the great assembly, had conquered
them by sheer force of will; in a battle of one will against thousands
the one had conquered, and would hold its own till it had administered
the hard home-thrust which would make the thousands wince and retaliate.

Now, under the power of that "sledge-hammer Saxon," that marvelously
graphic picture of misery and bereavement, hard-headed, and hitherto
hard hearted men were crying like children. Then came the rugged
unvarnished statement shouted forth in the speaker's sternest voice.

"All this is being done in your name, men of England! Not only in your
name, but at your cost! You are responsible for this bloodshed, this
misery! How long is it to go on? How long are you free men going to
allow yourselves to be bloody executioners? How long are you to be
slavish followers of that grasping ambition which veils its foulness
under the fair name of patriotism?"

Loud murmurs began to arise at this, and the orator knew that the ground
swell betokened the coming storm. He proceeded with tenfold energy, his
words came down like hailstones, with a fiery indignation he delivered
his mighty philippic, in a torrent of forceful words he launched out the
most tremendous denunciation he had ever uttered.

The string had been gradually worked up to its highest possible
tension; at length when the strain was the greatest it suddenly snapped.
Raeburn's will had held all those thousands in check; he had kept his
bitterest enemies hanging on his words; he had lashed them into fury,
and still kept his grip over them; he had worked them up, gaining more
and more power over them, till at length, as he shouted forth the last
words of a grand peroration, the bitterness and truth of his accusations
proved keener than his restraining influence.

He had foreseen that the spell would break, and he knew the instant
it was broken. A moment before, and he had been able to sway that huge
crowd as he pleased; now he was at their mercy. No will power, no force
of language, no strength of earnestness or truth would avail him now.
All that he had to trust to was his immense physical strength, and what
was that when measured against thousands?

He saw the dangerous surging movement in the sea of heads, and knew only
too well what it betokened. With a frightful yell of mingled hatred
and execration, the seething human mass bore down upon him! His own
followers and friends did what they could for him, but that was very