Francis Hogarth's Canvass And Election
There can be little doubt that Jane Melville was a good deal influenced
in her decision as to the position she ought to hold with Francis by
the letter she had received from Tom Lowrie on the morning of the day
in which her cousin had betrayed to her more unmistakably than ever the
state of his own heart. It was something more for him to give up, and,
as I have said before, she rather overestimated both the importance of
the public duty and the amount of success in it which Francis was
likely to attain to. It might seem to impartial observers rather
Utopian to hope and expect some regeneration of the political world of
Great Britain from the return of an intelligent country gentleman of
independent and original principles, for a few obscure Scottish burghs,
to be one of an assembly of six hundred and fifty-eight legislators,
but it is from such Utopianism, felt, not in one instance, but in many,
that the atmosphere of politics, both in Great Britain and in
Australia, can be cleared and purified. When people, whether as
electors or candidates (or, as in the case of Jane Melville, even those
who are neither), take an exaggerated view of the trouble, expense, and
annoyance attending the discharge of public duty, and form a low
estimate of the good that each honest energetic individual can do to
his country by using every means in his power to secure good
government, to promote public spirit, and to raise the standard of
political morality, the country is on the decline. It may grow rich, it
may increase in national prosperity, but, as a nation, it wants the
soul of national life and national freedom. I prefer Jane Melville's
rather unreasonable hopes to the pusillanimous fears--the LASSEZ FAIRE
policy of those who think they know the world far better, and who
believe the game of public life is not worth the cost of the candle
that lights it up.
If she had been the only woman in the world, or the only woman likely
to suit Francis, and to make him happy, she would have felt very
differently; but surely he could have no difficulty in finding, among
the hundreds of thousands of marriageable women in Great Britain, some
one as likely (she even thought, more likely), to satisfy his heart
than herself. It was only because circumstances had made him know her
so well, and because he had been so intimately connected with no one
else, that he believed he loved her. He was a man whom any woman might
easily learn to love; and if she steadily held out to him that she was
only his dear sister--his faithful friend, and that she could never be
anything else, he would ere long form a tenderer tie. But she hoped and
wished that his lot might be cast with a good woman, who would not
grudge her the secondary place that she felt she could not give up. She
tried to convince herself that it could be only friendship really on
his part; but he had been so unused to affectionate friendships,
especially with one of the other sex, that he was very likely to
mistake his feelings.
The state of her own heart she did not like to look into very closely;
she knew that Francis was inexpressibly dear to her, but the absolute
absence of all jealousy made her doubt if it were really what is called
love. She could look forward without pain to another person becoming
more to him than herself. My readers will think that if it had been
really love, it would have forced itself upon her, and burst through
all the barriers that were laid across its course. But love in a strong
nature is a very different thing from the same amount of love in a
feeble nature. If it had been her own property and career that had to
be given up for his sake, her love would have probably conquered all
private ambition; but the very high estimation in which she held her
cousin, fought against her instinctive wish to make him happy. And if
the irrevocable step were taken, what security would she have that he
might not regret it?
She dwelt in her own mind on the disparities between them, which, but
for the peculiar circumstances in which they had been placed by her
uncle's will, must have prevented the formation even of the friendship,
now so close and so precious. She was perhaps scarcely aware that such
contrasts are more favourable to the growth and the continuance of love
than too near resemblance in character and temperament. She was so
different in many ways from him--he was literary--she was practical; he
was poetical and artistic, and by no means scientific--she was
destitute of taste, and saw more romance in the wonders of science than
in much of the poetry he admired so much; he was aristocratic by
temperament, and only forced by her influence at the turning-point of
his life into her democratic views--she could not rest from the
over-activity of her nature, while he liked repose, meditative,
literary, and DILETTANTI. The strong sense of duty, which certainly was
the guiding principle of his nature, led him to exertion; while Jane
worked because she could not help it. With Jane's temperament Francis
never would have stayed for fifteen years clerk in the Bank of
Scotland, while there were new countries to conquer, or new fields to
work in. He found pleasure in beautiful things; all disorder or
disorganization was positively painful to him. To begin again a life of
comparative poverty, burdened with the care of Elsie, would be far more
trying to him than to her; for though she had been brought up in
greater affluence, she cared less for the elegances of life. She loved
him far too well to allow him to sacrifice a great deal more than she
thought she was worth for such a doubtful good, and she entered heart
and soul into the prospects of this election, as the thing which would
decide Francis' fate, and would give him still nobler work to do, to
keep him from regretting what it was better he should not obtain.
