Harold J. Laski: “Intrigue, a sudden dislike, some backstairs piece of gossip, here is the real root of great changes.”

But we cannot understand the eighteenth century, or its theories, unless we realize that its temper was still dominantly aristocratic.

But when trade unions seek for what they regard as justice, one of their most powerful sources of strength is the awakening of the slow and inert public to a sense of the position.

Wilkes was a sign that the populace was slowly awaking to a sense of its own power.

How could it seek security where it defied the desires of the vast majority of its subjects?