thy,
without waiting my summons, had leapt to his feet and burst into an
impassioned harangue. With flashing eyes and passionate gestures he
delivered himself as follows, his Irish accent contrasting pleasantly
with that of the last speaker.

"May God forgive me," he cried, "that ever I have called myself a
socialist, if this is what socialism means! But it does not! I will
rescue the word! I will reclaim it for its ancient nobler
sense--socialism the dream of the world, the light of the grail on the
marsh, the mystic city of Sarras, the vale of Avalon! Socialism the
soul of liberty, the bond of brotherhood, the seal of equality! Who is
he that with sacrilegious hands would seize our Ariel and prison him in
that tree of iniquity the State? Day is not farther from night, nor
Good from Evil, than the socialism of the Revolution from this of the
desk and the stool, from this enemy wearing our uniform and flaunting
our coat of arms. For nigh upon a century we have fought for liberty;
and now they would make us gaolers to bind our own souls. 1789, 1830,
1848--are these dates branded upon our hearts, only to stamp us as
patient sheep in the flock of bureaucracy? No! They are the symbols
of the spirit; and those whom they set apart, outcasts from the
kingdoms of this world and citizens of the kingdom of God, wherever
they wander are living flames to consume institutions and laws, and to
light in the hearts of men the fires of pity and wrath and love. Our
city is not built with Blue books, nor cemented with office dust; nor
is it bonds of red-tape that make and keep it one. No! it is the
attraction, uncompelled, of spirits made free; the shadowing into
outward form of the eternal joy of the soul!"

He paused and seemed to collect himself; and then in a quieter tone:
"Socialism," he proceeded, "is one with anarchy! I know the terrors of
that word; but they are the terrors of an evil conscience; for it is
only an order founded on iniquity that dreads disorder. Why do you
fear for your property and lives, you who fear anarchy? It is because
you have stolen the one and misdevoted the other; because you have
created by your laws the man you call the criminal; because you have
bred hunger, and hunger has bred rage. For this I do not blame you,
any more than I blame myself. You are yourselves victims of the system
you maintain, and your enemy, no less than mine, if you knew it, is
government. For government means