They do not see what is the matter with the poor man; and the proof of it is, sir, that the poor have no confidence in them.

They'll take their alms, but they'll hardly take their schooling, and their advice they won't take at all.

And why is it, sir?
Because the poor have got in their heads in these days a strange confused fancy, maybe, but still a deep and a fierce one, that they haven't got what they call their rights.

If you were to raise the wages of every man in this country from nine to twelve shillings a-week to-morrow, you wouldn't satisfy them; at least, the only ones whom you would satisfy would be the mere hogs among them, who, as long as they can get a full stomach, care for nothing else.' 'What, in Heaven's name, do they want ?' asked Lancelot.
'They hardly know yet, sir; but they know well what they don't want.

The question with them, sir, believe me, is not so much, How shall we get better fed and better housed, but whom shall we depend upon for our food and for our house?
Why should we depend on the will and fancy of any man for our rights?
They are asking ugly questions among themselves, sir, about what those two words, rent and taxes, mean, and about what that same strange word, freedom, means.