hemselves to be the 'steel of the
lance'; the men who formulated and deliberately defended the
principles which were beginning to conquer the world.

The Utilitarians, I have said, became a political force in the
concluding years of the great war struggle. The catastrophe of the
revolution had unchained a whole whirlwind of antagonisms. The
original issues had passed out of sight; and great social,
industrial, and political changes were in progress which made the
nation that emerged from the war a very different body from the nation
that had entered it nearly a generation before. It is not surprising
that at first very erroneous estimates were made of the new position
when peace at last returned.

The Radicals, who had watched on one side the growth of debt and
pauperism, and, on the other hand, the profits made by stockjobbers,
landlords, and manufacturers, ascribed all the terrible sufferings to
the selfish designs of the upper classes. When the war ended they
hoped that the evils would diminish, while the pretext for
misgovernment would be removed. A bitter disappointment followed. The
war was followed by widespread misery. Plenty meant ruin to
agriculturists, and commercial 'gluts' resulting in manufacturers'
warehouses crammed with unsaleable goods. The discontent caused by
misery had been encountered during the war by patriotic fervour. It
was not a time for redressing evils, when the existence of the nation
was at stake. Now that the misery continued, and the excuse for
delaying redress had been removed, a demand arose for parliamentary
reform. Unfortunately discontent led also to sporadic riotings, to
breaking of machinery and burning of ricks. The Tory government saw in
these disturbances a renewal of the old Jacobin spirit, and had
visions--apparently quite groundless--of widespread conspiracies and
secret societies ready to produce a ruin of all social order. It had
recourse to the old repressive measures, the suspension of the Habeas
Corpus Act, the passage of the 'Six Acts,' and the prosecution of
popular agitators. Many observers fancied that the choice lay between
a servile insurrection and the establishment of arbitrary power.

By degrees, however, peace brought back prosperity. Things settled
down; commerce revived; and the acute distress passed away. The whole
nation went mad over the wrongs of Queen Caroline; and the demand for
political reform became for the time less intense. But it soon
appeare