The spiritual communication on the subject of Francis' hopes, to the
effect that after a time he should succeed in the object dearest to his
heart, had made far less impression on her mind than on his. She had
not heard the unearthly taps; she had not been startled by the
appropriate answers; she had not herself had her hand arrested at the
letters which spelled out the unknown names. Her curiosity led her to
attend a seance with Francis at the same place, but everything on that
occasion was a failure. The spirits had not got rightly EN RAPPORT with
her; her dead relations were misnamed; their messages were
uncharacteristic; and the spirit of Mr. Hogarth never could be summoned
up again. She therefore determined to dismiss the whole subject from
her thoughts, and advised Francis to do the same. Mr. Dempster,
however, was not willing to relinquish his half-made proselyte; and
certainly, the less Jane was inclined to believe in these
manifestations the more she became attached to the simple-minded pious
visionary who rested so completely in them.
Jane's own life was particularly full of work and of worry at this
time; for, as Miss Phillips might have taken part of the blame to
herself, if she had conceived it possible that she could do wrong; for
it was on her account that the housemaid had given warning--she said
that two missusses, that was, Mrs. Phillips and Miss Melville, was
enough for her, and she could not submit to a third, and she couldn't
abear Miss Phillips's interference. The nursemaid took umbrage at Elsie
sitting so much in the nursery with the children, though it was what
Mr. Phillips liked, and what the children delighted in; and besides
there was no other convenient place for her except her own bedroom,
which was too cold for comfort and too dark for fine work. Elsie's
position in the house was rather anomalous, and certainly added to
Jane's difficulties.
While Francis was busily engaged with his canvass, Mr. and Mrs.
Phillips took a short tour on the Continent. Harriett would have liked
to accompany them, and threw out hints to show that she expected an
invitation; but her sister-in-law thought they had done quite enough
for her, having her all that time in London, and taking her about
everywhere. Jane was to be left in charge of the children, and Elsie
was to go with her mistress. Now that Mrs. Phillips had a lady's-maid,
she could not possibly travel without one; and as neither her husband
nor herself knew any modern language but their own, Elsie might be
useful besides as an interpreter, as she understood French very
tolerably, and had learned a good deal of Italian. There might be
advantage by and by from being able to advertise French and Italian
acquired off the Continent, for perhaps a school might suit the
Melvilles better than going into business; so Jane was very glad indeed
that her sister, who would profit most by it, should take the trip
rather than herself. Miss Phillips returned to Derbyshire, as she had
no desire to stay even with such a congenial companion as Miss
Melville, with the drawback of a houseful of children.
In the meantime Francis' canvass went on briskly; Mr. Sinclair
constituted himself his most active agent, and certainly took more
trouble and fatigue about it than any paid agent; but he sometimes
seemed to do his cause more harm than good by his constant recurrence
to first principles, which alarmed the jog-trot old Whigs, and
occasionally even the out-and-out Radicals.
The five burghs, whose representation Mr. Hogarth was about to contest,
were grouped together because they lay in adjoining counties, and not
because they had any identity of interests. In the good old times,
before the passing of the Reform Bill, each burgh sent one delegate to
vote for the member. The delegate was elected by the majority of the
town council, and as that body invariably elected their successors, the
representation of the citizens, either municipal or parliamentary, by
such means, was the most glorious fiction that has ever been devised by
the wisdom of our ancestors. The double election in this case had no
good tendency. The Reform Bill was, on the whole, a very good thing,
more because it was a great change in the representation, which was
carried out without endangering the constitution, and was an earnest of
still greater reforms being made in the future, than because there is
any very great improvement either in the character of the electors or
their representatives; but to Scotland it was a greater boon than to
England; for the semblance of representative institutions without the
reality was a mockery to a free people, and a very mischievous mockery.
