Phineas Redux Page 7

  CHAPTER V.

  MR. DAUBENY'S GREAT MOVE.

  The whole Liberal party was taken very much by surprise at the coursewhich the election ran. Or perhaps it might be more proper to saythat the parliamentary leaders of the party were surprised. It hadnot been recognised by them as necessary that the great question ofChurch and State should be generally discussed on this occasion. Itwas a matter of course that it should be discussed at some places,and by some men. Eager Dissenters would, of course, take advantageof the opportunity to press their views, and no doubt the entireabolition of the Irish Church as a State establishment had taughtLiberals to think and Conservatives to fear that the question wouldforce itself forward at no very distant date. But it had not beenexpected to do so now. The general incompetence of a Ministry whocould not command a majority on any measure was intended to be thestrong point of the Liberal party, not only at the election, but atthe meeting of Parliament. The Church question, which was necessarilyfelt by all statesmen to be of such magnitude as to dwarf everyother, was not wanted as yet. It might remain in the background asthe future standing-point for some great political struggle, in whichit would be again necessary that every Liberal should fight, asthough for life, with his teeth and nails. Men who ten years sinceregarded almost with abhorrence, and certainly with distrust, theidea of disruption between Church and State in England, were nodoubt learning to perceive that such disruption must come, and werereconciling themselves to it after that slow, silent, inargumentativefashion in which convictions force themselves among us. And fromreconciliation to the idea some were advancing to enthusiasm on itsbehalf. "It is only a question of time," was now said by many whohardly remembered how devoted they had been to the Established Churchof England a dozen years ago. But the fruit was not yet ripe, and theleaders of the Liberal party by no means desired that it should beplucked. They were, therefore, surprised, and but little pleased,when they found that the question was more discussed than any otheron the hustings of enthusiastically political boroughs.

  Barrington Erle was angry when he received the letter of PhineasFinn. He was at that moment staying with the Duke of St. Bungay,who was regarded by many as the only possible leader of the Liberalparty, should Mr. Gresham for any reason fail them. Indeed the oldWhigs, of whom Barrington Erle considered himself to be one, wouldhave much preferred the Duke to Mr. Gresham, had it been possibleto set Mr. Gresham aside. But Mr. Gresham was too strong to be setaside; and Erle and the Duke, with all their brethren, were minded tobe thoroughly loyal to their leader. He was their leader, and not tobe loyal was, in their minds, treachery. But occasionally they fearedthat the man would carry them whither they did not desire to go. Inthe meantime heavy things were spoken of our poor friend, Finn.

  "After all, that man is an ass," said Erle.

  "If so, I believe you are altogether responsible for him," said theDuke.

  "Well, yes, in a measure; but not altogether. That, however, is along story. He has many good gifts. He is clever, good-tempered, andone of the pleasantest fellows that ever lived. The women all likehim."

  "So the Duchess tells me."

  "But he is not what I call loyal. He cannot keep himself from runningafter strange gods. What need had he to take up the Church questionat Tankerville? The truth is, Duke, the thing is going to pieces.We get men into the House now who are clever, and all that sortof thing, and who force their way up, but who can't be made tounderstand that everybody should not want to be Prime Minister." TheDuke, who was now a Nestor among politicians, though very green inhis age, smiled as he heard remarks which had been familiar to himfor the last forty years. He, too, liked his party, and was fond ofloyal men; but he had learned at last that all loyalty must be builton a basis of self-advantage. Patriotism may exist without it, butthat which Erle called loyalty in politics was simply devotion to theside which a man conceives to be his side, and which he cannot leavewithout danger to himself.

