London was more than usually full and busy this year immediately after Christmas. It seemed as though it were admitted by all the Liberal party generally that the sadness of the occasion ought to rob the season of its usual festivities. Who could eat mince15 pies or think of Twelfth Night while so terribly wicked a scheme was in progress for keeping the real majority out in the cold? It was the injustice16 of the thing that rankled17 so deeply — that, and a sense of inferiority to the cleverness displayed by Mr Daubeny! It was as when a player is checkmated by some audacious combination of two pawns18 and a knight19, such being all the remaining forces of the victorious20 adversary21, when the beaten man has two castles and a queen upon the board. It was, indeed, worse than this — for the adversary had appropriated to his own use the castles and the queen of the unhappy vanquished22 one. This Church Reform was the legitimate23 property of the Liberals, and had not been as yet used by then? only because they had felt it right to keep in the background for some future great occasion so great and so valuable a piece of ordnance24. It was theirs so safely that they could afford to bide25 their time. And then — so they all said, and so some of them believed — the country was not ready for so great a measure. It must come; but there must be tenderness in the mode of producing it. The parsons must be respected, and the great Church-of-England feeling of the people must be considered with affectionate regard. Even the most rabid Dissenter26 would hardly wish to see a structure so nearly divine attacked and destroyed by rude hands. With grave and slow and sober earnestness, with loving touches and soft caressing27 manipulation let the beautiful old Church be laid to its rest, as something too exquisite28, too lovely, too refined for the present rough manners of the world! Such were the ideas as to Church Reform of the leading Liberals of the day; and now this man, without even a majority to back him, this audacious Cagliostro among statesmen, this destructive leader of all declared Conservatives, had come forward without a moment’s warning, and pretended that he would do the thing out of hand! Men knew that it had to be done. The country had begun to perceive that the old Establishment must fall; and, knowing this, would not the Liberal backbone29 of Great Britain perceive the enormity of this Cagliostro’s wickedness — and rise against him and bury him beneath its scorn as, it ought to do? This was the feeling that made a real Christmas impossible to Messrs Ratler and Bonteen.
“The one thing incredible to me,” said Mr Ratler, “is that Englishmen should be so mean.” He was alluding30 to the Conservatives who had shown their intention of supporting Mr Daubeny, and whom he accused of doing so, simply with a view to power and patronage31, without any regard to their own consistency32 or to the welfare of the country. Mr Ratler probably did not correctly read the minds of the men whom he was accusing, and did not perceive, as he should have done with his experience, how little there was among them of concerted action. To defend the Church was a duty to each of them; but then, so also was it a duty to support his party. And each one could see his way to the one duty, whereas the other was vague, and too probably ultimately impossible. If it were proper to throw off the incubus33 of this conjuror’s authority, surely some wise, and great, and bold man would get up and so declare. Some junto34 of wise men of the party would settle that he should be deposed35. But where were they to look for the wise and bold men? where even for the junto? Of whom did the party consist? — Of honest, chivalrous36, and enthusiastic men, but mainly of men who were idle, and unable to take upon their own shoulders the responsibility of real work. Their leaders had been selected from the outside — clever, eager, pushing men, but of late had been hardly selected from among themselves. As used to be the case with Italian Powers, they entrusted37 their cause to mercenary foreign generals, soldiers of fortune, who carried their good swords whither they were wanted; and, as of old, the leaders were ever ready to fight, but would themselves declare what should be and what should not be the casus belli. There was not so much meanness as Mr Ratler supposed in the Conservative ranks, but very much more unhappiness. Would it not be better to go home and live at the family park all the year round, and hunt, and attend Quarter Sessions, and be able to declare morning and evening with a clear conscience that the country was going to the dogs? Such was the mental working of many a Conservative who supported Mr Daubeny on this occasion.
