Polynesian., 1856-09-20
Che polpuesiau.
The Knight-MayOrs of Gnrrat.

footing has passed through the once celebrated
village of CARAT Itappears that about century
ago the inhabitants of this place possessed of
certain common rights, which were then threatened
with invasion. Who the aggressors were, our
thOrty does not inform but in the contest that
ensued, the villagers were successful and to cee
brate their triumph, they resolved on electing
mayor, whom also, after a fashion of their own,
they determined upon knighting. This ceremony
was agreed 10 be repeated at every general election
OF parliament. No resolution could be more
ceptabe to the publicans and sinners of the neigh
borhood; and, accordingly, the CARAT elections
became popular festivities to which great numbers
Of people regularly repaired, and which were made
the occasion of an infinite deal of jollity.
What is more remarkable, in the course of short
time political interest became attached to the
proceedings. The shrewd partisans and wits of the
day saw how these elections might be turned into
political capital; ~ and such men as Wilkes,
FOote, and Garrick are named as having written
some of the addresses, amusingy and exaggerative-
y exhibiting the defects of the system Of states
manship then In the ascendancy. The publicaDs,
however, and the general populace cared more for
the merry-makings than the patriotic teachings
and it out of regard to the former as the most
interested parties, that the mayors of CARAT con-
tinued to be elected for some years.
The mayors chosen shed an appropriate lustre
on their office. The more shabby deformed, and
eccentric the candidate the greater his chances
of success. The earliest dignitary of whom there
is any record was a certain Sir John Harper, de-
scribed as " fellow of infinite mirth, dirt, and
deformity, whose ordinary occupation was that of
an itinerant vender of brick-dust." His elevation
to the mayoralty not unnaturally gave dignity to
the brickdust trade, and inspired its members with
ambition. They had the glory and satisfaction of
bOasting that their friend and guild brother Sir
John sat @ when not sufficiently sober to stand -
during two successive parliaments Sir John,
moreover, was not without his qualifications of an
intellectual sort; as may be seen from a single
specimen of his ready wit on the g most interest
ing occasion of his life-' 1t happened that while
on the hustings during the period of his first cleo
| tion, dead cat thrown at him, which led
companion to express some disgust at the unpleas-
ant Odour of the animal That is not to be Won
dered at" observed Sir John; '' you see it is
pole (poll) cat" Not bad pun surely, for Il
! brick-dust vender we have heard worse from hon
orable gentlemen standing for a county. We re-
gret that history has preserved no more of the
worthy knights faceti9; but the memory of his
% infinite" jOcuarity seems to rest securely on the
single instance quoted. As the famous - one
speech Hamilton maintained life long reputa-
ton on the merit of his first and only grafton in
the House Of Commons, so Sir John Harper, knight
and mayor of Garrat, lives in lingering tradition
on the credit of single Jest
But, as Emerson has instructed u.s. every mans
action is as circle, which admits of other circles
being drawn around it. After sitting - when not
sufficiently sober to stand,'' during two parlia-
ments Sir John was Unexpectedly Out-circled. An
uglier dirtier more deformed, and merrier fellow
than himself was discovered, and clanOrously
elected in his place. This lucky parsonage was
Sir Jeffrey Dunstan. He hunch-backed like
.Esop, and could tell as many tales, though not al
wavs with moral applications. By calling or pro-
fession he was dealer in old wigs-for the time
we have now to do with befnre men had relaps-
ed into the custom Of wearing their own hair
and from his business of hawking his wares about
the streets he had acquired unusual facility of
speech. This requirement he turned to account
in winning the sufrages of mankind. He never
appeared in public with his wig-bag on his should
er, without being followed by a crowd whom he
delighted with his drolleries-drecte1 chiefly
against men in power, who, it must be confessed,
had weak points sufficiently assailable. While Sir
Jeffrey was mayor, the French Revolution broke
out and made him a rank republican and the
freedom of the times gave SO much liberty to his
tongue as to bring him ultimately into difficulties.
The bold knight grew too political, and even actu-
allv sedtious, in his street oratiOns, and, as a
consequence, was committed to prison for &c treas
enable practices This occurred in 1913, when
the French revOlutionists carrying all before
them to the great alarm of everybody this side
the Channel who had anything to lose from the
spread of revolutionary principles. Sir Jefrey's
Incarceration therefore event which gave no
particular surprise. But it increased his popular
ity and he g4ined with many the easy reputation
of MARTYR in the cause of liberty. 1t had, how
ever the effect of tanning the spirit of the formerly
chiYarous mayor ard his prudence in speech was
the cause of his speedy downfall in the popular
estimation. When he ceased to be wittily vitu-
perative against the government and the prominent
conventional abuses he ceased to be valued by his
constituents at CARAT. He had been three times
elected by that motley and miscellaneous assem-
blage but at length he was successfully opposed
and defeated, under a charge of personal dlshon-
esty The pure electors Of Garrat it is said, could
have endured mere political traitor but, as they
quantity remarked they GO could not a-bear petty
larcenist - and so Sir Jeffrey Dunstan was fgura-
lively sent to Coventry.
It is related of an eminent Speaker of the British
parliament that, ceasing to be Speaker, he claim
ed to be made peer, on the plea that it was not
becoming that he, who had once occupied the char,
should ever be reduced to stand upon the floor Of
the House of Commons. He might, OF course,
have avoided what he objected to by quietly retir-
ing into private life but that was an alternative
to which he had no manner of inclination. The
ministry of the day therefore consented to make
peer of him, and he was politely passed on to the
floor of the Upper House. There was, unharpily,
no higher place to which Sir Jeffrey Dunstan could
aspire, on being out-voted from his mayoralty
but in a similar spirit to the Speakers, he declin-
ed returning to an inferior position Having fall
en- from the height he occupied as knight and mayor
of Garrat, what then was left for Sir JetfIey
Nothing, it appears, but the spiritual exaltatiCn
that springs from strong drink! He accordingly
got as . drunk as lord, was never again seen
sober, and, in the year following that of his dis
grace, died of gin and disappointed ambition. One
hopes the earth rests lightly his bones, and that
he is amply recOmPensed for his loss OF popular
appreciation, by his having gained what so many
aspiring persons long for without Obtaining-a
name in history
His Snccnssnr Was Sir Harry Dimsdale. a smnti-