The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-08-06

excellent custom in the agricultural dis
tr!cts OF Holland where the peasants re-
moved and left outside their dirty shoes
when they entered a dwelling. adding the
moral reflection that the dirty shoes Of
bad politics might be left outside religion,
an observation the force Of which may be
appreciated in America.
1t IL said that the traffic in votes was
rather openly and unblushingly conducted
until the pernicious consequences Of 1t led
to legal provision against that sort Of en-
terprise. Now the restrictions upon acts
that might tend to shift the conscience Of
voters from personal conviction to parti-
san complaisance are SO finely drawn that
sometimes comical results attend them.
The radical candidate in the east division
of Marylebone went on horseback to one
OF his open air meetings. After delivering
his address he was about to give shilling
to the man who held his horse when his
election agent interposed with reminder
Of the corrupt practices act. The candi-
date Immediately thrust the coin back into
his pocket and contented himself with
thanking the man. A very picturesque.
II somewhat irregular assortment OF
words, expressive neither of pleasure nor
appreciation. escaped the mouth of the
virtually defrauded horsetender. who i'm
mediately became convert to the oppo-
sition.
Another phase of British political prac-
tlce must strike the American mind oddly.
Posted plentifully about London just now
are half-sheets bearing wood cut prints of
the busts of Spurgeon and John Bright re-
olx, xr,ttt n th,1 Iat ha tnn. L.,
being dead. yet speaketh." Below is a
sentiment from a speech or sermon of the
man pictured. unfavorable to the sepa-
ratist movement and therefore serviceable
to unionist purposes This recourse to the
tomb for campaign literature is given a
somewhat ghoulsh suggestion by the IL
lustrated posters. But there is an ancient
English precedent for this sort Of thing;
did not Warwick seek to rouse the
apathetic citizens of London to an aggres-
sive sympathy with the dropped Lancas-
trian cause by strapping the feeble and i'm
beetle body Of Henry vi to a horse and
parading the pitiable object through the
town? Quite proper, therefore, was 1t for
the unionists to marshal forth the speak
ing likeness of two such vigorous souls
and noble patriots as Spurgeon and Bright
to plead, as 1t were, from the grave. for
the perpetuity Of the imperial Integrity
which is England's chief safeguard.
H II H
An American can have but an, imperfect
conception Of the veneration Of illustrious
public men that is an attribute of the
English mind. When man has risen to a
position of affectionate esteem or respect
full admiration here, each year Of service
or recognition deepens and intensifies the
regard in which he Is held; and he is
known for clear-minded, high-souled pa
triot this regard become positive love and
reverence. The man so devOtedly admired
continues n living force even after the
mortal part Of him has passed from the
view of men, and the memory Of him is a
spell to conjure with. And there Is rea-
son for 1t; In the splendid majority of in
stances men of public importance In Eng
land hold their pre-eminence through the
power Of personal worth, of character, of
intellect, and without these the shrewdest
and most brilliant politician cannot hope
to continue long in favor 1t means some-
thing here to be public man, and the
very best men strive for public position.
When a country has 600 years of nobility,
Of valor, of greatness, of dignity, as the
perspective Of modern doings, men who
stand conspicuously before their fellow
men are apt to square their deeds by the
best that is In them.