his was wonderful, for I know of nothing capable of
rousing honest but ignorant people to greater rage and enthusiasm than
this anti-vaccination cry. They believe it to be true, or, at least,
seeing one or two cases in which it is true, and having never seen a
case of smallpox, they suppose that the whole race is being poisoned
by wicked doctors for their own gain. Hence their fierce energy and
heartfelt indignation.

Well, it carried me through. The election was fought not with foils
but with rapiers. Against me were arrayed the entire wealth, rank, and
fashion of the city, reinforced by Conservative speakers famous for
their parliamentary eloquence, who were sent down to support Sir Thomas
Colford. Nor was this all: when it was recognised that the fight would
be a close one, an eloquent and leading member of the House was sent to
intervene in person. He came and addressed a vast meeting gathered in
the biggest building of the city. Seated among a crowd of workmen on
a back bench I was one of his audience. His speech was excellent, if
somewhat too general and academic. To the "A.V." agitation, with
a curious misapprehension of the state of the case, he devoted one
paragraph only. It ran something like this:--

"I am told that our opponents, putting aside the great and general
issues upon which I have had the honour to address you, attempt to
gain support by entering upon a crusade--to my mind a most pernicious
crusade--against the law of compulsory vaccination. I am not concerned
to defend that law, because practically in the mind of all reasonable
men it stands beyond attack. It is, I am told, suggested that the Act
should be amended by freeing from the usual penalties any parent
who chooses to advance a plea of conscientious objection against the
vaccination of his children. Such an argument seems to me too puerile,
I had almost said too wicked, to dwell upon, for in its issue it would
mean that at the whim of individuals innocent children might be exposed
to disease, disfigurement, and death, and the whole community through
them to a very real and imminent danger. Prophecy is dangerous, but,
speaking for myself as a private member of Parliament, I can scarcely
believe that responsible ministers of any party, moved by the pressure
of an ill-informed and erroneous opinion, would ever consent under this
elastic plea of conscience to establish such a precedent of surrender.
Vaccination with its proved benefits is outsi