Part 18 (1/2)
”As you know it!” Dalton interjected.
”Well, I know some things. The line of cleavage in the Liberal party is tolerably well marked, if you have eyes to see.”
”Why does Tourmaline leave the House? I hear he would stand an excellent chance if he went to Vanebury and started as an Independent.”
”No doubt he would; but in a weak moment he pledged himself down there not to do it.”
”What hard lines!” said Tom Willoughby. ”Just one pledge too many!”
”And so,” continued Pynsent, without noticing the interruption, ”we have had to look out for another candidate. I settled the matter this afternoon, and I am glad to say that Campion has promised to go down.”
”Just the man for the job,” said Milton, who looked upon Sydney as sure to be a formidable rival in Parliament, and more likely than any other young Conservative to cut him out of the Solicitors.h.i.+p. ”He has tongue, and he has tact--and he has something else, Sir John, which is worth the two put together--good friends!”
”We think very highly of Campion,” said Sir John Pynsent, ”and I am very glad you confirm our opinion.”
”I certainly think he will make his mark,” said Dalton. ”He comes of a very able family.”
Dalton found himself recalling the appearance and words of Miss Lettice Campion, whom he had met so often of late at the house of his cousin, Mrs. Hartley, and who had made a deeper impression than ever on his mind. Impressions were somewhat fugitive, as a rule, on Brooke Dalton's mind; but he had come to admire Lettice with a fervor unusual with him.
”From all I can learn,” said the baronet, ”we ought to win the seat; and every two new votes won in that way are worth half-a-dozen such as Tom Willoughby's, for instance, whose loyalty is a stale and discounted fact.”
”Oh, yes, I know that is how you regard us b.u.t.tresses from the counties!
I declare I will be a fifth party, and play for my own hand.”
”It isn't in you, my boy,” said Lord Ambermere; ”I never knew you play for your own hand yet.”
”Then what am I in Parliament for, I should like to know?”
”For that very thing, of course; to learn how to do it.” Willoughby laughed good-naturedly. He did not object to be made a b.u.t.t of by his intimate friends.
”Seriously, Tom, there is plenty of work for a fellow like you to do.”
It was Pynsent who spoke, and the others were always ready to lend him their ears when he evidently wanted to be listened to.
”The main thing is to get hold of the Whigs, and work at them quietly and steadily until the time comes to strike our blow. The great Houses are safe, almost to a man. When it comes to choosing between Democracy rampant, with Gladstone at its head, a.s.sailing the most sacred elements of the Const.i.tution, and a great National Party, or Union of Parties, guarding Property and the Empire against attack, there is no question as to how they will make their choice. But if every Whig by birth or family ties came over to us at once, that would not suffice for our purpose.
What we have to do is get at the--the Decent Men of the Liberal Party, such as the aldermen, the s.h.i.+powners, the great contractors and directors of companies, and, of course, the men with a stake in the land. No use mentioning names--we all know pretty well who they are.”
”And when you have got at them?” asked Willoughby.
”Why, lay yourself out to please them. Flatter them--show them all the attention in your power; take care that they see and hear what is thought in the highest quarters about the present tendency of things--about Ireland, about the Empire, about the G. O. M. Let them understand how they are counted on to decide the issue, and what they would have to look for if we were once in power. Above all, ride them easy! It is impossible that they should become Tories--don't dream of such a thing. They are to be Liberals to the end of their days, but Liberals with an Epithet.”
”Imperi----”
”No, no, no, no, my dear boy! Any number of noes. You must not live so much in the past. The great idea to harp upon is Union. Union against a common enemy. Union against Irish rebels. Union against Gladstone and the Democracy; but draw this very mild until you feel that you are on safe ground. Union is the word, and Unionist is the Epithet. Liberal Unionists. That is the inevitable phrase, and it will fit any crisis that may arise.”
”But suppose they dish us with the County franchise?”
”We must make a fight over that; but for my part I am not afraid of franchises. There is a Tory majority to be picked out of manhood suffrage, as England will surely discover some day. Possibly the County franchise must be cleared out of the way before we get our chance. What will that mean? Why, simply that Gladstone will think it necessary to use his first majority in order to carry some great Act of Confiscation; to make Hodge your master; or to filch a bit of your land for him; or to join hands with Parnell and cut Ireland adrift. Then we shall have our opportunity; and that is what we have to prepare for.”
Lord Ambermere, and Dalton, and Milton, Q.C., nodded their heads. They had heard all this before; but to Willoughby it was new, for he had only just begun to put himself into the harness of political life.