Friday week's polling for West Fife resulted, of course, in
the return of the Home-ruler, Mr. Augustine Birrell, by a considerable majority over the half-and-half Unionist, Mr. Wemyss. The majority, which was 793 (3,551 for Mr. Birrell, against 2,758 for Mr. Wemyss), would have been anything but satisfactory to the Gladstonians had Mr. Wemyss been a genuine Unionist. But it appears quite clear that, though he found fault with Mr. Gladstone's proposals, he would not have been a supporter on whom Mr. Balfour could have counted, perhaps hardly a supporter at all. But whether Mr. Wemyss gained or lost votes by this half-and-half attitude is hard to say. If the Scotch constituency agree with us on the unwisdom of falling between two stools, he would have lost votes by it, whatever the views of the constituency might have been. For our own parts, we are heartily glad that a pseudo-Unionist did not succeed in West Fife. It is the men who try to run with the hare and bunt with the hounds who confuse political issues most seriously. It would be far better at the General Election that Mr. Gladstone should be in a decided majority, than that the balance should be held by men of the amphibious political views of Mr. Wemyss.
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