Volume Iii Part 14 (1/2)

'By all means.'

'If in the mult.i.tude of counsellors there is safety, the England of to-day has little to fear, in spite of the undeniable facts that she is losing her trade and commerce, that her national debt seems impossible of payment, that her expenditure increases as her income declines, and that the unemployed and pauper cla.s.s threaten, like the lean kine Joseph saw in his dream, to swallow up all the rest. As long as I can remember I have heard statesmen, and clergymen of all denominations, and politicians of all creeds, say something must be done; and they are still saying it in the most hopeless of tones, and with air the most dejected. We have not had our French Revolution yet. At the worst, the hungry mobs have contented themselves with an occasional raid on an unfortunate butcher or baker, or on some imprudent jeweller, whose attractive windows have proved too strong a temptation for the h.o.r.n.y-handed. In the meanwhile, people of a hopeful turn of mind tell us-and truly-that the working cla.s.ses were never better off, better paid, or better fed. But still, somehow or other, it is apparent that outside of the hopeless pauperism which the idiotic legislation of our fathers has called into existence-outside the depraved, whom drink and dishonesty have removed from the ranks of labour, to swell the bitter cry which ever ascends from city slums, where all foul things congregate, and where decent life is impossible-there are hundreds, nay, thousands, who are ready to work, but for whom, though to seek it they rise early and sit up late, no work is to be had. Is there any hope for such? Are they to be uncared for till they have lost all heart, and sink down to the pit of misery and despair, never more, till death comes to them as a friend, to rise again? Is it not time that we think of them? In Ireland, a hundred patriots would have rent the air with the story of their wrongs. In England, we take small note of them. Yet they are our flesh and blood, with honest hearts and hands. A scheme has been devised for their benefit. That it is worth a trial, few who can examine it can doubt.

'The idea of this new remedy is that, now when agricultural land is to be had for next to nothing, farms should be bought on which home colonies may be planted, and labour provided sufficient for self-support.

'The fact is,' said Wentworth, 'we have rather a grand scheme in view. A gentleman is ready to purchase land in America or Canada or one of the Colonies; to plant it with poor people who can find no work at home, nor are likely to do so, if they stop here all their lives. And he wants me to go out as manager; I am quite ready to do so. And Rose is anxious for the experiment to be tried-indeed, far more so than myself.'

'That is a matter of course-novelty has always charms for woman.'

'And woman,' said Rose, 'is always ready to lend a helping hand to any philanthropic scheme.'

'Well, it requires a good deal of thinking about.'

'And we have thought about it long,' said Wentworth; 'and the more we think about it the better we like it. But we want you to accompany us.'

'In what capacity?'

'As medical man.'

'And you think I would turn my back on London, and give up my easy life, to undertake all this responsibility?'

'Well, I don't see why you should not,' said Wentworth. 'You are not doing much good here, you know.'

'And why should I, when everyone is fussing about doing good and in the meantime doing a great deal of mischief, interfering with the working of the unalterable laws of the universe, was.h.i.+ng blackamoors white, trying to make empty sacks stand upright?'

'Yes, but we are going to do nothing of the kind. We are only finding homes and work for men and women who can find in the old country neither the one nor the other-to save them from sinking into hopeless pauperism, to help them to live happy and healthful lives. What have you to say against our scheme?'

'Really, now I think about it, I can't say anything against it, supposing that you have a proper site for the experiment, that you take proper people, and that you have sufficient capital to make a fair start.'

'Oh, as to that, everything has been provided for. Each colonist will have a bit of ground, which he will pay for in time by his labour. We intend working on the old lines, not to be led away by communistic ideas.

Each man will do the best he can for himself, and in so doing will be best for all. What do you think, Buxton, of the scheme?'

'Why, like all her ladys.h.i.+p's ideas, it is excellent.'

'Pretty flatterer!' said Rose.

'He wants to cut me out,' said Wentworth. 'He was always envious of my superior abilities.'

'As he had every reason to be,' said Rose.

'Come, that's too bad,' said Buxton, turning to Rose, 'after the way in which I b.u.t.tered you up just now. Two to one ain't fair. But to return to business.'

'Hear, hear,' said Wentworth.

'If I had a family-which, thank Heaven, I have not-I would not stop in England a day. If I had a lad to plant out in the world as you have, I'd send him off to America or the Colonies to-morrow.'

'Because?'

'Because it's all up in old England in the first place; and in the second place, because if it were not so, the New World offers better opportunities for a young fellow than the old. May I dwell upon these topics?'

'Certainly, by all means.'