In 185--the burghs had each their registered voters on the roll, who
each voted for his favourite candidate, so that the votes of five
hundred men in one burgh could not be neutralized by those of eighty
men in another.
The stronghold of the Conservative party lay in Swinton, the genteel,
and Freeburgh, the county town. The Liberals mustered very strong in
Ladykirk, which had taken to the woollen manu factory within the last
quarter of a century, and had increased very much in extent and
population, so that it had far more voters paying 10 pounds rent than
any of the other towns. In Auldbiggin and Plainstanes parties were so
equal that no majority on either side could be reckoned on, but the
Whig majority in Ladykirk was expected to overtop the Tory majority in
the two first towns by as much as would secure Hogarth's return. The
Honourable Mr. Fortescue was again to be put up for the Tory interest,
for though he had not distinguished himself last parliament, he was a
perfectly safe party man, and connected by marriage, not with the duke,
but with a Tory marquis, next in consideration in the district, who had
great influence in the county returns.
Mr. Fortescue found he had a different man to fight with in Francis
Hogarth from his opponent last election, Mr. Turnbull; so he felt he
needed more backing, and brought with him a Mr. Toutwell, a great gun
with his party, who went his rounds both with and without him, and
acted as his mouthpiece.
"One has confidence in an experienced man," said this gentleman, in a
confidential way, to the electors, when he met them singly or by twos
and threes. "If the earl had put up a man of greater parliamentary
experience, he might have had a chance to oust Mr. Fortescue, but his
picking up this quill-driver, who has spent his life behind a
bank-counter, and offering him to the burghs, is really an insult to
the constituency. Mr. Fortescue is no orator--there is enough of us in
the House to speak, Heaven knows--there is only too much talk about
nothing; but Mr. Fortescue's vote was never given wrong--never once did
he forsake his colours! Don't look to the speeches--look to the
division list, and there you will see that you can trust your member.
As for this Hogarth, there is not a single thing that he has done that
inspires confidence, even with his own party. He is far too Radical
even for the earl. I cannot imagine how that old fox has been so misled
as to take him up--probably for a consideration. Look at those
allotments he has made over or given away to his labourers--the most
dangerous innovation that could possibly be made in such a country as
this. When the non-propertied classes see such things, they fancy they
should all share in the spoil. This is how Socialism is to come in upon
us. These levelling and no doubt godless views prepare the way for such
revolutions as we have seen with so much horror across the Channel. Old
Cross Hall was a sceptic of the worst kind, and picked up his views of
religion and politics in France, and this new man could not rest till
he too went to France to improve his mind in the same way. These
cottages he has built on his estate, no doubt to increase his
popularity, and perhaps at Ladykirk they may go down, but in Swinton
and Freeburgh people see things differently, and even Plainstanes and
Auldbiggin like no such new fangled notions put into working people's
heads. The idea of compelling proprietors to build such palaces for
their tenants' labourers, when the labourers themselves do not ask for
them, and do not care for them when they get them!--and I hear that
Hogarth says they should all build houses just like his. Mere clap-trap
to win political influence--for his own people break the windows, and
take no care of their fine new houses. I am sure property is burdened
heavily enough without this absurd crotchet for additional spoliation.
Old Cross Hall was crazy enough to leave him a lot of money as well as
the estate; he certainly might have left the money to the poor girls he
had brought up like his daughters, and not have left them to starve,
and to be a burden on the country; and young Cross Hall can see no
better way of spending it than in throwing it away for the chance of
this seat--but he has no chance. The bank-clerk's hoards will be
somewhat diminished before all his expenses are paid. We need take no
trouble--indeed, Mr. Fortescue might walk the course."
But, in spite of all this careless talk, Mr. Fortescue, and Mr.
Toutwell too, did take a great deal of trouble, and employed every
possible means to secure the certain majority of thirty which they
spoke of. The greatest hope they had was in a split between the new man
and the earl's party, and Mr. Fortescue's agents managed to make the
most of every little point in dispute.