At the instance of Lady Laura, Phineas called upon the Duke of St Bungay soon after his return, and was very kindly38 received by His Grace. In former days, when there were Whigs instead of Liberals, it was almost a rule of political life that all leading Whigs should be uncles, brothers-in-law, or cousins to each other. This was pleasant and gave great consistency to the party; but the system has now gone out of vogue39. There remain of it, however, some traces, so that among the nobler born Liberals of the day there is still a good deal of agreeable family connection. In this way the St Bungay FitzHowards were related to the Mildmays and Standishes, and such a man as Barrington Erle was sure to be cousin to all of them. Lady Laura had thus only sent her friend to a relation of her own, and as the Duke and Phineas had been in the same Government, His Grace was glad enough to receive the returning aspirant40. Of course there was something said at first as to the life of the Earl at Dresden. The Duke recollected41 the occasion of such banishment42, and shook his head; and attempted to look unhappy when the wretched condition of Mr Kennedy was reported to him. But he was essentially43 a happy man, and shook off the gloom at once when Phineas spoke14 of politics. “So you are coming back to us, Mr Finn?”
“They tell me I may perhaps get the seat.”
“I am heartily44 glad, for you were very useful. I remember how Cantrip almost cried when he told me you were going to leave him. He had been rather put upon, I fancy, before.”
“There was perhaps something in that, Your Grace.”
“There will be nothing to return to now beyond barren honours.”
“Not for a while.”
“Not for a long while,” said the Duke — “for a long while, that is, as candidates for office regard time. Mr Daubeny will be safe for this Session at least. I doubt whether he will really attempt to carry his measure this year. He will bring it forward, and after the late division he must get his second reading. He will then break down gracefully45 in Committee, and declare that the importance of the interests concerned demands further inquiry46. It wasn’t a thing to be done in one year.”
“Why should he do it at all?” asked Phineas.
“That’s what everybody asks, but the answer seems to be so plain! Because he can do it, and we can’t. He will get from our side much support, and we should get none from his.”
“There is something to me sickening in their dishonesty,” said Phineas energetically.
“The country has the advantage; and I don’t know that they are dishonest. Ought we to come to a deadlock47 in legislation in order that parties might fight out their battle till one had killed the other?”
“I don’t think a man should support a measure which he believes to be destructive.”
“He doesn’t believe it to be destructive. The belief is theoretic — or not even quite that. It is hardly more than romantic. As long as acres are dear, and he can retain those belonging to him, the country gentleman will never really believe his country to be in danger. It is the same with commerce. As long as the Three per Cents do not really mean Four per Cent — I may say as long as they don’t mean Five per Cent — the country will be rich, though everyone should swear that it be ruined.”
“I’m very glad, at the same time, that I don’t call myself a Conservative,” said Phineas.
“That shows how disinterested48 you are, as you certainly would be in office. Goodbye. Come and see the Duchess when she comes to town. And if you’ve nothing better to do, give us a day or two at Longroyston at Easter.” Now Longroyston was the Duke’s well-known country seat, at which Whig hospitality had been dispensed49 with a lavish50 hand for two centuries.
On the 20th January Phineas travelled down to Tankerville again in obedience51 to a summons served upon him at the instance of the judge who was to try his petition against Browborough. It was the special and somewhat unusual nature of this petition that the complainants not only sought to oust53 the sitting member, but also to give the seat to the late unsuccessful candidate. There was to be a scrutiny54, by which, if it should be successful, so great a number of votes would be deducted55 from those polled on behalf of the unfortunate Mr Browborough as to leave a majority for his opponent, with the additional disagreeable obligation upon him of paying the cost of the transaction by which he would thus lose his seat. Mr Browborough, no doubt, looked upon the whole thing with the greatest disgust. He thought that a battle when once won should be regarded as over till the occasion should come for another battle. He had spent his money like a gentleman, and hated these mean ways. No one could ever say that he had ever petitioned. That was his way of looking at it. That Shibboleth56 of his as to the prospects57 of England and the Church of her people had, no doubt, made the House less agreeable to him during the last Short session than usual; but he had stuck to his party, and voted with Mr Daubeny on the Address — the obligation for such vote having inconveniently58 pressed itself upon him before the presentation of the petition had been formally completed. He had always stuck to his party. It was the pride of his life that he had been true and consistent. He also was summoned to Tankerville, and he was forced to go, although he knew that the Shibboleth would be thrown in his teeth.
