by George Eliot
CHAPTER XXXI.
"In the copia of the factious language the word Tory was entertained, and being a vocal clever-sounding word, readily pronounced, it kept its hold, and took possession of the foul mouths of the faction.----The Loyalists began to cheer up and to take heart of grace, and in the working of this crisis, according to the common law of scolding, they considered which way to make payment for so much of Tory as they had been treated with to clear scores.----Immediately the train took, and ran like wildfire and became general. And so the account of Tory was balanced, and soon began to run up a sharp score on the other side."--NORTH'S _Examen_, p. 321.
At last the great epoch of the election for North Loamshire had arrived.The roads approaching Treby were early traversed by a larger number ofvehicles, horsemen, and also foot-passengers than were ever seen at theannual fair. Treby was the polling-place for many voters whose faceswere quite strange in the town; and if there were some strangers who didnot come to poll, though they had business not unconnected with theelection, they were not liable to be regarded with suspicion or especialcuriosity. It was understood that no division of a county had ever beenmore thoroughly canvassed, and that there would be a hard run betweenGarstin and Transome. Mr. Johnson's headquarters were at Duffield; butit was a maxim which he repeated after the great Putty, that a capableagent makes himself omnipresent; and quite apart from the expressbetween him and Jermyn, Mr. John Johnson's presence in the universe hadpotent effects on this December day at Treby Magna.
A slight drizzling rain which was observed by some Tories who looked outof their bedroom windows before six o'clock, made them hope that, afterall, the day might pass off better than alarmists had expected. The rainwas felt to be somehow on the side of quiet and Conservatism; but soonthe breaking of the clouds and the mild gleams of a December sun broughtback previous apprehensions. As there were already precedents for riotat a Reformed election, and as the Trebian district had had itsconfidence in the natural course of things somewhat shaken by a landedproprietor with an old name offering himself as a Radical candidate, theelection had been looked forward to by many with a vague sense that itwould be an occasion something like a fighting match, when badcharacters would probably assemble, and there might be struggles andalarms for respectable men, which would make it expedient for them totake a little neat brandy as a precaution beforehand and a restorativeafterward. The tenants on the Transome estate were comparativelyfearless: poor Mr. Goffe, of Rabbit's End, considered that "one thingwas as mauling as the other," and that an election was no worse than thesheep-rot; while Mr. Dibbs, taking the more cheerful view of aprosperous man, reflected that if the Radicals were dangerous, it wassafer to be on their side. It was the voters for Debarry and Garstin whoconsidered that they alone had the right to regard themselves as targetsfor evil-minded men; and Mr. Crowder, if he could have got his ideascountenanced, would have recommended a muster of farm-servants withdefensive pitchforks on the side of Church and king. But the bolder menwere rather gratified by the prospect of being groaned at, so that theymight face about and groan in return.
Mr. Crow, the high constable of Treby, inwardly rehearsed a briefaddress to a riotous crowd in case it should be wanted, having beenwarned by the rector that it was a primary duty on these occasions tokeep a watch against provocation as well as violence. The rector, with abrother magistrate who was on the spot, had thought it desirable toswear in some special constables, but the presence of loyal men notabsolutely required for the polling was not looked at in the light of aprovocation. The Benefit Clubs from various quarters made a show, somewith the orange-colored ribbons and streamers of the true Torycandidate, some with the mazarine of the Whig. The orange-colored bandsplayed "Auld Lang Syne," and a louder mazarine band came across themwith "Oh, whistle and I will come to thee, my lad"--probably as the tunethe most symbolical of Liberalism which their repertory would furnish.There was not a single club bearing the Radical blue: the Sproxton Clubmembers wore the mazarine, and Mr. Chubb wore so much of it that helooked (at a sufficient distance) like a very large gentianella. It wasgenerally understood that "these brave fellows," representing the fineinstitution of Benefit Clubs, holding aloft the motto, "Let brotherlylove continue," were a civil force calculated to encourage voters ofsound opinions and keep up their spirits. But a considerable number ofunadorned heavy navvies, colliers, and stone-pit men, who used theirfreedom as British subjects to be present in Treby on this greatoccasion, looked like a possible uncivil force whose politics weredubious until it was clearly seen for whom they cheered and for whomthey groaned.
Thus the way up to the polling-booths was variously lined, and those whowalked it, to whatever side they belonged, had the advantage of hearingfrom the opposite side what were the most marked defects or excesses intheir personal appearance; for the Trebians of that day held, withoutbeing aware that they had Cicero's authority for it, that the bodilyblemishes of an opponent were a legitimate ground for ridicule; but ifthe voter frustrated wit by being handsome, he was groaned at andsatirized according to a formula, in which the adjective was Tory, Whig,or Radical, as the case might be, and the substantive a blank to befilled up after the taste of the speaker.
