On the present occasion, moreover, they had a sort of personal interest in the event, for the Whig candidate, Sir George Pony, had been discovered to be a sort of second uncle a few times removed of Pringle, one of the Parrett's fags, whereas the Radical, Mr Cheeseman, was a nobody! For all these reasons Willoughby felt it had a great stake in the contest, and tacitly determined to make its voice heard.
Small election meetings were held by the more enthusiastic politicians of the school, for the purpose of giving vent to their anti-radical sympathies.

At these one boy was usually compelled to represent the Whig and another to figure as the unpopular Radical.

And the cheering of the one and the hooting of the other was an immense consolation to the young patriots; and when, as usually happened, the meeting proceeded to poll for the candidates, and it was announced that the Whig had got 15,999 votes (there were just 16,000 inhabitants in Shellport), and the Radical only one (polled by himself), the applause would become simply deafening.
Even the seniors, in a more dignified way, took up the Whig cause, and wore the Whig colours; and woe betide the rash boy who sported the opposition badge! The juniors were hardly the boys to let an occasion like this slip, and many and glorious were the demonstrations in which they engaged.

They broke out into a blaze of yellow, and insisted on wearing their colours even in bed.

Pringle was a regular hero, and cheered whenever he showed his face; whereas Brown, the town boy, whose father was suspected of being a Radical, was daily and almost hourly mobbed till his life became a burden to him.