Reports reached the earl from different quarters, mostly reliable, that
the return of Mr. Hogarth would not at all strengthen his party in the
country. He had but a small following, and was comparatively little
known. The county voters were mostly tenant farmers, who generally
voted with their landlords. The race of portioners, or small
proprietors, was dying out in ----shire, as it is in all the British
island, and large proprietors were very much opposed to Cross Hall, on
account of his loose views as to the rights of property. At Newton,
however, which was a large manufacturing town of recent growth, and not
a royal burgh, but which was of very great importance in the county
representation, Francis Hogarth was extremely popular. He was the real
friend of the people--the only man in the county who seemed to
understand anything about the rights of labour. The electors of Newtown
felt aggrieved that they, who were far more numerous than those of any
of the five royal burghs, were thrown into the county representation,
where their votes did not count for one-fourth of what they would do in
the burghs. They felt personally interested in the return of Cross Hall
(as he was generally called), and would not leave a stone unturned to
secure it. The non-electors of Newtown--a still more numerous
body--regretted that they could do nothing to further his views, except
by going EN MASSE to Ladykirk on the day of the election, and combining
with the non-electors there, so as to make as great a physical
demonstration as possible, for they considered that Cross Hall, if
returned, would be their representative--ready to fight their battles,
and to redress their grievances.
"Be careful, Mr. Hogarth, be careful," said Mr. Prentice, his Freeburgh
agent. "Say nothing that may awaken jealousy or mistrust among our own
party. You are much too frank in your assertion of your
opinions--correct enough, no doubt; but your people are not prepared
for them, and your majority is not so large that you can afford to lose
a single vote."
"It certainly is not large in your burgh," said Francis.
"A minority of twenty-three is the most favourable thing you can expect
here--I think twenty-four. At Swinton there is a certain minority of
fourteen, which the least imprudence on your part would double.
Auldbiggin and Plainstanes are ties at present, so your majority at
Ladykirk should be large, to cover up our deficit. We have the hardest
work to do, with the least credit; we should have double pay at these
losing burghs," said Prentice, laughing. "But, for Heaven's sake! Mr.
Hogarth, keep your friend Sinclair quiet. If he would only take a fever
or something of that kind, to keep him in bed till he is wanted to
vote, it would be a real service to the cause. You must address the
electors tonight at a public meeting, and if possible, keep Mr.
Sinclair away. We will get Mr. Hunter, and Mr. Thirlstane, and a few
others, to speak in a quiet, taking way, and you need not say too much
yourself, and do not make it too distinct. I have been agent here ever
since the passing of the Reform Bill, and I should know what
electioneering for these burghs is. Our people admire fine speaking--a
few flowers of rhetoric. A little oratory and enthusiasm are very
telling, but you need not pin yourself down to any definite course of
action."
"I am, perhaps, too much disposed to an indefinite course of action; my
principles I wish the electors to confide in, and I will act up to them
as the occasion may offer," said Francis.
"But if you are too broad and direct in your assertion of principles,
you may offend a third part of our sure votes. Nothing like a few good
large words, with not much meaning, for these burghs. By the by, there
is a deputation from Ladykirk come to wait on you, before you speak at
this meeting. It is nearer for them to come here than to Swinton, so it
is more convenient."
In fact there were two deputations awaiting the Liberal candidate--one
from the electors of Ladykirk, headed by Sandy Pringle, a man who had
risen by the fabrication of woollen yarn from a weaver into a
millowner, though not in a very large way; and the other from the
non-electors of Newtown, who, though they had no legitimate right to
take up Cross Hall's time, wanted a few words with him before election.
Their spokesman was Jamie Howison, of the class called in the south
country, in common parlance, a CREESHEY WEAVER, who had not risen, and
was not likely to rise.
Both deputations appeared at once, which to a man less honest and
direct than Francis, would have been inconvenient. He might have
requested one to retire while he gave audience to the other, but he had
so little the fear of Mr. Prentice before his eyes, that he really
wished every elector and every non-elector to hear his sentiments and
opinions as fully and openly as possible, and he received both of the
deputations together.
He first heard what his own would-be constituents had to say, and
satisfied them as to his perfect independence of the great Whig
families, and that he meant to keep his judgment unbiassed by party
politics.
"Then what about the extension o' the suffrage?" asked Sandy Pringle;
"we want five-pound voters at Ladykirk."
"That is a question likely to be kept in abeyance during the sitting of
this parliament," said Francis. "If it is brought forward I must say
that I cannot at present vote for extension of the suffrage."