Some of the more timid had chosen to go through this ordeal as early aspossible in the morning. One of the earliest was Mr. Timothy Rose, thegentleman-farmer from Leek Malton. He had left home with someforeboding, having swathed his more vital parts in layers of flannel,and put on two greatcoats as a soft kind of armor. But reflecting withsome trepidation that there were no resources for protecting his head,he once more wavered in his intention to vote; he once more observed toMrs. Rose that these were hard times when a man of independent propertywas expected to vote "willy-nilly;" but finally coerced by the sensethat he should be looked ill on "in these times" if he did not stand bythe gentlemen round about, he set out in his gig, taking with him apowerful wagoner, whom he ordered to keep him in sight as he went tothe polling-booth. It was hardly more than nine o'clock when Mr. Rose,having thus come up to the level of his times, cheered himself with alittle cherry-brandy at the Marquis, drove away in a much morecourageous spirit, and got down at Mr. Nolan's, just outside the town.The retired Londoner, he considered, was a man of experience, who wouldestimate properly the judicious course he had taken, and could make itknown to others. Mr. Nolan was superintending the removal of some shrubsin his garden.
"Well, Mr. Nolan," said Rose, twinkling a self-complacent look over thered prominence of his cheeks, "have you been to give your vote yet?"
"No; all in good time. I shall go presently."
"Well, I wouldn't lose an hour, I wouldn't. I said to myself, if I'vegot to do gentlemen a favor, I'll do it at once. You see, I've got nolandlord, Nolan--I'm in that position o' life that I can beindependent."
"Just so, my dear sir," said the wiry-faced Nolan, pinching hisunder-lip between his thumb and finger, and giving one of thosewonderful universal shrugs, by which he seemed to be recalling all hisgarments from a tendency to disperse themselves. "Come in and see Mrs.Nolan?"
"No, no, thankye. Mrs. Rose expects me back. But, as I was saying, I'm aindependent man, and I consider it's not my part to show favor to onemore than another, but to make things as even as I can. If I'd been atenant to anybody, well, in course I must have voted for mylandlord--that stands to sense. But I wish everybody well; and if one'sreturned to Parliament more than another, nobody can say it's my doing;for when you can vote for two, you can make things even. So I gave oneto Debarry and one to Transome; and I wish Garstin no ill, but I can'thelp the odd number, and he hangs on to Debarry, they say."
"God bless me, sir," said Mr. Nolan, coughing down a laugh, "don't youperceive that you might as well have stayed at home and not voted atall, unless you would rather send a Radical to Parliament than a soberWhig?"
"Well, I'm sorry you should have anything to say against what I've done,Nolan," said Mr. Rose, rather crestfallen, though sustained by inwardwarmth. "I thought y
ou'd agree with me, as you're a sensible man. Butthe most a independent man can do is to try and please all; and if hehasn't the luck--here's wishing I may do it another time," added Mr.Rose, apparently confounding a toast with a salutation, for he put outhis hand for a passing shake, and then stepped into his gig again.
At the time that Mr. Timothy Rose left the town, the crowd in KingStreet and in the market-place, where the polling-booths stood, wasfluctuating. Voters as yet were scanty, and brave fellows who had comefrom any distance this morning, or who had sat up late drinking thenight before, required some reinforcement of their strength and spirits.Every public house in Treby, not excepting the venerable and sombreCross-Keys, was lively with changing and numerous company. Not, ofcourse, that there was any treating: treating necessarily had stopped,from moral scruples, when once "the wits were out;" but there wasdrinking, which did equally well under any name.
Poor Tommy Trounsem, breakfasting here on Falstaff's proportion ofbread, and something which, for gentility's sake, I will call sack, wasmore than usually victorious over the ills of life, and felt himself oneof the heroes of the day. He had an immense light-blue cockade in hishat, and an amount of silver in a dirty little canvas bag whichastonished himself. For some reason, at first inscrutable to him, he hadbeen paid for his bill-sticking with great liberality at Mr. Jermyn'soffice, in spite of his having been the victim of a trick by which hehad once lost his own bills and pasted up Debarry's; but he soon sawthat this was simply a recognition of his merit as "an old family keptout of its rights," and also of his peculiar share in an occasion whenthe family was to get into Parliament. Under these circumstances, it wasdue from him that he should show himself prominently where business wasgoing forward, and give additional value by his presence to every votefor Transome. With this view he got a half-pint bottle filled with hispeculiar kind of "sack," and hastened back to the market-place, feelinggood-natured and patronizing toward all political parties, and only sofar partial as his family bound him to be.
