Soon after his return to town he was present at the opening of
Parliament, Mr. Mounser Green of the Foreign Office having seen
that he was properly accommodated with a seat. Then he went down to
the election of a member of Parliament in the little borough of
Quinborough. It was unfortunate for Great Britain, which was on its
trial, and unpleasant also for the poor Senator who had appointed
himself judge, that such a seat should have fallen vacant at that
moment. Quinborough was a little town of 3,000 inhabitants
clustering round the gates of a great Whig Marquis, which had been
spared,--who can say why?--at the first Reform Bill, and having but
one member had come out scatheless from the second. Quinborough
still returned its one member with something less than 500
constituents, and in spite of household suffrage and the ballot had
always returned the member favoured by the Marquis. This nobleman,
driven no doubt by his conscience to make some return to the
country for the favour shown to his family, had always sent to
Parliament some useful and distinguished man who without such
patronage might have been unable to serve his country. On the
present occasion a friend of the people,--so called,--an unlettered
demagogue such as is in England in truth distasteful to all
classes, had taken himself down to Quinborough as a candidate in
opposition to the nobleman's nominee.
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