  But if discontent was felt at the eagerness with which this subjectwas taken up at certain boroughs, and was adopted by men whose votesand general support would be essentially necessary to the would-becoming Liberal Government, absolute dismay was occasioned by a speechthat was made at a certain county election. Mr. Daubeny had for manyyears been member for East Barsetshire, and was as sure of his seatas the Queen of her throne. No one would think of contesting Mr.Daubeny's right to sit for East Barsetshire, and no doubt he mighthave been returned without showing himself to the electors. But hedid show himself to the electors; and, as a matter of course, madea speech on the occasion. It so happened that the day fixed for theelection in this division of the county was quite at the close ofthis period of political excitement. When Mr. Daubeny addressed hisfriends in East Barsetshire the returns throughout the kingdom werenearly complete. No attention had been paid to this fact during theelections, but it was afterwards asserted that the arrangement hadbeen made with a political purpose, and with a purpose which waspolitically dishonest. Mr. Daubeny, so said the angry Liberals,had not chosen to address his constituents till his speech at thehustings could have no effect on other counties. Otherwise,--so saidthe Liberals,--the whole Conservative party would have been calledupon to disavow at the hustings the conclusion to which Mr. Daubenyhinted in East Barsetshire that he had arrived. The East Barsetshiremen themselves,--so said the Liberals,--had been too crass to catchthe meaning hidden under his ambiguous words; but those words, whenread by the light of astute criticism, were found to contain anopinion that Church and State should be dissevered. "By G----! he'sgoing to take the bread out of our mouths again," said Mr. Ratler.

  The speech was certainly very ambiguous, and I am not sure that theEast Barsetshire folk were so crass as they were accused of being,in not understanding it at once. The dreadful hint was wrapped up inmany words, and formed but a small part of a very long oration. Thebucolic mind of East Barsetshire took warm delight in the eloquenceof the eminent personage who represented them, but was wont toextract more actual enjoyment from the music of his periods than fromthe strength of his arguments. When he would explain to them thathe had discovered a new, or rather hitherto unknown, Conservativeelement in the character of his countrymen, which he could bestutilise by changing everything in the Constitution, he manipulatedhis words with such grace, was so profound, so broad, and so exalted,was so brilliant in mingling a deep philosophy with the ordinarypolitics of the day, that the bucolic mind could only admire. Itwas a great honour to the electors of that agricultural county thatthey should be made the first recipients of these pearls, whichwere not wasted by being thrown before them. They were picked upby the gentlemen of the Press, and became the pearls, not of EastBarsetshire, but of all England. On this occasion it was found thatone pearl was very big, very rare, and worthy of great attention;but it was a black pearl, and was regarded by many as an abominableprodigy. "The period of our history is one in which it becomesessential for us to renew those inquiries which have prevailed sinceman first woke to his destiny, as to the amount of connection whichexists and which must exist between spiritual and simply human formsof government,--between our daily religion and our daily politics,between the Crown and the Mitre." The East Barsetshire clergymen andthe East Barsetshire farmers like to hear something of the mitre inpolitical speeches at the hustings. The word sounds pleasantly intheir ears, as appertaining to good old gracious times and good oldgracious things. As honey falls fast from the mouth of the practisedspeaker, the less practised hearer is apt to catch more of the wordsthan of the sense. The speech of Mr. Daubeny was taken all in goodpart by his assembled friends. But when it was read by the quidnuncson the following day it was found to contain so deep a meaning thatit produced from Mr. Ratler's mouth those words of fear which havebeen already quoted.

  Could it really be the case that the man intended to perform soaudacious a trick of legerdemain as this for the preservation of hispower, and that if he intended it he should have the power to carryit through? The renewal of inquiry as to the connection which exists
between the Crown and the Mitre, when the bran was bolted, could onlymean the disestablishment of the Church. Mr. Ratler and his friendswere not long in bolting the bran. Regarding the matter simply in itsown light, without bringing to bear upon it the experience of thelast half-century, Mr. Ratler would have thought his party strongenough to defy Mr. Daubeny utterly in such an attempt. The ordinarypolitician, looking at Mr. Daubeny's position as leader of theConservative party, as a statesman depending on the support of theChurch, as a Minister appointed to his present place for the expressobject of defending all that was left of old, and dear, and venerablein the Constitution, would have declared that Mr. Daubeny wascommitting political suicide, as to which future history would recorda verdict of probably not temporary insanity. And when the speech wasa week old this was said in many a respectable household through thecountry. Many a squire, many a parson, many a farmer was grieved forMr. Daubeny when the words had been explained to him, who did not fora moment think that the words could be portentous as to the greatConservative party. But Mr. Ratler remembered Catholic emancipation,had himself been in the House when the Corn Laws were repealed, andhad been nearly broken-hearted when household suffrage had becomethe law of the land while a Conservative Cabinet and a ConservativeGovernment were in possession of dominion in Israel.

