Phineas Redux

inisters previous to that - somewhat rapid, very exciting, and, upon the whole, useful as showing the real feeling of the country upon sundry questions of public interest. Mr Gresham had been Prim

g maws, who certainly for some years previous had not received their share of State honours or State emoluments. And Mr Daubeny was still so sitting, to the infin

en surpassed, improving upon Fortune, till their natural enemies waxed impatient. There had been as yet but one year of it, and the natural enemies, who had at first expressed themselves as glad that the turn had come, might have endured the period of spoliation with more equanimity. For to them, the Liberals, this cutting up of the Whitehall cake by the Conservatives was spoliation when the privilege of cutting was found to have so much exceeded what had been expected. Were not they, the Liberals, the real representatives of the people, and, therefore, did not the cake in truth appertain to them? Had not they given up the cake for a while, partly, indeed, through idleness and mismanagement, and quarrelling among themselves; but mainly with a feeling that a moderate slicing on the other side would, upon the whole, b

acefully out-voted in the House of Commons on various subjects. On the last occasion he had gone into his lobby with a minority of 37, upon a motion brought forward by Mr Palliser, the late Liberal Chancellor of the Exchequer, respecting decimal coinage. No politician, not even Mr Palliser himself, had expected that he would carry his Bill in the present Session. It was brought forward as a trial of strength; and for such a purpose decimal coinage was as good a subject as any other. It was M

is hands for twelve months; the House was barely two years old; he had no "cry" with which to meet the country; the dissolution was factious, dishonest, and unconstitutional. So said all the Liberals, and it was deduced also that the Conservatives were in their hearts as angry as were their opponents. What was to be gained but the poor

ose who were more advanced could promise the Ballot, and suggest the disestablishment of the Church. But the Government of the day was to be turned out on the score of general incompetence. They were to be made to go, because they could not command majorities. But there ought to have been no dissolut

smanagement; no more quarrelling; no more idleness. Was it to be borne that an unprincipled so-called Conservative Prime Minister should go on slicing the cake after such a fashion as that lately adopted? Ol

t had always been felt by his old friends that he had been, if not ill-used, at least very unfortunate. He had been twelve months in advance of his party, and had consequently been driven out into the cold. So when the names of good men and true were mustered, and weighed, and discussed, and scrutinised by some active members of the Liberal party in a certain very private room not far rem

ving on the well-founded hope of being a Treasury Secretary u

om no judge in such matters possessed more expe

t worth his while," said the Honourable Laure

, and he can't afford it," said M

ys, the poor thing died of her first baby before it was

old of," said Barrington Erle - "pres

e skirmishing. I'm worth me salt. I say that with a just reliance on me own powers. But Phinny is a different sort of man. Phinny can stick to a desk

im," said Bonteen. Now Mr Bo

Barrington Erle, making a little note to

the girl of his heart. But now his wife was dead, and he was again alone in the world. One of his friends had declared that money had been left to him. That was true, but the money had not been much. Phineas Finn had lost his father as well as his wife, and had inherited

ice - as to which there was no public comment, no feeling that such duties were done in the face of the country - he became sick at heart and discontented. Like the warhorse out at grass he remembered the sound of the battle and the noise of trumpets. After five years spent in the heat and full excitement of London society, life in Ireland was tame to him, and cold, and dull. He did not analyse the difference between metropolitan and quasi-metropolitan manners; but he found that men and women in Dublin were different from those to whom he had been accustomed in London. He had lived among lords, and the sons and daughters of lords; and though the official secretaries and assistant commissioners among whom

th July 18 -

there will be a general election about the end of September. We are sure that we shall have such a majority as we never had before; but we are determine

ey would not be much. Browborough has sat for the place now for three Parliaments, and seems to think it all his own. I am told that nothing could be easier than to turn him out. You will remember the man - a great, hulking, heavy, speechless fellow, who always used to sit just over Lord Macaw's shoulder. I have made inquiry,

ther. We have all thought that the loneliness of your present life might perhaps make you willing to come back among us

faithfully "

. It must be understood that there shall not be as much as a glass of beer. I am told that the fellows won't vote for Browborough unless he spends money, and I fa

im? Nevertheless, he did tell himself that, when he should have thrown up his place and spent all his money, there would remain to him his own self to be disposed of in a manner that might be very awkward to him. A man owes it to his country, to his friends, even to his acquaintance, that he shall not be known to be going about wanting a dinner, with never a coin in his pocket. It is very well for a man to boast that he is lord of himself, and that having no ties he may do as he plea

nd women with whom he was popular. The very fact of his past parliamentary life had caused him to be regarded as a man of some note among the notables of the Irish capital. Lord lieutenants were gracious to him, and the wives of judges smiled u

ts and quotations, antagonistic to prudence, with which a man fortifies himself in rashness. "None but the brave deserve the fair." "Where there's a will there's a way." "Nothing venture nothing have." "The sword is to him who can use it." "Fortune favours the bold." But on the other side there is just as much to

son in London, he was throwing away his hours amidst his present pursuits in Dublin? Did he not owe himself to his country? And then, again, what might not London do for him? Men who had begun as he began had lived to rule over Cabinets, and to sway the Empire. He had been happy for a short twelvemonth with his young bride - for a short twelvemonth - and then she had been taken from him. Had s

at Tankerville, for the consequent petition which had been so generously suggested to him, and maintain himself in London for a session or two should he be so fortunate as to carry his election. Then he would be penniless, with the world before him as a closed oyster to be again opened, and he knew - no one better - that this oyster becomes harder and harder in the opening as the man who has to open it

to all the world by Mr Daubeny an earlier day was suggested; but Mr Daubeny saw reasons for postponing it for a fortnight. Mr Daubeny's enemies were again very ferocious. It was all a trick. Mr Daubeny had no right to continue Prime Minister a day after the decided expression of opinion as to unfitness which had been pronounced by the House of Commons. Men were waxing very wrath. Nevertheless, so much power remained in Mr Da

, was not a comfortable counsellor. "So y

think I migh

h were allowed to walk over. There isn't a borough in England more sure to return a Liberal than Tankerville if left to

we can un

the end of his money, and as to his b

me fear of consequences a

? Can you name a single Parliamentary

ineas. "I should not like to have the thin

don't want a good position among their enemies. They know they're safe. When the seat is in dispute everybody is savage enoug

y the old

me. All the purists in England wouldn't teach him to think that a poor man ought not t

ainly

ly bought; but he'll hate you quite as much because you try to rob the borough. He'd tell you if you asked him that he doesn't want his seat for no

ast, if I can

e is no reward beyond the self-satisfaction arising from a good action. However, Ruddles will do the best he can for you, and it certainly is possible that you may creep through." This was very dishearteni