One of the noticeable features of the electioneering cam- paign
is the number of literary candidates. No fewer than five novelists are mentioned as likely to stand, including Dr. Conan Doyle, Mr. Gilbert Parker, and Mr. Anthony Hope Hawkins. It should not be forgotten, however, that Disraeli was famous as a novelist before he made his mark in the House, that Bulwer Lytton wrote "Pelham" three years before he entered Parliament, and that Thackeray stood for Oxford in the heyday of his fame. The literary man is not always a success in politics, but the candidates we have men- tioned have other credentials besides their popularity with the reading public. Mr. Hawkins is an old President of the Oxford Union, and was a Parliamentary candidate as far back as 1892, two years before Ruritania was discovered ; Mr. Gilbert Parker is a " native-born " Canadian; and Dr. Conan Doyle has rendered his country splendid though un- obtrusive work in fighting the enteric epidemic at Bloem- fontein. Men of this stamp, in whom there is nothing of the doctrinaire or the professional politician, should prove a decided source of strength to the House.
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