slow rebellion of moral resistance;--too
slow I fear for us." This point was lost upon the audience, and
though the speaker paused, no loud cheer was given. "It's as true as
true," said one man; but he was a vain fellow, simply desirous of
appearing wiser than his comrades. "And then there is the rebellion
of the Strike;" now the clamour of men's voices, and the kicking of
men's feet, and the thumping with men's fists became more frantic
than ever;"--the legitimate rebellion of Labour against its tyrant.
Gentlemen, of all efforts this is the most noble. It is a sacrifice
of self, a martyrdom, a giving up on the part of him who strikes of
himself, his little ones, and his wife, for the sake of others who
can only thus be rescued from the grasp of tyranny. Gentlemen, were
it not for strikes, this would be a country in which no free man
could live. By the aid of strikes we will make it the Paradise of
the labourer, an Elysium of industry, an Eden of artizans." There
was much more of it,--but the reader might be fatigued were the full
flood of Mr. Moggs's oratory to be let loose upon him. And through
it all there was a germ of truth and a strong dash of true, noble
feeling;--but the speaker had omitted as yet to learn how much
thought must be given to a germ of truth before it can be made to
produce fruit for the multitude. And then, in speaking, grand words
come so easily, while thoughts,--even little thoughts,--flow so
slowly!

[Illustration: "The battle has been fought since man first
crawled upon the earth," continued Moggs, stretching himself
to his full height and pointing to the farthest confines of
the inhabited globe . . .]

But the speech, such as it was, sufficed amply for the immediate
wants of the denizens of the Cheshire Cheese. There were men there
who for the half-hour believed that Ontario Moggs had been born to
settle all the difficulties between labourers and their employers,
and that he would do so in such a way that the labourers, at least,
should have all that they wanted. It would be, perhaps, too much to
say that any man thought this would come in his own day,--that he so
believed as to put a personal trust in his own belief; but they did
think for a while that the good time was coming, and that Ontario
Moggs would make it come. "We'll have 'im in parl'ament any ways,"
said a sturdy, short, dirty-looking artizan, who shook his head as
he spoke to show that, on that matter, his mind was quite m