Suppose, by unlawful methods, one could succeed in dragging
a reform a little prematurely from the womb of time, did not one endanger
the child's health? Of what value was woman's influence on public
affairs going to be, if she was to boast that she had won the right to
exercise it by unscrupulousness and brutality?
They were to be found at every corner: the reformers who could not reform
themselves. The believers in universal brotherhood who hated half the
people. The denouncers of tyranny demanding lamp-posts for their
opponents. The bloodthirsty preachers of peace. The moralists who had
persuaded themselves that every wrong was justified provided one were
fighting for the right. The deaf shouters for justice. The excellent
intentioned men and women labouring for reforms that could only be hoped
for when greed and prejudice had yielded place to reason, and who sought
to bring about their ends by appeals to passion and self-interest.
And the insincere, the self-seekers, the self-advertisers! Those who
were in the business for even coarser profit! The lime-light lovers who
would always say and do the clever, the unexpected thing rather than the
useful and the helpful thing: to whom paradox was more than principle.
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