to--"no, fellow-citizens, he never had
that honour, and never will have it, until by a just division of his
property, or what he now _calls_ his property, you reduce him to the
necessity of labouring to raise the crops he wants to consume."

"Where is this Hugh Littlepage at this very moment? In Paris,
squandering _your_ hard earnings in riotous living, according to the
best standards of aristocracy. He lives in the midst of abundance,
dresses richly and fares richly, while _you_ and _yours_ are eating the
sweat of your brows. He is no man for a pewter spoon and two-pronged
fork! No, my countrymen! He must have a _gold_ spoon for some of his
dishes, and you will find it hard to believe--plain, unpretending,
republican farmers as you are, but it is not the less true--he must have
forks of _silver_! Fellow-citizens, Hugh Littlepage would not put his
knife into his mouth, as you and I do, in eating--as all plain,
unpretending republicans do--for the world. It would choke him; no, he
keeps _silver_ forks to touch his anointed lips!" Here there was an
attempt to get up something like applause, but it totally failed. The
men of Ravensnest had been accustomed all their lives to see the
Littlepages in the social station they occupied; and, after all, it did
not seem so very extraordinary that we should have silver forks, any
more than that others should have silver spoons. The lecturer had the
tact to see that he had failed on this point, and he turned to another.

The next onset was made against our title. Whence did it come? demanded
the lecturer. From the king of England; and the people had conquered the
country from that sovereign, and put themselves in his place. Now, is it
not a good principle in politics, that to the victors belong the spoils?
He believed it was; and that in conquering America, he was of opinion
that the people of America had conquered the land, and that they had a
right to take the land, and to keep it. Titles from kings he did not
respect much; and he believed the American people, generally, did not
think much of them. If Hugh Littlepage wished an "estate," as he called
it, let him come to the people and "sarve _them_," and see what sort of
an estate _they_ would give him.

But there was one portion of his speech which was so remarkable, that I
must attempt to give it, as it was uttered. It was while the lecturer
was expatiating on this subject of titles, that he broke out in the
following language:-