Great Britain -- Social conditions -- 19th century; Social problems
These are the kind of men we want; these, the nearest possible
approximation to these, are the men we must find and have, or go
bankrupt altogether; for the concern as it is will evidently not hold
long together. How true is this of Crabbe: "Men sit in Parliament
eighty-three hours per week, debating about many things. Men sit in
Downing Street, doing protocols, Syrian treaties, Greek questions,
Portuguese, Spanish, French, Egyptian and AEthiopian questions;
dexterously writing despatches, and having the honor to be. Not a
question of them is at all pressing in comparison with the English
question. Pacifico the miraculous Gibraltar Jew has been hustled by some
populace in Greece:--upon him let the British Lion drop, very rapidly
indeed, a constitutional tear. Radetzky is said to be advancing upon
Milan;--I am sorry to hear it, and perhaps it does deserve a despatch,
or friendly letter, once and away: but the Irish Giant, named of
Despair, is advancing upon London itself, laying waste all English
cities, towns and villages; that is the interesting Government despatch
of the day! I notice him in Piccadilly, blue-visaged, thatched in rags,
a blue child on each arm; hunger-driven, wide-mouthed, seeking whom he
may devour: he, missioned by the just Heavens, too truly and too sadly
their 'divine missionary' come at last in this authoritative manner,
will throw us all into Doubting Castle, I perceive! That is the
phenomenon worth protocolling about, and writing despatches upon, and
thinking of with all one's faculty day and night, if one wishes to have
the honor to be--anything but a Phantasm Governor of England just now!
I entreat your Lordship's all but undivided attention to that Domestic
Irish Giant, named of Despair, for a great many years to come. Prophecy
of him there has long been; but now by the rot of the potato (blessed be
the just gods, who send us either swift death or some beginning of
cure at last!), he is here in person, and there is no denying him, or
disregarding him any more; and woe to the public watchman that ignores
him, and sees Pacifico the Gibraltar Jew instead!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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