ke of St. Bungay, who had for years
past been "the Duke" when Liberal administrations were discussed, and
the second Duke, whom we know so well; and Sir Harry Coldfoot, and
Legge Wilson, Lord Cantrip, Lord Thrift, and the rest of them. There
would of course be Lord Fawn, Mr. Ratler, and Mr. Erle. The thing was
so thoroughly settled that one was almost tempted to think that the
Prime Minister himself would have no voice in the selections to be
made. As to one office it was acknowledged on all sides that a doubt
existed which would at last be found to be very injurious,--as some
thought altogether crushing,--to the party. To whom would Mr. Gresham
entrust the financial affairs of the country? Who would be the new
Chancellor of the Exchequer? There were not a few who inferred that
Mr. Bonteen would be promoted to that high office. During the last
two years he had devoted himself to decimal coinage with a zeal only
second to that displayed by Plantagenet Palliser, and was accustomed
to say of himself that he had almost perished under his exertions. It
was supposed that he would have the support of the present Duke of
Omnium,--and that Mr. Gresham, who disliked the man, would be coerced
by the fact that there was no other competitor. That Mr. Bonteen
should go into the Cabinet would be gall and wormwood to many brother
Liberals; but gall and wormwood such as this have to be swallowed.
The rising in life of our familiar friends is, perhaps, the bitterest
morsel of the bitter bread which we are called upon to eat in life.
But we do eat it; and after a while it becomes food to us,--when we
find ourselves able to use, on behalf, perhaps, of our children, the
influence of those whom we had once hoped to leave behind in the race
of life. When a man suddenly shoots up into power few suffer from it
very acutely. The rise of a Pitt can have caused no heart-burning.
But Mr. Bonteen had been a hack among the hacks, had filled the usual
half-dozen places, had been a junior Lord, a Vice-President, a Deputy
Controller, a Chief Commissioner, and a Joint Secretary. His hopes
had been raised or abased among the places of L1,000, L1,200, or
L1,500 a year. He had hitherto culminated at L2,000, and had been
supposed with diligence to have worked himself up to the top of
the ladder, as far as the ladder was accessible to him. And now he
was spoken of in connection with one of the highest offices of the
State! Of course this created much uneasines