" He knew them by
heart. "It is the truth," he continued: "you must come to that,
unless you believe in the Divine appointment of dynasties. There is
no logical repose between Lord Liverpool and the Declaration. What
is the real difference between him and you? None but a question of
degree. He does not believe in absolute monarchy, and stays at this
point. You go a little lower. You are both alike. How dare you
say, 'My brother, I am more honest and more religious than you; pay
me half-a-crown and I will spend it for your welfare'? You cannot
tell me that. You know I should have a RIGHT to reject you. I
refuse to be coerced. I prefer freedom to--felicity."
Zachariah was puzzled. He was not one of those persons who can see
no escape from an argument and yet are not convinced; one of those
happy creatures to whom the operations of the intellect are a joke--
who, if they are shown that the three angles of a triangle are equal
to two right angles, decline to disprove it, but act as if they were
but one. To Zachariah the appeal "Where will you stop?" was
generally successful. If his understanding told him he could not
stop, he went on.
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