would-let-well-alone

Updated: July 4, 2026

First a vehement protest against the doctrine of Laissez faire; which, he says, "on the part of the governing classes will, we repeat again and again, have to cease; pacific mutual divisions of the spoil and a would-let-well-alone will no longer suffice": a doctrine to which he is disposed to trace the Trades Union wars, of which he failed to see the issue.

John Nichol - Thomas Carlyle