worth seventy pounds. But my principal
had in his own gift situations worth twice that
amount in the Clary Iron works.

There were many electors, and these not the
poorest, who had pestered the late member with
applications for government situations for their
sons, brothers, cousins, and friends. Not more
than a fifth of them had he been able, for very
shame, to ask for, and hardly one in twenty
of them had he been able to obtain. If we
could only manage to persuade these gentlemen
that Our Side was likely to come into office, we
should thrive.

My first care was to secure as many of the
public-houses as I could, and before I had been
twenty-four hours in the town ten of these
establishments had in their windows printed
placards, on which appeared, in mauve (our
colour), with letters six inches long at least, the
words,

            VOTE FOR MELLAM!
  MR. MELLAM'S COMMITTEE ROOM.

Each publican was, in the first place, to have
fifty pounds for the use of his house as a
committee-room. He was to invite many to his
house, and all who entered were to drink as
much as possible. If any one declined to take
more liquor, he was to be invited to drink at
the expense of the landlord, who was instructed
on all such occasions to say that he " ould
stand a pint," or a quart, or glasses "hot
with," all round, as the case might be, just
to drink Success to Mellam and the Mauves.
The private bargain with the landlords was
that all such liquors as were consumed were
to be charged to our committee, and that the bill
would be settled without any scrutiny whatever.
The last clause of the bargain, but by no means the
least interesting to the publicans, was the one
in which I privately bet each of them (through
sub-agents) one hundred pounds to one pound
that Mr. Mellam would not be returned for
the borough of Northenville. If he was not
returned, each publican would have to pay the
sum of twenty shillings; but if he was returned,
I paid one hundred pounds. Fair betting is not
bribery.

When the public-houses had been secured,
I began to work at what may be termed
the legitimate business of the election. There
were two local newspapers – one strongly
Mauve, the other Carmine double-dyed. Of
course we favoured our own print, and not
only published Mr. Mellam's address in the
Northenville Mercury, but also sent in long
rigmaroles as advertisements, which, although
they were merely "copy" from the London
papers, and of no use to our candidate, were paid
for at the fullest rates chargeable for the most
expensive advertisements.

Mr. Mellam's address appealed to the
Mauve feelings of the FREE AND INDEPENDENT
ELECTORS OF NORTHENVILLE, and
commenced by declaring that it was "with a
deep sense of responsibility" that Mr. Mellam
submitted himself to their notice as a candidate
for the honour of representing them in
parliament.

From generalities the address went on to
speak of the special and actual wants and
desires of the borough. The Hougoumont of our
position was a purely local piece of business,
which fortunately for our side, the Mauve
principles enabled us to support.

There was, and had been for some five
hundred years, an institution in Northenville known
as the Cottagers' Almshouses. These consisted
of twenty small cottages, each containing two
rooms and a kitchen, with a small plot of
garden behind. They had been built in the
old monkish days, and the founder had left a
farm of more than a hundred acres, the rents of
which were to support the score of poor persons
who inhabited the houses. The original
intention of the founder was that in these
almshouses there should be maintained twenty
cottagers of the neighbourhood who had become
incapable of supporting themselves. They and
their wives – if they were married – were to
receive also a small stipend every month for
food, fuel, and clothes. The trustees of the
charity were the mayor and town council of the
place. But the value of the estate left for the
support of the poor people had increased, and the
question was what to do with the surplus funds,
which now amounted to some seven or eight
thousand pounds. Some maintained that more
poor people ought to be supported. This was
the Carmine view of the question, as represented
in the columns of the Northenville Independent.
On the other hand, the Mauves maintained
that as this great increase to the funds
of a local institution had been brought about
by the care of the mayor and town council,
the money ought to be spent on works of
public benefit for the good of the whole town
of Northenville.

At the time when Mr. Mellam came forward
to contest the borough, the controversy
respecting the cottagers' almshouses was very
warm indeed. Our friends of the Mercury
were loud in praise of Mr. Mellam, and
"hoped that this well-known fellow-countryman
of the electors would be returned for
the borough, if for no other reason in order
that the wretched faction which had by
means of bribery and corruption so long
misrepresented the town of Northenville, might
not be able to coerce their fellow-citizens by
imposing additional rates, and by the perpetration
of a job which would saddle the people of
that important borough with a burden which
they might perhaps never be able to shake
off."

Before leaving London, I had ascertained
who were the agents in town of the other
side, and a ten pound note judiciously
bestowed upon a clerk in their office (betting
him also one hundred pounds to one pound
that my man would not be returned), kept me
alive to all that was going on in that part of
the enemy's camp. I had arrived at Northenville
on a Saturday night, and on Sunday morning