dees canter on their splendid Arabs along Rotten Ron, the
Bois de Boulogne, the Prospect, the Prater, or Unter den Linden. The
shopkeepers, and all who save money, bow low to these men, who represent
their savings, which they will never again see under any other form.
Proof against sarcasms, sure of the respect of the Continental Press,
protecting each other with a sort of freemasonry, the financiers dictate
laws, determine the fate of nations, and render the cleverest political
combinations abortive. They are everywhere received and listened to, and
all the Cabinets feel their influence. Governments watch them with
uneasiness, and even the Iron Chancellor has his gilded Egeria, who
reports to him the wishes of this the sole modern Autocrat"--_Letter
from Paris Correspondent_, "_Times_," _30th January_, 1885.

* * * * *

181. But to this statement, I must add the one made to Sec. 149 (see note)
of "Munera Pulveris," that if we could trace the innermost of all causes
of modern war, they would be found, not in the avarice or ambition, but
the idleness of the upper classes. "They have nothing to do but to teach
the peasantry to kill each other"--while that the peasantry are thus
teachable, is further again dependent on their not having been educated
primarily in the common law of justice. See again "Munera Pulveris,"
Appendix I.: "Precisely according to the number of just men in a nation
is their power of avoiding either intestine or foreign war."

I rejoice to see my old friend Mr. Sillar gathering finally together the
evidence he has so industriously collected on the guilt of usury, and
supporting it by the always impressive language of symbolical art;[136]
for indeed I had myself no idea, till I read the connected statement
which these pictures illustrate, how steadily the system of
money-lending had gained on the nation, and how fatally every hand and
foot was now entangled by it. Yet in commending the study of this book
to every virtuous and patriotic Englishman, I must firmly remind the
reader, that all these sins and errors are only the branches from one
root of bitterness--mortal Pride. For this we gather, for this we war,
for this we die--here and hereafter; while all the while the Wisdom
which is from above stands vainly teaching us the way to Earthly Riches
and to Heavenly Peace, "What doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but
to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk _humbly_ wi