ards excluded from the Cabinet, and
placed in an office made peculiarly subordinate by the
fact of that exclusion. We have never yet been told why
this was done;--but we believe that we are justified in
saying that it was managed through the influence of the
member for Tankerville; and we are quite sure that the
public service of the country has thereby been subjected
to grievous injury.

It is hardly our duty to praise any of that very awkward
team of horses which Mr. Gresham drives with an audacity
which may atone for his incapacity if no fearful accident
should be the consequence; but if there be one among them
whom we could trust for steady work up hill, it is Mr.
Bonteen. We were astounded at Mr. Gresham's indiscretion
in announcing the appointment of his new Chancellor of the
Exchequer some weeks before he had succeeded in driving
Mr. Daubeny from office;--but we were not the less glad to
find that the finances of the country were to be entrusted
to the hands of the most competent gentleman whom Mr.
Gresham has induced to follow his fortunes. But Mr.
Phineas Finn, with his female forces, has again
interfered, and Mr. Bonteen has been relegated to the
Board of Trade, without a seat in the Cabinet. We should
not be at all surprised if, as the result of this
disgraceful manoeuvring, Mr. Bonteen found himself at
the head of the Liberal party before the Session be over.
If so, evil would have worked to good. But, be that as
it may, we cannot but feel that it is a disgrace to the
Government, a disgrace to Parliament, and a disgrace to
the country that such results should come from the private
scandals of two or three people among us by no means of
the best class.

CHAPTER XLIV

The Browborough Trial

There was another matter of public interest going on at this time
which created a great excitement. And this, too, added to the
importance of Phineas Finn, though Phineas was not the hero of the
piece. Mr. Browborough, the late member for Tankerville, was tried
for bribery. It will be remembered that when Phineas contested the
borough in the autumn, this gentleman was returned. He was afterwards
unseated, as the result of a petition before the judge, and Phineas
was declared to be the true member. The judge who had so decided had
reported to the Speaker that further inquiry before a commission into
the practices of