"Oh! we thocht ye were an oot-an'-oot Leeberal--nane o' your finality
Whigs that took ae bit step in the richt direction, and then durstna
venture further. Ye maun vote for the five-pound vote if ye are to be
oor man," said Sandy Pringle.
"We thocht ye would be for a baulder step than a five-pound vote," said
Jamie Howison; "ye're said to be the puir man's friend. Is it fair that
the like o' huz, that mak the country what it is, should hae nae voice
in the elections? We're for manhood suffrage, an' the ballot, and we
look to you to be oor advocate, for we thocht ye was to be oor member.
If so be as we had had our richts, and had votes to gie, ye should hae
them a'."
"It's fear--it's fear of the earl and the Freeburgh gentry that keeps
him frae speakin' oot his mind," said Sandy Pringle; "but his heart is
a' richt. He kens what's wanted, and if he's no thirled to the Elliotts
and the Greys, he can vote as he thinks fit. I think we can depend on
him."
"My friends," said Francis, "I wish to show no fear and no favour. I
would not say to you what I would not say to the earl, nor to the earl
what I would be sorry or ashamed to let you hear. I wish you to know,
as clearly as I can explain them, my political principles, so that I
may raise no unfounded expectations and disappoint no one wilfully or
designedly. I think with you that it is a great evil that the working
man has no voice in the election of the members of the Legislature. I
hope to live to see the day--and I will labour to advance it--when
every man shall feel his influence in greater or less measure in that
most important part of the duty of a free people; but have any of you
ever seriously considered the effect which would follow the adoption in
Great Britain, at present, of manhood suffrage, or even of reducing the
franchise to a five-pound vote?"
"There would be far mair economy in the public service," said Sandy
Pringle.
"There would be far less jobbery an' corruption in government
pawtronage," said Jamie Howison, the Newtown weaver.
"They couldna swamp the consteetuencies by makin' fictitious votes,"
said Sandy.
"They micht bribe, if the franchise was limited," said Jamie Howison,
"but with manhood suffrage an' the ballot, a man micht vote just as he
liked, and huz working men hae oor richts, an' oor feelins, an' oor
interests, just as dear to huz as pedigrees an' acres to the
aristocracy. We want nae ten-hours bills--what richt hae parliaments to
dictate to huz, an' keep huz frae sellin' a' we hae to sell, oor time
an' oor labour? We want to be let alane to mind oor ain business, an no
to be treated as if we was bairns that didna ken what was for their
gude. Na, na, Maister Hogarth, when ye gied thae allotments to your
hinds, ye showed that ye kent what they were fit for, an' ye MAUN see
that the bigger a consteetuency is, the purer it is like to be."
"My friends," said Francis, "the effect of any great extension of the
suffrage, as things are at present, would be to put the WHOLE political
power into the hands of the least educated classes of the community."
"Not the whole with a five-pound vote," said Sandy.
"Surely, not the whole, even wi' manhood suffrage," said Jamie.
"We dinna want it all, only oor fair share."
"But it is in the nature of things," said Francis, "that it must be so.
Your five-pound voters, Mr. Pringle, would outvote the ten-pound voters
enormously. Your non-propertied electors, Mr. Howison, would out-vote
even the five-pound voters, and would, in every constituency, carry
their candidate by an overwhelming majority. This would not be good
either for the country or for you."
"But the rich have the House of Lords, where they are paramount," said
Sandy Pringle.
"A very feeble barrier that would be found against the abuses of
democracy," said Francis. "You know well that in all emergencies the
Lords must give way to the Commons."
"'Deed maun they," said Jamie Howison, "and the only chance of justice
for huz that they maun. But, Maister Hogarth, ye see that property, an'
education, an' rank, an' a' that, hae had it a' their ain way for
hundreds o' years; it's time that we should hae oor turn. We arena like
the French (in the days of the auld revolution); we would respect
property. Even if we had owre muckle power, I think we wad mak nae bad
use of it. It's hard to keep huz oot o' oor richts for ever because ye
think we micht get a thocht mair than is good for us."
"But," said Sandy, sagaciously, "ye acknowledge that things as they are
are na fair. What wad ye do to mend them?"
