22 JANUARY 1910, Page 1

If the wider aspects of the Election are considered without

party heat, the results are rather remarkable, and may, we think, serve as a subject for no small satisfaction .to men of moderate opinions. To begin with, the great feature of the Election is that the Radical and Socialistic tiger's teeth have been drawn and its claws cut. Though the Liberal Government continues in office, it will be very difficult for it to carry legislation of a dangerous description. A party with a vast majority such as the Government held in the last Parliament became a source of danger owing to the fact that Mr. Asquith allowed himself and his policy to be :controlled by those restless and irresponsible politicians, Mr. Lloyd George and Mr. Winston Churchill. The situation now is completely changed. The Liberal majority in the true sense—that is, a majority of loyal and devoted and dis- ciplined followers—has disappeared, and has been replaced by a composite majority made up of men who have always proved themselves merciless political bargainers,—men who can only be retained by political payments which are certain to imperil the position of those who make them.