Phineas Redux | Page 2

had been glad to give Mr.
Daubeny and his merry men a chance. Mr. Daubeny and his merry men
had not neglected the chance given them. Fortune favoured them, and
they made their hay while the sun shone with an energy that had never
been 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,
be advantageous? But when the cake came to be mauled like that--oh,
heavens! So the men who had quarrelled agreed to quarrel no more, and
it was decided that there should be an end of mismanagement and
idleness, and that this horrid sight of the weak pretending to be strong,
or the weak receiving the reward of strength, should be brought to an
end. Then came a great fight, in the last agonies of which the cake was
sliced manfully. All the world knew how the fight would go; but in the
meantime lord-lieutenancies were arranged; very ancient judges retired
upon pensions; vice-royal Governors were sent out in the last gasp of
the failing battle; great places were filled by tens, and little places by
twenties; private secretaries were established here and there; and the
hay was still made even after the sun had gone down.
In consequence of all this the circumstances of the election of 18-- were
peculiar. Mr. Daubeny had dissolved the House, not probably with any

idea that he could thus retrieve his fortunes, but feeling that in doing so
he was occupying the last normal position of a properly-fought
Constitutional battle. His enemies were resolved, more firmly than they
were resolved before, to knock him altogether on the head at the
general election which he had himself called into existence. He had
been disgracefully 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 Mr. Palliser's hobby, and he was gratified at having
this further opportunity of ventilating it. When in power, he had not
succeeded in carrying his measure, awed, and at last absolutely beaten,
by the infinite difficulty encountered in arranging its details. But his
mind was still set upon it, and it was allowed by the whole party to be
as good as anything else for the purpose then required. The
Conservative Government was beaten for the third or fourth time, and
Mr. Daubeny dissolved the House.
The whole world said that he might as well have resigned at once. It
was already the end of July, and there must be an autumn Session with
the new members. It was known to be impossible that he should find
himself supported by a majority after a fresh election. He had been
treated with manifest forbearance; the cake had been left in his 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 interval of three months?
There were clever men who suggested that Mr. Daubeny had a scheme
in his head--some sharp trick of political conjuring, some "hocus-pocus
presto" sleight of hand, by which he might be able to retain power, let
the elections go as they would. But, if so, he certainly did not make his
scheme known to his own party.

He had no cry with which to meet the country, nor, indeed, had the
leaders of the Opposition. Retrenchment, army reform, navy excellence,
Mr. Palliser's decimal coinage, and general good government gave