Public-houses had been kept open as a matter of course, and nowhere
perhaps had more beer been drunk than at Clovelly, the borough
for which Sir Gregory Grogram sat. When it came to be a matter of
individual prosecution against one whom they had all known, and
who, as a member, had been inconspicuous and therefore inoffensive,
against a heavy, rich, useful man who had been in nobody's way, many
thought that it would amount to persecution. The idea of putting
old Browborough into prison for conduct which habit had made second
nature to a large proportion of the House was distressing to Members
of Parliament generally. The recommendation for this prosecution was
made to the House when Mr. Daubeny was in the first agonies of his
great Bill, and he at once resolved to ignore the matter altogether,
at any rate for the present. If he was to be driven out of power
there could be no reason why his Attorney-General should prosecute
his own ally and follower,--a poor, faithful creature, who had never
in his life voted against his party, and who had always been willing
to accept as his natural leader any one whom his party might select.
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