ER. ADAM ON THE ELECTION OF 1880.
[TO TIM EDITOR OF THB " SPECTATOR?]
SIX.,—I have never questioned " Scrutator's " accuracy in reporting the conversations which Mr. Adam had with him on the prospects of the Liberal party prior to the General Election of 1880. All I have said is that I find it difficult to reconcile those conversations, as " Scrutator" recollects them, with Mr. Adam's statement on the same subject to his constituents. This difficulty is not removed by "Scrutator's " reply in your last issue. The matter is not of sufficient im- portance to warrant lengthened discussion of it in your columns, especially in view of the fact that the only person able probably to explain the variance between the converse- titans and the speech—Mr. Adam himself—is dead.—I am,
[We cannot print any more letters on this subject, but may add our own comment on Mr. Adam's electoral foresight which we made at the time of his death. Mr. Adam died at Ootacamund, Madras, on May 24th, 1881, and in the Spectator for May 28th, 1881, the following appreciation appeared :--" So sagacious, that when he stood alone, his chiefs were inclined to accept his calculations, though questioned by a nearly universal opinion. He was, it is well known, at one time quite alone in his belief as to the certain result of the election of 1880, and it was characteristic of him that when the result had made his prevision notorious, he hardly claimed credit except for painstaking."—ED. Spectator.]
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