APRIL 165 



cess than any local man, however suitable, who does not happen to 

 be a brewer. It may seem almost incredible to the intelligent 

 dwellers in cities who are not acquainted with our more remote 

 country districts that this should be the case, but so it is. 



I do not know if the labourers in their heart of hearts accept 

 all these falsehoods, but I am sure that a large proportion wish 

 to accept them. In many cases they are ignorant and prejudiced ; 

 also, not unnaturally, they are embittered by the humble nature of 

 their lot and the pitiful smallness of their wage. Then come the 

 agitator and the gentleman from London, who tell them that this 

 condition of affairs is brought about by the parson and the squire, 

 and especially by the individual who is seeking to represent them 

 in Parliament, and his friends. That it is caused by the dreadful 

 depression in agriculture, which makes it impossible for their wages 

 to rise to the level of town rates, they steadily neglect to explain. 



To all these fierce prejudices money is too frequently the only 

 answer. Very often the rich man standing for a rural division 

 fortifies his cause by a deliberate pauperising of the constituency ; 

 and in this case, unless he is confronted by an opponent with 

 equal or greater means, he will probably be returned. In one Eastern 

 Counties division two giants of wealth opposed each other at 

 a recent election, turning it between them into a very land of 

 Canaan ; for so fast did the milk, honey, blankets, and other good 

 things flow that, thus said rumour, cottages in that happy country 

 commanded a handsome premium, like London houses in the 

 season. But one candidate was rather richer than the other, and 

 he won. Lately also we have learned, through the press, that a 

 financial Star benefited the constituency he hoped to represent to 

 the tune of i4,ooo/. per annum distributed in doles. How does 

 such generosity differ from the commonest corruption ? 



Even the candidate of humbler means is exposed to what can 

 only be described as a system of blackmail. From the moment 

 it becomes known that he proposes to stand every village club 

 and institution within the borders of the constituency makes its 

 request upon him for subscriptions. I say its request, but prac- 



