18 MAY 1878, Page 2

Mr. Hanbury, the defeated candidate at Taraworth, triumphantly communicates to

the Times of last Saturday the fact that three of Mr. Hamar Bass's proposers supported him, not for his views on the Eastern policy of the Government, but in spite of those views,—first, for local reasons, and next, from their regard for his father. Of course, Mr. Hanbury wishes the public to believe that what is true of three of Mr. Hamar Bass's proposers, is true of a great proportion of the electors who gave him their votes,— that he was elected, in fact, in spite of his numerous addresses to the electors, and not in consequence of them. In that case, what a noble-minded man Mr. Hamar Bass must be !—to go about day after day wounding his supporters far and wide in the dearest article of their political creed, in the simple faith that in spite of all this self-denying candour,—more appropriate to a saint, or at least to a confessor, than to a candidate for a seat in Parliament,—local considerations and his father's good name might outweigh the demerits of his political convictions. No doubt Tamworth took a fancy to Mr. Hamar Bass, but it took a fancy to that in him, most likely, which he put most forward ; and that was his strong condemnation of the Government's policy in the East. If Mr. Hanbury's letter is worth anything, it would imply that had Mr. Hamar Bass talked as Mr. Hanbury himself talks on the Eastern Question, his majority would have been far larger than it actually was. Mr. Hanbury should learn to let ill alone, which is often quite as judicious a course as letting well alone.