Phineas Finn had thrice before this been chosen to sit in Parliament — twice for the Irish borough9 of Loughshane, and once for the English borough of Loughton; but he had been so happy as hitherto to have known nothing of the miseries10 and occasional hopelessness of a contested election. At Loughton he had come forward as the nominee11 of the Earl of Brentford, and had been returned without any chance of failure by that nobleman’s influence. At Loughshane things had nearly been as pleasant with him. He had almost been taught to think that nothing could be easier than getting into Parliament if only a man could live when he was there. But Loughton and Loughshane were gone, with so many other comfortable things of old days, and now he found himself relegated12 to a borough to which, as it seemed to him, he was sent to fight, not that he might win, but because it was necessary to his party that the seat should not be allowed to be lost without fighting. He had had the pleasant things of parliamentary adventure, and now must undergo those which were unpleasant. No doubt he could have refused, but he had listened to the tempter, and could not now go back, though Mr Ruddles was hardly more encouraging than Mr Molescroft.
“Browborough has been at work for the last three days,” said Mr Ruddles, in a tone of reproach. Mr Ruddles had always thought that no amount of work could be too heavy for his candidates.
“Will that make much difference?” asked Mr Molescroft.
“Well, it does. Of course, he has been among the colliers — when we ought to have been before him.”
“I came when I was told,” said Phineas.
“I’d have telegraphed to you if I’d known where you were. But there’s no help for spilt milk. We must get to work now — that’s all. I suppose you’re for disestablishing the Church?”
“Not particularly,” said Phineas, who felt that with him, as a Roman Catholic, this was a delicate subject.
“We needn’t go into that, need we?” said Mr Molescroft, who, though a Liberal, was a good Churchman.
Mr Ruddles was a Dissenter13, but the very strong opinion which Mr Ruddles now expressed as to the necessity that the new candidate should take up the Church question did not spring at all from his own religious convictions. His present duty called upon him to have a Liberal candidate if possible returned for the borough with which he was connected, and not to disseminate15 the doctrines16 of his own sect17. Nevertheless, his opinion was very strong. “I think we must, Mr Molescroft,” said he; “I’m sure we must. Browborough has taken up the other side. He went to church last Sunday with the Mayor and two of the Aldermen, and I’m told he said all the responses louder than anybody else. He dined with the Vicar of Trinity on Monday, He has been very loud in denouncing Mr Finn as a Roman Catholic, and has declared that everything will be up with the State if Tankerville returns a friend and supporter of the Pope. You’ll find that the Church will be the cry here this election. You can’t get anything by supporting it, but you may make a strong party by pledging yourself to disendowment.”
“Wouldn’t local taxation18 do?” asked Mr Molescroft, who indeed preferred almost any other reform to disendowment.
“I have made up my mind that we must have some check on municipal expenditure,” said Phineas.
“It won’t do — not alone. If I understand the borough, the feeling at this election will altogether be about the Church. You see, Mr Finn, your being a Roman Catholic gives them a handle, and they’re already beginning to use it. They don’t like Roman Catholics here; but if you can manage to give it a sort of Liberal turn — as many of your constituents19 used to do, you know — as though you disliked Church and State rather than cared for the Pope, may be it might act on our side rather than on theirs. Mr Molescroft understands it all.”
“Oh, yes; I understand.”
Mr Ruddles said a great deal more to the same effect, and though Mr Molescroft did not express any acquiescence20 in these views, neither did he dissent14. The candidate said but little at this interview, but turned the matter over in his mind. A seat in Parliament would be but a barren honour, and he could not afford to offer his services for barren honour. Honest political work he was anxious to do, but for what work he did he desired to be paid. The party to which he belonged had, as he knew, endeavoured to avoid the subject of the disendowment of the Church of England. It is the necessary nature of a political party in this country to avoid, as long as it can be avoided, the consideration of any question which involves a great change. There is a consciousness on the minds of leading politicians that the pressure from behind, forcing upon them great measures, drives them almost quicker than they can go, so that it becomes a necessity with them to resist rather than to aid the pressure which will certainly be at last effective by its own strength. The best carriage horses are those which can most steadily21 hold back against the coach as it trundles down the hill. All this Phineas knew, and was of opinion that the Barrington Erles and Ratlers of his party would not thank him for ventilating a measure which, however certain might be its coming, might well be postponed22 for a few years. Once already in his career he had chosen to be in advance of his party, and the consequences had been disastrous23 to him. On that occasion his feelings had been strong in regard to the measure upon which he broke away from his party; but, when he first thought of it, he did not care much about Church disendowment.
