The United Kingdom
itself was languidly interested in the possibility of suddenly
being endowed with a new town of a quarter of a million
inhabitants. The Five Towns were frequently mentioned in the
London dailies, and London journalists would write such sentences
as: "The Five Towns, which are of course, as everybody knows,
Hanbridge, Bursley, Knype, Longshaw, and Turnhill ... ." This was
renown at last, for the most maligned district in the country! And
then a Cabinet Minister had visited the Five Towns, and assisted
at an official inquiry, and stated in his hammering style that he
meant personally to do everything possible to accomplish the
Federation of the Five Towns: an incautious remark, which
infuriated, while it flattered, the opponents of Federation in
Bursley. Constance, with many other sensitive persons, asked
angrily what right a Cabinet Minister had to take sides in a
purely local affair. But the partiality of the official world grew
flagrant. The Mayor of Bursley openly proclaimed himself a
Federationist, though there was a majority on the Council against
him. Even ministers of religion permitted themselves to think and
to express opinions. Well might the indignant Old Guard imagine
that the end of public decency had come! The Federationists were
very ingenious individuals.
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