Sir Michael Hicks-Beach made a good speech at Kilmar- nock
on Thursday. He hoped, he said, for a victory at the General Election, but if the Government were beaten, there would be this comfort, that a great number of the bubbles which the Gladstonians had been engaged in blowing would then burst. Mr. Gladstone, if he returned to power, must throw over the many crotchets over which he has lately cast his shield, and then the by-elections which have been his delight. and consolation, would become great stumbling-blocks to him and his colleagues, who would discover some reason or other for paying little or no attention to them. Also, they would certainly not be impressed with the necessity of repealing the Septennial Act, so as to give the electors of the Kingdom an early chance of following up the unfavourable set of the new
by-elections by a General Election that would bring down the new Government. We agree with Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, but we have no wish for the kind of comfort and consolation which the turn of the popular tide against the Home-rale Government would bring, since it must imply that the tide had first turned in its favour.
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