THE TORY PARTY AND MR. GLADSTONE.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,-I have read with interest the correspondence in your columns under the above heading. The letter of "H. M. D.," of April 8th, rightly accounts, in a great measure, for the rise of Mr. Gladstone, and the rout of the Tory party at the last general election. But one important factor is, I think, over- looked. During the latter years of Tory rule, the Jingo frenzy, and the " spirited foreign policy," which springing some un- welcome surprise upon the nation continually, wearied out the patience and endurance of business men in the manufacturing counties of Lancashire and Yorkshire, who discovered, to their cost and mortification, that the Beaconsfield policy spelt ruin. That, I believe, in a great measure, accounted for the total rout of the Tory party at the last election, alike in boroughs and counties, in the manufacturing districts ; many Tories either remaining neutral, or under cover of the Ballot casting their vote against a Government for whose follies and crimes they had paid heavily in money, disaster, and anxiety.—I am, Sir,
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