"That's right, my lad!" said one of the crowd; "the bloody rascals have not had two Leicester recruits these two years; and I hope they'll never have another." "No, no, our eyes are getting opened," said another working-man; "they may be able to kill us off by starvation, at home; but I hope young and old will have too much sense, in future, to give or sell their bodies to be shot at, for tyrants." "Ay, ay, we should soon set the lordlings fast, if all working-men refused to go for soldiers," said another. "So we should, Smith," said a sedate-looking elderly man; "that's more sensible than talking of fighting when we've no weapons, nor money to buy 'em, nor strength to use 'em." "Then we shall wait a long while for the Charter, if we wait till we get it by leaving 'em no soldiers to keep us down," said a young, bold-looking man, with a fiery look; "for they'll always find plenty of Johnny Raws ready to list in the farming districts." "And we shall wait a longer while still if we try to get it by fighting, under our present circumstances," answered the elderly man, in a firm tone; "that could only make things worse, as all such fool's tricks have ended, before." "You're right, Randal, you're right!" cried several voices in the crowd; and the advocate of the bugbear "physical force" said not another word on the subject. "No, no, lads!" continued the "moral force" man, "let us go on, telling 'em our minds, without whispering,—and let us throw off their cursed priestcraft,—and the system will come to an end,—and before long. But fighting tricks would be sure to fail; because they're the strongest,—and they know it." "Yes, it must end,—and very soon," observed another working-man; "the shopkeepers won't be long before they join us; for they begin to squeak, most woefully." "The shopkeepers, lad!" said the dark-looking man, who had confronted the soldier; "never let us look for their help: there is not a spark of independence in any of 'em: they have had it in their power, by their votes, to have ended misrule, before now, if they had had the will." "Poor devils! they're all fast at their bankers', and dare no more vote against their tyrants than they dare attempt to fly," said another. "There is no dependence on any of the middle class," said the dark-looking man; "they are as bad as the aristocrats. You see this last winter has passed over, entirely, without any subscription for the poor, again,—as severe a winter as it has been." "Ay, and work scarcer and scarcer, every day," said another. "They say there are eight hundred out o'work now, in Leicester," said the elderly, sedate man, who had spoken before; "and I heard a manufacturer say there would be twice as many before the summer went over: but he added, that the people deserved to be pinched, since they would not join the Corn Law Repealers." A burst of indignation, and some curses and imprecations, followed. "Does he go to chapel?" asked one.