As the trial was
severe, so is the honour due to the new voters lasting and conspicuous.
The length of the quotation is justified by its effect on--my life. For
me it has another interest. In re-reading it, I note that, right or
wrong, it takes exactly the view of the English democracy which I have
always taken and which I hold today as strongly as I did forty years
ago.
The article had an instant reaction. It delighted Mr. Townsend, who,
though he did not _know_ it was by me, guessed that it was mine,
and wrote at once to ask me whether, when Mr. Hutton went on his
holiday, I could remain at work as his assistant. Very soon after, he
suggested, with a swift generosity that still warms my heart, that if I
liked to give up the Bar, for which I was still supposing myself to be
reading, I could have a permanent place at _The Spectator_, and
even, if I remember rightly, hinted that I might look forward to
succeeding the first of the two partners who died or retired, and so to
becoming joint editor or joint proprietor. That prospect I do admit took
away my breath. With the solemn caution of youth, or at any rate with
youth's delight in irony in action, I almost felt that I should have to
go and make representations to my chief about his juvenile impetuosity
and want of care and prudence.
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