But when he ended
by telling them that they could have no right to call themselves a
free people till every legislator in the country was elected by the
votes of the people, another murmur was heard through the hall.
"I told you," said he waxing more and more energetic, as he felt
the opposition which he was bound to overcome, "that what I had to
say to you would not be pleasant. If you cannot endure to hear me,
let us break up and go away. In that case I must tell my friends at
home that the tender ears of a British audience cannot bear rough
words from American lips. And yet if you think of it we have borne
rough words from you and have borne them with good-humour." Again
he paused, but as none rose from their seats he went on,
"Proceeding from hereditary legislature I come to hereditary
property. It is natural that a man should wish to give to his
children after his death the property which he has enjoyed during
their life. But let me ask any man here who has not been born an
eldest son himself, whether it is natural that he should wish to
give it all to one son. Would any man think of doing so, by the
light of his own reason,--out of his own head as we say? Would any
man be so unjust to those who are equal in his love, where he not
constrained by law, and by custom more iron-handed even than the
law?" The Senator had here made a mistake very common with
Americans, and a great many voices were on him at once.
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