But he found that he must needs go as he was driven or else depart out of the place. He wrote a line to his friend Erle, not to ask advice, but to explain the circumstances. “My only possible chance of success will lie in attacking the Church endowments. Of course I think they are bad, and of course I think that they must go. But I have never cared for the matter, and would have been very willing to leave it among those things which will arrange themselves. But I have no choice here.” And so he prepared himself to run his race on the course arranged for him by Mr Ruddles. Mr Molescroft, whose hours were precious, soon took his leave, and Phineas Finn was placarded about the town as the sworn foe25 to all Church endowments.
In the course of his canvass26, and the commotions27 consequent upon it, he found that Mr Ruddles was right. No other subject seemed at the moment to have any attraction in Tankerville. Mr Browborough, whose life had not been passed in any strict obedience28 to the Ten Commandments, and whose religious observances had not hitherto interfered29 with either the pleasures or the duties of his life, repeated at every meeting which he attended, and almost to every elector whom he canvassed30, the great Shibboleth31 which he had now adopted — “The prosperity of England depends on the Church of her people.” He was not an orator32. Indeed, it might be hard to find a man, who had for years been conversant33 with public life, less able to string a few words together for immediate34 use. Nor could he learn half-a-dozen sentences by rote24. But he could stand up with unabashed brow and repeat with enduring audacity35 the same words a dozen times over — “The prosperity of England depends on the Church of her people.” Had he been asked whether the prosperity which he promised was temporal or spiritual in its nature, not only could he not have answered, but he would not in the least have understood the question. But the words as they came from his mouth had a weight which seemed to ensure their truth, and many men in Tankerville thought that Mr Browborough was eloquent36.
Phineas, on the other hand, made two or three great speeches every evening, and astonished even Mr Ruddles by his oratory37. He had accepted Mr Ruddles’s proposition with but lukewarm acquiescence, but in the handling of the matter he became zealous38, fiery39, and enthusiastic. He explained to his hearers with gracious acknowledgment that Church endowments had undoubtedly40 been most beneficent in past times. He spoke41 in the interests of no special creed42. Whether in the so-called Popish days of Henry VIII and his ancestors, or in the so-called Protestant days that had followed, the state of society had required that spiritual teaching should be supplied from funds fixed43 and devoted44 to the purpose. The increasing intelligence and population of the country made this no longer desirable — or, if desirable, no longer possible. Could these endowments be increased to meet the needs of the increasing millions? Was it not the fact that even among members of the Church of England they were altogether inefficient45 to supply the wants of our great towns? Did the people of Tankerville believe that the clergymen of London, of Liverpool, and of Manchester were paid by endowments? The arguments which had been efficacious in Ireland must be efficacious in England. He said this without reference to one creed or to another. He did believe in religious teaching. He had not a word to say against a Protestant Episcopal Church. But he thought, nay46 he was sure, that Church and State, as combined institutions, could no longer prevail in this country. If the people of Tankerville would return him to Parliament it should be his first object to put an end to this anomaly.
The Browboroughites were considerably47 astonished by his success. The colliers on this occasion did not seem to regard the clamour that was raised against Irish Papists. Much dirt was thrown and some heads were broken; but Phineas persevered48. Mr Ruddles was lost in admiration49. They had never before had at Tankerville a man who could talk so well. Mr Browborough without ceasing repeated his well-worn assurance, and it was received with the loudest exclamations50 of delight by his own party. The clergymen of the town and neighbourhood crowded round him and pursued him, and almost seemed to believe in him. They were at any rate fighting their battle as best they knew how to fight it. But the great body of the colliers listened to Phineas, and every collier was now a voter. Then Mr Ruddles, who had many eyes, began to perceive that the old game was to be played. “There’ll be money going tomorrow after all,” he whispered to Finn the evening before the election.
“I suppose you expected that.”
“I wasn’t sure. They began by thinking they could do without it. They don’t want to sacrifice the borough.”