Mr Browborough spent two or three very uncomfortable days at Tankerville, whereas Phineas was triumphant59. There were worse things in store for poor Mr Browborough than his repudiated60 Shibboleth, or even than his lost seat. Mr Ruddles, acting61 with wondrous62 energy, succeeded in knocking off the necessary votes, and succeeded also in proving that these votes were void by reason of gross bribery63. He astonished Phineas by the cool effrontery64 with which he took credit to himself for not having purchased votes in the Fallgate on the Liberal side, but Phineas was too wise to remind him that he himself had hinted at one time that it would be well to lay out a little money in that way. No one at the present moment was more clear than was Ruddles as to the necessity of purity at elections. Not a penny had been misspent by the Finnites. A vote or two from their score was knocked off on grounds which did not touch the candidate or his agents. One man had personated a vote, but this appeared to have been done at the instigation of some very cunning Browborough partisan65. Another man had been wrongly described. This, however, amounted to nothing. Phineas Finn was seated for the borough52, and the judge declared his purpose of recommending the House of Commons to issue a commission with reference to the expediency66 of instituting a prosecution67. Mr Browborough left the town in great disgust, not without various publicly expressed intimations from his opponents that the prosperity of England depended on the Church of her people. Phineas was gloriously entertained by the Liberals of the borough, and then informed that as so much had been done for him it was hoped that he would now open his pockets on behalf of the charities of the town. “Gentlemen,” said Phineas, to one or two of the leading Liberals, “it is as well that you should know at once that I am a very poor man.” The leading Liberals made wry68 faces, but Phineas was member for the borough.
The moment that the decision was announced, Phineas, shaking off for the time his congratulatory friends, hurried to the post-office and sent his message to Lady Laura Standish at Dresden: “I have got the seat.” He was almost ashamed of himself as the telegraph boy looked up at him when he gave in the words, but this was a task which he could not have entrusted to anyone else. He almost thought that this was in truth the proudest and happiest moment of his life. She would so thoroughly69 enjoy his triumph, would receive from it such great and unselfish joy, that he almost wished that he could have taken the message himself. Surely had he done so there would have been fit occasion for another embrace.
He was again a member of the British House of Commons — was again in possession of that privilege for which he had never ceased to sigh since the moment in which he lost it. A drunkard or a gambler may be weaned from his ways, but not a politician. To have been in the House and not to be there was, to such a one as Phineas Finn, necessarily, a state of discontent. But now he had worked his way up again, and he was determined70 that no fears for the future should harass71 him. He would give his heart and soul to the work while his money lasted. It would surely last him for the Session. He was all alone in the world, and would trust to the chapter of accidents for the future.
“I never knew a fellow with such luck as yours,” said Barrington Erle to him, on his return to London. “A seat always drops into your mouth when the circumstances seem to be most forlorn.”
“I have been lucky, certainly.”
“My cousin, Laura Kennedy, has been writing to me about you.”
“I went over to see them, you know.”
“So I heard. She talks some nonsense about the Earl being willing to do anything for you. What could the Earl do? He has no more influence in the Loughton borough than I have, All that kind of thing is clean done for — with one or two exceptions. We got much better men while it lasted than we do now.”
“I should doubt that.”
“We did — much truer men — men who went straighter. By the bye, Phineas, we must have no tricks on this Church matter. We mean to do all we can to throw out the second reading.”
“You know what I said at the hustings.”
“D— the hustings. I know what Browborough said, and Browborough voted like a man with his party. You were against the Church at the hustings, and he was for it. You will vote just the other way. There will be a little confusion, but the people of Tankerville will never remember the particulars.”
“I don’t know that I can do that.”
“By heavens, if you don’t, you shall never more be officer of ours — though Laura Kennedy should cry her eyes out.”
