witted Jewish gentleman who said: "If the Irish are going to sell us, after what Father solemnly promised me, why shouldn't we call on the Church of England clergyman, who is not only universally respected in the constituency, but has far and away the biggest flock?"
Drowning men, especially in the sea of politics, clutch at any straw; and so a deputation waited on the worthy Canon. Fixing his genial eye on the acute physiognomy of the expectant Semite, the most influential Anglican clergyman in the district gravely said:—
"I think, gentlemen, were I to bend my mind to it, I could perhaps induce my aged and somewhat imbecile verger to vote for your man. But there is not another person I would presume to influence, on such a matter, in my parish."
Perhaps this is not an inappropriate place to point out another trait which sharply distinguishes a very worthy and not inconsiderable section of the Englishry in the colonies from the Celtic Irish. One of the most intellectual, and certainly one of the most estimable, men it has ever been my good fortune to know intimately—an old English colonist who has lived in Australia for nearly forty years, and whose
