ittle; usually wastes
how much! One of its worst kinds of waste, to say nothing of the
rest, is that of irritating and exasperating men against each
other, by violence done; which is always sure to be injustice
done, for violence does even justice unjustly.

Who shall compute the waste and loss, the obstruction of every
sort, that was produced in the Manchester region by Peterloo
alone! Some thirteen unarmed men and women cut down,--the number
of the slain and maimed is very countable: but the treasury of
rage, burning hidden or visible in all hearts ever since, more or
less perverting the effort and aim of all hearts ever since, is
of unknown extent. "How ye came among us, in your cruel armed
blindness, ye unspeakable County Yeomanry, sabres flourishing,
hoofs prancing, and slashed us down at your brute pleasure;
deaf, blind to all _our_ claims and woes and wrongs; of quick
sight and sense to your own claims only! There lie poor sallow
workworn weavers, and complain no more now; women themselves are
slashed and sabred, howling terror fills the air; and ye ride
prosperous, very victorious,--ye unspeakable: give us sabres
too, and then come-on a little!" Such are Peterloos. In
all hearts that witnessed Peterloo, stands written, as in
fire-characters, or smoke-characters prompt to become fire again,
a legible balance-account of grim vengeance; very unjustly
balanced, much exaggerated, as is the way with such accounts;
but payable readily at sight, in full with compound interest!
Such things should be avoided as the very pestilence. For men's
hearts ought not to be set against one another; but set _with_
one another, and all against the Evil Thing only. Men's souls
ought to be left to see clearly; not jaundiced, blinded, twisted
all awry, by revenge, mutual abhorrence, and the like. An
Insurrection that can announce the disease, and then retire with
no such balance-account opened anywhere, has attained the highest
success possible for it.

And this was what these poor Manchester operatives, with all the
darkness that was in them and round them, did manage to perform.
They put their huge inarticulate question, "What do you mean to
do with us?" in a manner audible to every reflective soul in this
kingdom; exciting deep pity in all good men, deep anxiety in all
men whatever; and no conflagration or outburst of madness came
to cloud that feeling anywhere, but everywhere it operates
unclouded. All Eng