"You recollect a proposal of Lord John Russell's, some years ago, to
reconstruct the electoral districts, by making them each return three
members, and allowing each elector to vote for only two, so as to
secure somewhat of the rights of minorities," said Francis.
"Oh! we misdooted that; for we thocht it was a treacherous thing on
Lord John's part," said Sandy. "It is hard eneuch for the Leeberals to
get their dues wi' this restricted franchise; an' this arrangement
would mak the Tories stronger than they are noo."
"But is it not just that a minority of a third should be secured their
third share in the representation?" asked Francis.
"Oh! ye're gaun to first principles, like your freend, Maister
Sinclair. Nae doot it's a' richt, but it wadna answer. The third in ae
district maun do without their man, an' in some other they micht hae
the best o' it. That wad mak a' odds even."
"It does so in a great measure at present, though not so much so as I
could wish, but every extension of the suffrage will tend to extinguish
the minorities more and more. You cannot say that, in any electoral
district you could name, with manhood suffrage the working classes
would not enormously outnumber the educated classes."
"An' we maun wait for the reconstruction of the districts afore there
is any chance o' justice?" said Jamie Howison. "I'm thinking we'll hae
to tarry lang for our richts."
"Not so long, if you steadily keep in view that this is the FIRST step.
Lord John Russell's proposal was an approximation to a right principle,
which, if it had been properly supported, might have given the fairest
opening for greater reforms. If the Conservatives had voted for a
really Conservative measure like this it would have been carried, but
as it was brought forward by a political opponent they voted against
it, though they now taunt him with introducing it. If the Whig party
had seen the importance of it, and had vigorously supported it, it
might have facilitated the extension of the suffrage, a measure which
none of you can desire more earnestly than I do. I have conversed
recently with some colonial gentlemen returned from Australia on the
working of their manhood suffrage and the ballot, and from one of them
I got an idea which appears to be a still better one than Lord John
Russell's. It was embodied in a Municipal Bill for an infant city--that
of Adelaide--drawn up by no less a person than Rowland Hill, then
Secretary for the Colonisation Commissioners. I believe it was a
deplorably bad town council for Birmingham that led his acute mind to
ponder how to secure the rights of minorities, as it was the enormous
expense of a correspondence he entered into on the subject of the
coal-tax grievance that led him to make the calculations and to devise
the system by which letters could be carried all over the kingdom for a
penny."
"Well, and what does Rowland Hill say about the minorities that ye care
muckle for?" asked Sandy Pringle. "We hae a' great respect for Rowland
Hill, and what he has to say on sic a subject should weel deserve a
hearing at ony rate."
"He had an arrangement by which a quorum of the citizens could plump
for one member of council, giving additional force to their vote. As
they voted for one instead of eighteen, their vote was worth eighteen.
By concentrating their vote they proportionally increased the power of
it."
"Oh! we ken that plumping aye makes the vote mair valuable," says Sandy.
"Simply because your one vote is an advantage to your member, which is
not given to any other; but this system gives a much greater reward for
concentrating your vote. In Lord John's case the thing was incomplete,
for unless you have the power of giving your two votes to one man, a
minority of a third cannot get in a member. It is the cumulative power
given by Rowland Hill that secures that minorities will not be
extinguished. This subject will receive my careful attention, if I am
returned for the burghs, for I consider it by far the most important
question of the day, and if I can get the working classes to sympathize
with me, I hope for success in time. Also a revision of the partnership
laws, so as to afford every facility for working people to co-operate
with each other, for it is only by that means that much can be done to
improve their condition. Those Rochdale pioneers are going on most
satisfactorily with their co-operative store, which they are now
extending to other undertakings of a greater magnitude, and I hope soon
to see hundreds of similar associations in Great Britain and Ireland.
But we want more freedom for limited liability companies, instead of so
many difficulties being thrown in their way by over-legislation. I do
not want to treat working people as children, but to encourage them to
help themselves. I have had to work hard myself, and I know what it is."
"We will lippen to you," said Sandy Pringle, "and even though in some
points we may not see things exactly as ye do, we want a man, an' no a
mere thing to hae a name, an' be coonted like thae Fortescues and
Turnbulls they are puttin' up."