But a disposition to concentrate at that extremity of King Street whichissued in the market-place, was not universal among the increasingcrowd. Some of them seemed attracted toward another nucleus at the otherextremity of King Street, near the Seven Stars. This was Garstin's chiefhouse, where his committee sat, and it was also a point which mustnecessarily be passed by many voters entering the town on the easternside. It seemed natural that the mazarine colors should be visiblehere, and that Pack, the tall "shepherd" of the Sproxton men, should beseen moving to and fro where there would be a frequent opportunity ofcheering the voters for a gentleman who had the chief share in theSproxton mines. But the side lanes and entries out of King Street werenumerous enough to relieve any pressure if there was need to make way.The lanes had a distinguished reputation. Two of them had odors ofbrewing; one had a side entrance to Mr. Tiliot's wine and spirit vaults;up another Mr. Muscat's cheeses were frequently being unloaded; and evensome of the entries had those cheerful suggestions of plentifulprovision which were among the characteristics of Treby.
Between ten and eleven the voters came in more rapid succession, and thewhole scene became spirited. Cheers, sarcasms, and oaths, which seemedto have a flavor of wit for many hearers, were beginning to bereinforced by more practical demonstrations, dubiously jocose. There wasa disposition in the crowd to close and hem in the way for voters,either going or coming, until they had paid some kind of toll. It wasdifficult to see who set the example in the transition from words todeeds. Some thought it was due to Jacob Cuff, a Tory charity-man, whowas a well-known ornament of the pothouse, and gave his mind muchleisure for amusing devices; but questions of origination in stirringperiods are notoriously hard to settle. It is by no means necessary inhuman things that there should be only one beginner. This, however, iscertain--that Mr. Chubb, who wished it to be noticed that he voted forGarstin solely, was one of the first to get rather more notice than hewished, and that he had his hat knocked off and crushed in the interestof Debarry by Tories opposed to coalition. On the other hand, some saidit was at the same time that Mr. Pink, the saddler, being stopped on hisway and made to declare that he was going to vote for Debarry, gothimself well chalked as to his coat, and pushed up an entry, where heremained the prisoner of terror combined with the want of any backoutlet, and never gave his vote that day.
The second Tory joke was performed with much gusto. The majority of theTransome tenants came in a body from the Ram Inn, with Mr. Banks, thebailiff, leading them. Poor Goffe was the last of them, and his wornmelancholy look and forward-leaning gait gave the jocose Cuff the notionthat the farmer was not what he called "compus." Mr. Goffe was cut offfrom his companions and hemmed in: asked, by voices with hot breathclose to his ear, how many horses he had, how many cows, how many fatpigs; then jostled from one to another, who made trumpets with theirhands, and deafened him by telling him to vote for Debarry. In this waythe melancholy Goffe was hustled on till he was at the polling-booth,filled with confused alarms, the immediate alarm being that of having togo back in still worse fashion than he had come. Arriving in this wayafter the other tenants had left, he astonished all hearers who knew himfor a tenant of the Transomes by saying "Debarry," and was jostled backtrembling amid shouts of laughter.
By stages of this kind the fun grew faster, and was in danger of gettingrather serious. The Tories began to feel that their jokes were returnedby others of a heavier sort, and that the main strength of the crowd wasnot on the side of sound opinion, but might come to be on the side ofsound cudgelling and kicking. The navvies and pitmen in dishabilleseemed to be multiplying, and to be clearly not belonging to the partyof Order. The shops were freely resorted to for various forms of playfulmissiles and weapons; and news came to the magistrates, watching fromthe large window of the Marquis, that a gentleman coming in on horsebackat the other end of the street to vote for Garstin had had his horseturned round and frightened into a headlong gallop out of it again.
Mr. Crow and his subordinates, and all the special constables, felt thatit was necessary to make some energetic effort, or else every voterwould be intimidated and the poll must be adjourned. The rectordetermined to get on horseback and go amidst the crowd with theconstables; and he sent a message to Mr. Lingon, who was at the Ram,calling on him to do the same. "Sporting Jack" was sure the good fellowsmeant no harm, but he was courageous enough to face any bodily dangers,and rode out in his brown leggings and colored bandana, speakingpersuasively.
It was nearly twelve o'clock when this sally was made: the constablesand magistrates tried the most pacific measures, and they seemed tosucceed. There was a rapid thinning of the crowd: the most boisterousdisappeared, or seemed to do so by becoming quiet; missiles ceased tofly, and a sufficient way was cleared for voters along King Street. Themagistrates returned to their quarters, and the constables tookconvenient posts of observation. Mr. Wace, who was one of Debarry'scommittee, had suggested to the rector that it might be wise to sendfor the military from Duffield, with orders that they should stationthemselves at Hathercote, three miles off: there was so much property inthe town that it would be better to make it secure against risks. Butthe rector felt that this was not the part of a moderate and wisemagistrate, unless the signs of riot recurred. He was a brave man, andfond of thinking that his own authority sufficed for the maintenance ofthe general good in Treby.