  Mr. Bonteen was disposed to think that the trick was beyond theconjuring power even of Mr. Daubeny. "After all, you know, there isthe party," he said to Mr. Ratler. Mr. Ratler's face was as goodas a play, and if seen by that party would have struck that partywith dismay and shame. The meaning of Mr. Ratler's face was plainenough. He thought so little of that party, on the score either ofintelligence, honesty, or fidelity, as to imagine that it wouldconsent to be led whithersoever Mr. Daubeny might choose to leadit. "If they care about anything, it's about the Church," said Mr.Bonteen.

  "There's something they like a great deal better than the Church,"said Mr. Ratler. "Indeed, there's only one thing they care about atall now. They've given up all the old things. It's very likely thatif Daubeny were to ask them to vote for pulling down the Throne andestablishing a Republic they'd all follow him into the lobby likesheep. They've been so knocked about by one treachery after anotherthat they don't care now for anything beyond their places."

  "It's only a few of them get anything, after all."

  "Yes, they do. It isn't just so much a year they want, though thosewho have that won't like to part with it. But they like gettingthe counties, and the Garters, and the promotion in the army. Theylike their brothers to be made bishops, and their sisters like theWardrobe and the Bedchamber. There isn't one of them that doesn'thang on somewhere,--or at least not many. Do you remember Peel's billfor the Corn Laws?"

  "There were fifty went against him then," said Bonteen.

  "And what are fifty? A man doesn't like to be one of fifty. It'stoo many for glory, and not enough for strength. There has come upamong them a general feeling that it's just as well to let thingsslide,--as the Yankees say. They're down-hearted about it enoughwithin their own houses, no doubt. But what can they do, if they holdback? Some stout old cavalier here and there may shut himself up inhis own castle, and tell himself that the world around him may go towrack and ruin, but that he will not help the evil work. Some areshutting themselves up. Look at old Quin, when they carried theirReform Bill. But men, as a rule, don't like to be shut up. How theyreconcile it to their conscience,--that's what I can't understand."Such was the wisdom, and such were the fears of Mr. Ratler. Mr.Bonteen, however, could not bring himself to believe that theArch-enemy would on this occasion be successful. "It mayn't be toohot for him," said Mr. Bonteen, when he reviewed the whole matter,"but I think it'll be too heavy."

  They who had mounted higher than Mr. Ratler and Mr. Bonteen on thepolitical ladder, but who had mounted on the same side, were noless astonished than their inferiors; and, perhaps, were equallydisgusted, though they did not allow themselves to express theirdisgust as plainly. Mr. Gresham was staying in the country with hisfriend, Lord Cantrip, when the tidings reached them of Mr. Daubeny'sspeech to the electors of East Barsetshire. Mr. Gresham and LordCantrip had long sat in the same Cabinet, and were fast friends,understanding each other's views, and thoroughly trusting eachother's loyalty. "He means it," said Lord Cantrip.

  "He means to see if it be possible," said the other. "It is thrownout as a feeler to his own party."

  "I'll do him the justice of saying that he's not afraid of his party.If he means it, he means it altogether, and will not retract it, eventhough the party should refuse as a body to support him. I give himno other credit, but I give him that."

  Mr. Gresham paused for a few moments before he answered. "I do notknow," said he, "whether we are justified in thinking that one manwill always be the same. Daubeny has once been very audacious, and hesucceeded. But he had two things to help him,--a leader, who, thoughthoroughly trusted, was very idle, and an ill-defined question. Whenhe had won his leader he had won his party. He has no such tower ofstrength now. And in the doing of this thing, if he means to do it,he must encounter the assured conviction of every man on his ownside, both in the upper and lower House. When he told them that hewould tap a Conservative element by reducing the suffrage they didnot know whether to believe him or not. There might be somethingin it. It might be that they would thus resume a class of suffrageexisting in former days, but which had fallen into abeyance, becausenot properly protected. They could teach themselves to believe thatit might be so, and those among them who found it necessary to freetheir souls did so teach themselves. I don't see how they are to freetheir souls when they are invited to put down the State establishmentof the Church."

