The Mad Election Happy were the fools and the thoughtless men of action in
those days. The worst of it was that the fools were very strongly
represented in parliament, as fools not only elect fools, but
can persuade men of action to elect them too. The election
that immediately followed the armistice was perhaps the mad-
dest that has ever taken place. Soldiers who had done volun-
tary and heroic service in the field were defeated by persons
who had apparently never run a risk or spent a farthing that
they could avoid, and who even had in the course of the elec-
tion to apologize publicly for bawling Pacifist or Pro-German
at their opponent. Party leaders seek such followers, who can
always be depended on to walk tamely into the lobby at the
