130
LESBIA NEWMAN.
steamer which carried them over the water to Queenstown.
Yet the unwitting lords of misrule who were guiding England thither were not exceptionally remiss nor stupid. They were not less conscientious than other men, but their official conscience was for place and power. The inherent badness of the ends for which they had been called to office left no worthier motives any scope; it paralysed their efforts for improvement, and destroyed their sense of proportion in government and legislation; in a word, it made them consummate Bunglers all round; and for this, as will afterwards appear, those responsible for the state of things over which they presided, had to bear the penalties equally.