  "He'll find a way for them."

  "It's possible. I'm the last man in the world to contest thepossibility, or even the expediency, of changes in political opinion.But I do not know whether it follows that because he was brave andsuccessful once he must necessarily be brave and successful again. Aman rides at some outrageous fence, and by the wonderful activity andobedient zeal of his horse is carried over it in safety. It does notfollow that his horse will carry him over a house, or that he shouldbe fool enough to ask the beast to do so."

  "He intends to ride at the house," said Lord Cantrip; "and he meansit because others have talked of it. You saw the line which my rashyoung friend Finn took at Tankerville."

  "And all for nothing."

  "I am not so sure of that. They say he is like the rest. If Daubenydoes carry the party with him, I suppose the days of the Church arenumbered."

  "And what if they be?" Mr. Gresham almost sighed as he said this,although he intended to express a certain amount of satisfaction."What if they be? You know, and I know, that the thing has to bedone. Whatever may be our own individual feelings, or even ourpresent judgment on the subject,--as to which neither of us canperhaps say that his mind is not so made up that it may not soonbe altered,--we know that the present union cannot remain. It isunfitted for that condition of humanity to which we are coming, andif so, the change must be for good. Why should not he do it as wellas another? Or rather would not he do it better than another, if hecan do it with less of animosity than we should rouse against us? Ifthe blow would come softer from his hands than from ours, with lessof a feeling of injury to those who dearly love the Church, should wenot be glad that he should undertake the task?"

  "Then you will not oppose him?"

  "Ah;--there is much to be considered before we can say that. Thoughhe may not be bound by his friends, we may be bound by ours. Andthen, though I can hint to you at a certain condition of mind,and can sympathise with you, feeling that such may become thecondition of your mind, I cannot say that I should act upon it as anestablished conviction, or that I can expect that you will do so. Ifsuch be the political programme submitted to us when the House meets,then we must be prepared."

  Lord Cantrip also paused a moment before he answered, but he had hisanswer ready. "I can frankly say that I should follow your leading,but that I should give my
voice for opposition."

  "Your voice is always persuasive," said Mr. Gresham.

  But the consternation felt among Mr. Daubeny's friends was infinitelygreater than that which fell among his enemies, when those wonderfulwords were read, discussed, criticised, and explained. It seemed toevery clergyman in England that nothing short of disestablishmentcould be intended by them. And this was the man to whom they hadall looked for protection! This was the bulwark of the Church, towhom they had trusted! This was the hero who had been so sound andso firm respecting the Irish Establishment, when evil counselshad been allowed to prevail in regard to that ill-used but stillsacred vineyard! All friends of the Church had then whisperedamong themselves fearfully, and had, with sad looks and grievousforebodings, acknowledged that the thin edge of the wedge had beendriven into the very rock of the Establishment. The enemies ofthe Church were known to be powerful, numerous, and of courseunscrupulous. But surely this Brutus would not raise a dagger againstthis Caesar! And yet, if not, what was the meaning of those words?And then men and women began to tell each other,--the men and womenwho are the very salt of the earth in this England of ours,--thattheir Brutus, in spite of his great qualities, had ever beenmysterious, unintelligible, dangerous, and given to feats ofconjuring. They had only been too submissive to their Brutus.Wonderful feats of conjuring they had endured, understanding nothingof the manner in which they were performed,--nothing of theirprobable results; but this feat of conjuring they would not endure.And so there were many meetings held about the country, though thetime for combined action was very short.