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1
consummate
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| adj.完美的；v.成婚；使完美 [反]baffle | |
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2
convening
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| 召开( convene的现在分词 )； 召集； （为正式会议而）聚集； 集合 | |
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3
expedient
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| adj.有用的，有利的；n.紧急的办法，权宜之计 | |
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momentous
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| adj.重要的，重大的 | |
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inconvenient
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| adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的 | |
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torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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7
vituperative
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| adj.谩骂的；斥责的 | |
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antagonism
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| n.对抗，敌对，对立 | |
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honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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10
broached
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| v.谈起( broach的过去式和过去分词 )；打开并开始用；用凿子扩大（或修光）；（在桶上）钻孔取液体 | |
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followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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condemnation
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| n.谴责; 定罪 | |
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hustings
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| n.竞选活动 | |
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14
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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15
mince
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| n.切碎物；v.切碎，矫揉做作地说 | |
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injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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rankled
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| v.（使）痛苦不已，（使）怨恨不已( rankle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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18
pawns
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| n.（国际象棋中的）兵( pawn的名词复数 )；卒；被人利用的人；小卒v.典当，抵押( pawn的第三人称单数 )；以（某事物）担保 | |
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knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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victorious
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| adj.胜利的，得胜的 | |
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adversary
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| adj.敌手，对手 | |
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vanquished
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| v.征服( vanquish的过去式和过去分词 )；战胜；克服；抑制 | |
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23
legitimate
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| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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ordnance
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| n.大炮，军械 | |
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bide
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| v.忍耐；等候；住 | |
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dissenter
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| n.反对者 | |
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caressing
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| 爱抚的，表现爱情的，亲切的 | |
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exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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backbone
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| n.脊骨，脊柱，骨干；刚毅，骨气 | |
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alluding
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| 提及，暗指( allude的现在分词 ) | |
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patronage
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| n.赞助，支援，援助；光顾，捧场 | |
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consistency
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| n.一贯性，前后一致，稳定性；(液体的)浓度 | |
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incubus
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| n.负担；恶梦 | |
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junto
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| n.秘密结社；私党 | |
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deposed
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| v.罢免( depose的过去式和过去分词 )；（在法庭上）宣誓作证 | |
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chivalrous
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| adj.武士精神的；对女人彬彬有礼的 | |
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entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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Vogue
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| n.时髦，时尚；adj.流行的 | |
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aspirant
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| n.热望者；adj.渴望的 | |
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41
recollected
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| adj.冷静的；镇定的；被回忆起的；沉思默想的v.记起，想起( recollect的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42
banishment
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| n.放逐，驱逐 | |
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essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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gracefully
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| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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deadlock
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| n.僵局，僵持 | |
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disinterested
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| adj.不关心的，不感兴趣的 | |
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49
dispensed
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| v.分配( dispense的过去式和过去分词 )；施与；配（药） | |
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50
lavish
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| adj.无节制的；浪费的；vt.慷慨地给予，挥霍 | |
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51
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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52
borough
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| n.享有自治权的市镇；(英)自治市镇 | |
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53
oust
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| vt.剥夺，取代，驱逐 | |
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54
scrutiny
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| n.详细检查，仔细观察 | |
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55
deducted
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| v.扣除，减去( deduct的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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56
shibboleth
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| n.陈规陋习；口令；暗语 | |
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57
prospects
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| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
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58
inconveniently
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| ad.不方便地 | |
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59
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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60
repudiated
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| v.（正式地）否认( repudiate的过去式和过去分词 )；拒绝接受；拒绝与…往来；拒不履行（法律义务） | |
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61
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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62
wondrous
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| adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地 | |
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63
bribery
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| n.贿络行为，行贿，受贿 | |
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64
effrontery
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| n.厚颜无耻 | |
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65
partisan
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| adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒 | |
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66
expediency
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| n.适宜；方便；合算；利己 | |
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67
prosecution
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| n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营 | |
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68
wry
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| adj.讽刺的；扭曲的 | |
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69
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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70
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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71
harass
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| vt.使烦恼，折磨，骚扰 | |
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