daughter. The other gentlemen, also, looked rather glum; and for many
moments not a word was spoken; when the other young lady, who had not
yet spoken, after glancing round on the gentlemen in seeming
expectation that those better reasons would be given, at length
ventured to remark,--

"Well, for my part, it is enough for me that my friends all belong to
the loyal party; and whatever might be said, I know I should always
feel that they were in the right, and their opposers in the wrong."

"And in that, Jane, I think you are wise," responded Jones, with an
approving smile. "The complaints of these disaffected people are based
on mistaken notions. They are too ill informed, I fear, to appreciate
the justice and necessity of the measures of our ministers, or to
understand very clearly what they are quarrelling about."

"Ah, that is it," warmly responded Haviland. "That is what I have
always said of them. They don't understand their own rights, or what
is for their own good, and should be treated accordingly. And I think
some of our leading men miss it in trying to reason with them. Reason
with them! Ridiculous! As if the common people could understand an
argument!"

"You are perfectly right, squire," responded Peters, with eager
promptness. "My own experience among the lower classes fully confirms
your opinion. My business, for several years past, has brought me
often in contact with them, in a certain quarter; and I have found
them not only ignorant of what properly belongs to their own rights
and privileges, but jealous and obstinate to a degree that is
excessively annoying."