, the "big wigs."

These are the ones who fatten on the estimates, the root of the evil
lying concealed under the snugly-cushioned fauteuils of cabinet
ministers and their pampered placeholders and hunters--not, beneath the
straight-backed horsehair chairs of miserable clerks. It is unmanly
thus for giants to gird at pigmies!

I would advise all the clerks in the various Government offices to form
a "union," in order to obtain redress for their wrongs; and to "strike,"
if needs be--you know, that strikes are all the rage now!

You demur to my argument? It would be a conspiracy, you say?

Dear me! You are quite wrong, I assure you. A conspiracy is only a
conspiracy so long as it is unsuccessful. When it is triumphant, it is
known no longer by that term!

Then, it is styled a "Revolution," or a "Restoration," or a "Grand Party
Triumph," as the case may be. Just in the same way, is a man a
"traitor," or a "patriot," who tries to serve his country, according to
his lights, as he is either defeated in his purpose, or victorious.
Besides, when men thus work together in a body, their words and deeds,
although identically the same, are regarded in a different light to the
words and deeds of mere individuals. In the one case they may be grand
and glorious; in the other, they are stigmatised, perhaps, as
insignificant, and, indeed, often criminal.

Witness, how a robber on a large scale, such as a privateersman
confiscating the goods of an innocent merchant, or a chancellor of the
exchequer putting his hand into a poor taxpayer's pocket, is held up in
history to the admiration and honour of posterity; while, a petty thief,
who may steal the watch of Dives, or a starving wretch, who snatches a
loaf out of a baker's shop, gets sent to the treadmill--_their_ actions
being only chronicled in the police news of the day.

Or, again, look at your colossal murderer, like the Kaiser "Thanks to
Providence," when he prosecuted the invasion of a neighbouring country
the other day, in defiance of his kingly word--as published in a public
proclamation, bearing his signature.

He sacrificed thousands of lives in furtherance of his own ambition;
but, he is a "conqueror," bless you! A hero, to whom men bow the knee
and cry, "Ave, Caesar!"--Your puny villain, on the other hand, who only
cuts one unfortunate throat, is hung!

"Circumstances alter cases," runs the saying:--it should more properly
be, the light in which we view them