'But I know that my opponents when their turn comes will appoint their friends to the Lieutenancies and that the balance will be maintained.If you or I appoint their friends, they won't appoint ours.Lord Earlybird's proxy has been in the hands of the Conservative Leader of the House of Lords ever since he succeeded his father.' Then the old man paused, but his friend waited to listen whether the lecture were finished before he spoke, and the Duke of St Bungay continued.'And, moreover, thought Lord Earlybird is a very good man,--so much so that many of us may well envy him,--he is not just the man fitted for this destination.A Knight of the Garter should be a man prone to show himself, a public man, one whose work in the country has brought him face to face with his fellows.There is an aptness, a propriety, a fitness in these things which one can understand perhaps better than explain.'
'Those fitnesses and aptnesses change, I think, from day to day.
There was a time when a knight should be a fighting man.'
'That has gone by.'
'And the aptness and fitness in accordance with which the sovereign of the day was induced to grace with the Garter such a man as the late Marquis of Mount Fidgett have, I hope, gone by.
You will admit that?'
'There is no such man proposed.'
'And other fitnesses and aptnesses will go by, till the time will come when the man to be selected as Lieutenant of a county will be the man whose selection will be most beneficial to the county, and Knights of the Garter will be chosen for their real virtues.'
'I think you are Quixotic.A Prime Minister is of all men bound to follow the traditions of his country, or, when he leaves them, to leave them with very gradual steps.'
'And if he break that law and throw over all that thraldom;--what then?'
'He will lose the confidence which has made him what he is.'
'It is well that I know the penalty.It is hardly heavy enough to enforce strict obedience.As for the matter in dispute, it had better stand over for a few days.' When the Prime Minister said this the old Duke knew very well that he intended to have his own way.
And so it was.A week passed by, and then the younger Duke wrote to the elder Duke saying that he had given to the matter all the consideration in his power, and that he had at last resolved to recommend her Majesty to bestow the ribbon on Lord Earlybird.He would not, however, take any step for a few days so that his friend might have an opportunity of making further remonstrance if he pleased.No further remonstrance was made, and Lord Earlybird, much to his own amazement, was nominated to the vacant Garter.
The appointment was one certainly not popular with any of the Prime Minister's friends.With some, such as Lord Drummond, it indicated a determination on the part of the Duke to declare his freedom from all those bonds which had hitherto been binding on the Heads of Government.Had the Duke selected himself, certainly no offence would have been given.Had the Marquis of Mount Fidgett been the happy man, excuses would have been made.
But it was unpardonable to Lord Drummond that he should have been passed over and that the Garter should have been given to Lord Earlybird.To the poor old Duke the offence was of a different nature.He had intended to use a very strong word when he told his friend that his proposed conduct would be Quixotic.The Duke of Omnium would surely know that the Duke of St Bungay could not support a Quixotic Prime Minister.And yet the younger Duke, the Telemachus of the last two years,--after hearing that word,--had rebelled against his Mentor, and had obstinately adhered to his Quixotism! The greed of power had fallen upon the man,--so said the dear old Duke to himself,--and the man's fall was certain.Alas, alas; had he been allowed to go before the poison had entered his veins, how much less would have been his suffering!
