The reasons which induced him
to alter his mind were, in the first place, the piety, methodistic
most of it, which was then mixed up with politics; and secondly, a
growing fierceness of temper, which made the cause of the people a
religion. From 1816 downwards it may be questioned whether he would
not have felt himself more akin with any of his democratic friends,
who were really in earnest over the great struggle, than with a sleek
half Tory professor of the gospel, however orthodox he might have
been. In 1816 the situation of the working classes had become almost
intolerable. Towards the end of the year wheat rose to a quarter,
and incendiarism was common all over England. A sense of insecurity
and terror took possession of everybody. Secret outrages, especially
fires by night, chill the courage of the bravest, as those know well
enough who have lived in an agricultural county, when, just before
going to bed, great lights are seen on the horizon; when men and
women collect on bridges or on hill tops, asking "Where is it?" and
when fire-engines tearing through the streets arrive useless at their
journey's end because the hose has been cut.
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