  Nothing more audacious than the speaking of those few words to thebucolic electors of East Barsetshire had ever been done in thepolitical history of England. Cromwell was bold when he closed theLong Parliament. Shaftesbury was bold when he formed the plot forwhich Lord Russell and others suffered. Walpole was bold when, inhis lust for power, he discarded one political friend after another.And Peel was bold when he resolved to repeal the Corn Laws. But innone of these instances was the audacity displayed more wonderfulthan when Mr. Daubeny took upon himself to make known throughoutthe country his intention of abolishing the Church of England. Forto such a declaration did those few words amount. He was now therecognised parliamentary leader of that party to which the Churchof England was essentially dear. He had achieved his place by skill,rather than principle,--by the conviction on men's minds that he wasnecessary rather than that he was fit. But still, there he was; and,though he had alarmed many,--had, probably, alarmed all those whofollowed him by his eccentric and dangerous mode of carrying on thebattle; though no Conservative regarded him as safe; yet on thisquestion of the Church it had been believed that he was sound. Whatmight be the special ideas of his own mind regarding ecclesiasticalpolicy in general, it had not been thought necessary to consider.His utterances had been confusing, mysterious, and perhaps purposelyunintelligible; but that was matter of little moment so long as hewas prepared to defend the establishment of the Church of Englandas an institution adapted for English purposes. On that point itwas believed that he was sound. To that mast it was supposed he hadnailed his own colours and those of his party. In defending thatfortress it was thought that he would be ready to fall, should thedefence of it require a fall. It was because he was so far safe thathe was there. And yet he spoke these words without consulting asingle friend, or suggesting the propriety of his new scheme to asingle supporter. And he knew what he was doing. This was the way inwhich he had thought it best to make known to his own followers, notonly that he was about to abandon the old Institution, but that theymust do so too!

  As regarded East Barsetshire itself, he was returned, and feted, andsent home with his ears stuffed with eulogy, before the bucolic mindhad discovered his purpose. On so much he had probably calculated.But he had calculated also that after an interval of three or fourdays his secret would be known to all friends and enemies. On the dayafter his speech came the report of it in the newspapers; on the nextday the leading articles, in which the world was told what it wasthat the Prime Minister had really said. Then, on the following day,the startled parsons, and the startled squires and farmers, and,above all, the startled peers and members of the Lower House, whoseduty it was to vote as he should lead them, were all agog. Could itbe that the newspapers were right in this meaning which they hadattached to these words? On the day week after the election in EastBarsetshire, a Cabinet Council was called in London, at which itwould, of course, be Mr. Daubeny's duty to explain to his colleagueswhat it was that he did purpose to do.

  In the meantime he saw a colleague or two.

  "Let us look it straight in the face," he said to a noble colleague;"we must look it in the face before long."

  "But we need not hurry it forward."

  "There is a storm coming. We knew that before, and we heard the soundof it from every husting in the country. How shall we rule the stormso that it may pass over the land without devastating it? If we bringin a bill--"

  "A bill for disestablishing the Church!" said the horror-strickenlord.

  "If we bring in a bill, the purport of which shall be to moderate theascendancy of the Church in accordance with the existing religiousfeelings of the population, we shall save much that otherwise mustfall. If there must be a bill, would you rather that it should bemodelled by us who love the Church, or by those who hate it?"

  That lord was very wrath, and told the right honourable gentlemanto his face that his duty to his party should have constrained himto silence on that subject till he had consulted his colleagues. Inanswer to this Mr. Daubeny said with much dignity that, should suchbe the opinion of his colleagues in general, he would at once abandonthe high place which he held in their councils. But he trusted thatit might be otherwise. He had felt himself bound to communicate hisideas to his constituents, and had known that in doing so some mindsmust be shocked. He trusted that he might be able to allay thisfeeling of dismay. As regarded this noble lord, he did succeed inlessening the dismay before the meeting was over, though he did notaltogether allay it.

  Another gentleman who was in the habit of sitting at Mr. Daubeny'selbow daily in the House of Commons was much gentler with him, bothas to words and manner. "It's a bold throw, but I'm afraid it won'tcome up sixes," said the right honourable gentleman.

  "Let it come up fives, then. It's the only chance we have; and ifyou think, as I do, that it is essentially necessary for the welfareof the country that we should remain where we are, we must run therisk."

  With another colleague, whose mind was really set on that whichthe Church is presumed to represent, he used another argument."I am convinced at any rate of this," said Mr. Daubeny; "that bysacrificing something of that ascendancy which the Establishment issupposed to give us, we can bring the Church, which we love, nearerto the wants of the people." And so it came about that before theCabinet met, every member of it knew what it was that was expectedof him.