“Nor do I, Mr Ruddles.”
“But they’ll sooner do that than lose the seat. A couple of dozen of men out of the Fallgate would make us safe.” Mr Ruddles smiled as he said this.
And Phineas smiled as he answered, “If any good can be done by talking to the men at the Fallgate, I’ll talk to them by the hour together.”
“We’ve about done all that,” said Mr Ruddles.
Then came the voting. Up to two o’clock the polling was so equal that the numbers at Mr Browborough’s committee room were always given in his favour, and those at the Liberal room in favour of Phineas Finn. At three o’clock Phineas was acknowledged to be ten ahead. He himself was surprised at his own success, and declared to himself that his old luck had not deserted51 him.
“They’re giving oe2.10s. a vote at the Fallgate this minute,” said Ruddles to him at a quarter-past three.
“We shall have to prove it.”
“We can do that, I think,” said Ruddles.
At four o’clock, when the poll was over, Browborough was declared to have won on the post by seven votes. He was that same evening declared by the Mayor to have been elected sitting member for the borough, and he again assured the people in his speech that the prosperity of England depends on the Church of her people.
“We shall carry the seat on a scrutiny52 as sure as eggs,” said Mr Ruddles, who had been quite won by the gallant53 way in which Phineas had fought his battle.
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1
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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2
exude
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| v.(使)流出，(使)渗出 | |
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linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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soot
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| n.煤烟，烟尘；vt.熏以煤烟 | |
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5
recesses
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| n.壁凹( recess的名词复数 )；（工作或业务活动的）中止或暂停期间；学校的课间休息；某物内部的凹形空间v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的第三人称单数 )；将（墙）做成凹形，在（墙）上做壁龛；休息，休会，休庭 | |
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petroleum
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| n.原油，石油 | |
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saturated
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| a.饱和的，充满的 | |
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speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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borough
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| n.享有自治权的市镇；(英)自治市镇 | |
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miseries
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| n.痛苦( misery的名词复数 )；痛苦的事；穷困；常发牢骚的人 | |
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11
nominee
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| n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者 | |
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12
relegated
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| v.使降级( relegate的过去式和过去分词 )；使降职；转移；把…归类 | |
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13
dissenter
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| n.反对者 | |
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dissent
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| n./v.不同意，持异议 | |
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disseminate
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| v.散布；传播 | |
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16
doctrines
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| n.教条( doctrine的名词复数 )；教义；学说；（政府政策的）正式声明 | |
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17
sect
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| n.派别，宗教，学派，派系 | |
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18
taxation
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| n.征税，税收，税金 | |
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19
constituents
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| n.选民( constituent的名词复数 )；成分；构成部分；要素 | |
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20
acquiescence
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| n.默许；顺从 | |
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21
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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22
postponed
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| vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发） | |
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23
disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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24
rote
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| n.死记硬背，生搬硬套 | |
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25
foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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26
canvass
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| v.招徕顾客，兜售；游说；详细检查，讨论 | |
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27
commotions
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| n.混乱，喧闹，骚动( commotion的名词复数 ) | |
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28
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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29
interfered
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| v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉 | |
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30
canvassed
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| v.（在政治方面）游说( canvass的过去式和过去分词 )；调查（如选举前选民的）意见；为讨论而提出（意见等）；详细检查 | |
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31
shibboleth
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| n.陈规陋习；口令；暗语 | |
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32
orator
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| n.演说者，演讲者，雄辩家 | |
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33
conversant
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| adj.亲近的，有交情的，熟悉的 | |
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34
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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35
audacity
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| n.大胆，卤莽，无礼 | |
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36
eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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37
oratory
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| n.演讲术；词藻华丽的言辞 | |
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38
zealous
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| adj.狂热的，热心的 | |
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39
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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40
undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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41
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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42
creed
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| n.信条；信念，纲领 | |
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43
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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44
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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45
inefficient
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| adj.效率低的，无效的 | |
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46
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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47
considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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48
persevered
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| v.坚忍，坚持( persevere的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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49
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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50
exclamations
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| n.呼喊( exclamation的名词复数 )；感叹；感叹语；感叹词 | |
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51
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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52
scrutiny
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| n.详细检查，仔细观察 | |
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53
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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