“But one mustn’t confuse the law of reactions with that of cause and effect,” the Parson went on, “which it is easy to do if you let yourself think sloppily.”

Dan pounced on the point eagerly.  “No, indeed, or it’s all reforms would be only on the secondary plane, instead of which any reform worthy the name is a pure impulse of creation.  I don’t believe any deed, public or private, of the finest calibre can come under the head of the secondary type.”

“Perhaps not,” said Boase, “but it’s all the more important a distinction.  Both the foolish and the criminal deed are less blameworthy if they are the result of some violent reaction, even if the fine deed is the less unalloyed.”

Thinking it over that night with his accustomed honesty, Ishmael came to the conclusion that it was the law of cause and effect, and not the law of reactions, which prompted his new stirrings, and he was as nearly right as any man may be about his own motive power.

CHAPTER VI

THE NATION AND NICKY

The school board was only a beginning, and, though Ishmael never yielded to Dan’s persuasiveness to the extent of standing for Parliament, he took an increasing share in local administration.  Reform was in the air; it was the great time of reforms, when men burned over what would now seem commonplaces, so used are we become to the improvements these men made.

When Gladstone dissolved Parliament in ’74 and made his appeal to the country to reinstate the Liberals, Ishmael boldly made up his mind as to his own convictions and supported the Liberal candidate.  But England was sick of the Liberals, in spite of the reforms of the late Government.  The dread of Home Rule, the defeat of the Ministry over the unpopular Irish Universities Bill, and the ill-feeling aroused by the payment of the fine to the United States for the depredations of the Alabama—­which was to have marked the beginning of a new era when all troubles would be settled by arbitration—­these things had all, though none had loomed as large in the popular imagination as the great Tichborne case, contributed to the weariness felt where Mr. Gladstone was concerned.  Ishmael, unswayed by the childish temper of the nation, based his convictions chiefly upon the condition of the lower classes, which he had too good cause to know was entirely unsatisfactory.  Not all the old English squiredom of Mr. Disraeli—­surely the most incongruous figure of a squire that ever gave prizes to a cap-touching tenantry—­could persuade Ishmael that the labourer might live and rear a family in decency on ten shillings a week.  The labourer had just sprung into prominence in the eyes of the world, but Ishmael had known him intimately for years.  The Ballot Act having been passed in ’72, this election held a charm, a secret excitement, new in political history; but in West Penwith the people were so anxious to impress Ishmael with the fact that they had voted the way he wished, or if it were the Parson whose favour they coveted, to tell that gentleman that the Conservative candidate had had the benefit of their votes, that much of the objective of voting by ballot was lost.  Except, as Ishmael observed, that they were all quite likely to be lying anyway....