"Little good, little ill, like a spale amang parritch, was that chap
Trummle," said Jamie Howison.
"I am sorry I have been so short a time in the district, so that I am
so imperfectly known to you, but I hope in time to show that I deserve
your confidence," said Francis.
"But what about the ballot?" asked Jamie Howison.
"I have not quite made up my mind about the ballot," said Francis. "It
is humiliating to confess to such ignorance, but there is so much to be
said on both sides that I am puzzled. I should like public opinion to
be so much improved that there would be no necessity for the ballot,
but perhaps without it we cannot regenerate public opinion. I am quite
open to conviction on either side on this as on many other political
questions. Now I think you understand my principles. I will vote for
whatever I think right, no matter from what side of the House or from
what party it emanates. If you can trust to my intelligence and my
integrity, you will vote for me, but I make no pledge."
"And we will ask nane," said Pringle, "we will lippen to you."
"But Maister Hogarth," said one of Jamie Howison's colleagues, "we look
to you to mind the interests of them that has nae votes, and that is a
large body, as ye ken."
"Yes, a very large body indeed, when you include the women and
children," said Francis.
"Oh! the women and children," said the weaver, with a disappointed air,
"I was na thinking of them; they are weel enuch--the men taks care o'
them."
"Not always the best care in the world," said Francis. "Children need
protective legislation to guard them from being overworked by parents
and masters. Women are supposed to be free agents, but they do not
really get all the rights of free agents--they should be empowered to
protect themselves; the law should support them in obtaining their just
rights. A wife ought not to be treated as a chattel; her earnings
should be protected if she wishes it. And women, too, should have a
wider field of labour. The difficulties which are thrown in the way of
the weaker sex, in their attempts to earn a livelihood, both by law and
by society, are very unworthy of the age we live in."
"Weel, Maister Hogarth, though I dinna just see the needcessity for
bringing in women to compete wi' men at their trades, we could do ill
without them at our mills, an' maybe ye're in the richt. Ye'll find us
Whigs at Ladykirk united, and in that case ye're safe to carry the
day," said Sandy Pringle.
Francis' return, however, ran more risk than either he or Sandy Pringle
counted upon, for the suggestion carefully circulated by Fortescue,
Toutwell, and the Tory agents, and feebly denied even by Mr. Hogarth's
own Swinton agent, that he was a most unpopular man in the county, and
that it was a mistake on the earl's part to support him, very nearly
brought down a member of the Reform Club to force him to retire after
his canvass was made, and his majority counted as small but safe. This
shabby proceeding was only averted by the firmness of the Newtown
Whigs, who were indignant at such treatment of a man so independent and
so able as Mr. Hogarth, and they declared to the earl, through their
agent, that if he did not with his party support Cross Hall for the
burghs, they would set up Mr. Sinclair for the county and vote as one
man for him, so that Lord Frederic would have an overwhelming majority
over the Honourable James.
This threat of a certain defeat for the county restored the earl to his
original intention of giving a mild support to Hogarth, who certainly
would be a better man than Fortescue. There was the usual amount of
personal abuse levelled at the banker's clerk--neither his father nor
his mother was spared--there were caricatures of him in mean lodgings
and shabby raiment, doing things for himself, which he recollected
doing, and which he was not ashamed of having done. If Francis had been
made a duke, instead of merely trying to be a member of parliament, he
would never have been ashamed of his past life, nor would he have been
distressed or disturbed by the unexpected honour. He would have taken
it as a matter of course. His speech from the hustings was clear,
manly, and dignified, and far surpassed that of Fortescue, even with
Toutwell's diligent prompting. Mr. Sinclair's speech was received with
cheers and hisses, but in print it read exceedingly well.
Then followed Mr. Toutwell's very rhetorical, very sarcastic, and, as
his own party said, very telling speech; but to Jane, who read this
report with the greatest interest, it told nothing.
The result of the poll was a majority of three in favour of Francis
Hogarth, Esq., of Cross Hall, who was accordingly declared duly
elected, and took his seat along with Lord Frederic (who had got in for
the county by a majority of twenty-seven, much to the earl's chagrin,
who had supported Cross Hall for nothing, after all) and the other
members of the new parliament.