He was thinking of going back to his old work upon the Union.

"Parliament is played out," he had written her.

"Kings and Aristocracies have served their purpose and have gone, and now the Ruling Classes, as they call themselves, must be content to hear the bell toll for them also.

Parliament was never anything more than an instrument in their hands, and never can be.

What happens?
Once in every five years you wake the people up: tell them the time has come for them to exercise their Heaven-ordained privilege of putting a cross against the names of some seven hundred gentlemen who have kindly expressed their willingness to rule over them.