130 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



ents, most of whom, Liberal as well as 

 Conservative, hold opinions from which I 

 dissent, and who would wish me to sup- 

 port measures which I entirely disapproved. 

 Hence, even if elected, I should be quickly 

 called upon to resign. 



You will thus see that the choice of me as 

 a candidate would be extremely impolitic, 

 even had I no reason of a personal kind for 

 declining to stand. Thanking you for your 

 kind expressions, and regretting that I am 

 unable to accede to your request, beHeve me, 

 sincerely yours, 



(Signed) Hekbebt Spenceb. 



To this letter the reverend gentle- 

 man to whom it was addressed replied, 

 regretting that the state of Mr. Spen- 

 cer's health and work would not per- 

 mit him to engage in parliamentary du- 

 ties, but declaring that the other rea- 

 sons which Mr. Spencer assigned for 

 not taking the nomination were most 

 excellent reasons why he should con- 

 sent to it. " Leicester," said Mr. Page 

 Hops, " in the person of Mr. Taylor has 

 had an admirable training in the art of 

 letting its members alone, and I trust 

 it will be still further developed in this 

 direction. You certainly will never be 

 called upon * to resign ' by such a con- 

 stituency as ours ; and I am truly sorry 

 that your health and your work will 

 not allow you to make proof of this." 



In itself, this transaction is perhaps 

 of small moment, but it has significance 

 as showing that in England at least 

 there is a decline in the consideration 

 formerly attached to political office- 

 holding, which is accompanied by an 

 equally significant increase on the part 

 of constituencies of resistance to par- 

 tisan domination. When Mr. Spencer 

 says that " far too high an estimate is 

 made of the influence possessed in our 

 day by a member of Parliament," this 

 is not so much a mere personal opinion 

 as the expression of a palpable and 

 widely admitted truth. The letter has 

 elicited extensive discussion, and the 

 most influential organs of public senti- 

 ment in that country unhesitatingly ac- 

 knowledge it. The " Pall Mall Gazette " 

 remarks : " No one who has had any 



experience of the inner working of our 

 constitution can gainsay this dictum. 

 The real governing force in the country 

 at present is not Parliament but public 

 opinion, and the shaping of public opin- 

 ion is a work which, in all but a few 

 exceptional cases, can be much more 

 efiectively carried on outside Parlia- 

 ment than from within its walls." 



But the offer of the Leicester con- 

 stituency to be represented in Parlia- 

 ment by the most radical thinker in 

 England, a man of no party, and hold- 

 ing views widely divergent from those 

 entertained by both parties, is espe- 

 cially instructive as showing the value 

 assigned to independence of thought, 

 and the recognized supremacy of prin- 

 ciples in English politics. Without as- 

 suming that this action of the Leicester 

 politicians is at all representative of 

 the intelligence and independence of 

 other English constituencies, the gen- 

 eral and quite emphatic approval of their 

 course shows that it is in wide agree- 

 ment with English thought. While it 

 is generally admitted that Mr. Spencer 

 did wisely in declining to enter Parlia- 

 ment, even if his bad health were not a 

 barrier, and on the ground that he can 

 do his work better outside of the par- 

 liamentary walls than within them, 

 not a word of objection that we can 

 discover has been raised on personal 

 grounds, or because of the extreme and 

 obnoxious opinions which it has become 

 customary to impute to Mr. Spencer. 

 The implication is that his non-parti- 

 san independence and his radical views 

 would be excellent things in Parlia- 

 ment, but that his influence would be 

 greater outside of it. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



Bacteria. By Dr. Antoine Magnin and 



George M. Sternberg, M. D., F. R. M. S. 



New York: William Wood & Co. Pp. 



494. Price, |4. 



Dr. Sternberg's translation of Dr. Mag- 

 nin's work on " Bacteria," noticed in these 

 pages at its first appearance three years 

 ago, forms about one third of the present 



