ack on the _principle_ of the Town Trustee business.
We'll not say one word about the present Trustees, old Crood, Mallett
and Coppinger--we'll have no personalities, and make no charges; we'll
avoid all stuff of that sort. We'll just attack the thing on its
principle, taking up the line that it's a bad principle that the
finances of a borough should be entrusted to the sole control of three
men responsible to nobody and with the power, if one dies, to elect his
successor. Let's argue it out _on_ the principle; then, later, we'll have
another article on the argument that the finances of a town should be
wholly controlled by the elected representatives of the people--see?"

"Your late cousin's theories, Mr. Brent," said Peppermore. "Excellent
notions, both, sir. You write the articles; I'll find the space. All on
principle--no personalities. Plain and practical, Mr. Brent, let them
be, so that everybody can understand. Though to be sure," he added
regretfully, "what our readers most like is personalities! If we dared
to slate old Crood with all the abuse we could lay our pens to, the
readers of the _Monitor_, sir, would hug themselves with pleasure. But
libel, Mr. Brent, libel! Do you know, sir, that ever since I occupied
the editorial chair of state I have always felt that the wet blanket of
the law of libel sat at my banquet like the ghost in Macbeth, letting
its sword hang by a thread an inch from my cranium! Bit mixed in my
metaphors, sir, but you know what I mean. Mustn't involve my respected
proprietor in a libel suit, Mr. Brent, so stick to abstract principles,
sir, and eschew those saucy personal touches which I regret--deeply--I
can't print."

Brent had no intention of indulging in personalities in his warfare with
Simon Crood and the reactionaries, but as the day of the election
approached he discovered that his adversaries were not at all particular
about putting forth highly personal references to himself.
Hathelsborough suddenly became flooded with handbills and posters, each
bearing a few pithy words in enormous type. These effusions were for the
most part in the form of questions, addressed to the recipients; there
was a cynical and sinister sneer in all of them. "Who _is_ Mr. Brent?"
"Why Support a Stranger?" "Who Wants a Carpet-Bagger?" "Vote for the
Home-Made Article." "Hathelsborough Men for Hathelsborough Matters."
"Stand by the True and Tried!" These appeals to the free and enlightened
burgesses who