15 AUGUST 1885, Page 3

We deeply regret to see the letter of Sir Charles

Dilke to the Chairman of the Liberal Association of Chelsea, in which he says: —" I have received formal notice of the commencement of legal proceedings deeply affecting my private character," and suggests that., till the matter thus referred to has been adjudicated on, it may perhaps be for the advantage of the Liberal Party to choose some other candidate. " The charge against me," he says, " is untrue, and I look forward with confidence to the result of the judicial inquiry which must now take place." We heartily hope that the result may justify that confidence. No good Liberal or Conservative can feel anything but pain that such charges should even be brought against any promiment statesman, and much deeper pain if they were to be made good. We trust that the high political credit of Sir Charles Dilke may not be undermined by the substantiation of accusations which, if sustained, are infinitely more discreditable than the worst of all political creeds.