, upright men deprived of what was
rightfully theirs, driven from their livelihood by the rapacity of those
who strive to concentrate the wealth and power of the nation into their
hands. I have seen this power gathering strength, stretching its arm
little by little over the institutions I fought to preserve, and which
I cherish over our politics, over our government, yes, and even over
our courts. I have seen it poisoning the business honour in which we
formerly took such a pride, I have seen it reestablishing a slavery
more pernicious than that which millions died to efface. I have seen
it compel a subservience which makes me ashamed, as an American, to
witness."

His glance, a withering moral scorn, darted from under the grizzled
eyebrows and alighted on one man after another, and none met it. Everett
Constable coughed, Wallis Plimpton shifted his position, the others sat
like stones. Asa Waring was giving vent at last to the pent-up feelings
of many years.

"And now that power, which respects nothing, has crept into the
sanctuary of the Church. Our rector recognizes it, I recognize
it,--there is not a man here who, in his heart, misunderstands me. And
when a man is found who has the courage to stand up against it, I honour
him with all my soul, and a hope that was almost dead revives in me. For
there is one force, and one force alone, able to overcome the power of
which I speak,--the Spirit of Christ. And the mission of the Church is
to disseminate that spirit. The Church is the champion on which we
have to rely, or give up all hope of victory. The Church must train the
recruits. And if the Church herself is betrayed into the hands of the
enemy, the battle is lost.

"If Mr. Hodder is forced out of this church, it would be better to lock
the doors. St. John's will be held up, and rightfully, to the scorn of
the city. All the money in the world will not save her. Though crippled,
she has survived one disgrace, when she would not give free shelter to
the man who above all others expressed her true spirit, when she drove
Horace Bentley from her doors after he had been deprived of the fortune
which he was spending for his fellow-men. She will not survive another.

"I have no doubt Mr. Parr's motion to take from Mr. Hodder his living
will go through. And still I urge him not to resign. I am not a rich
man, even when such property as I have is compared to moderate fortunes
of these d