On Wednesday Mr. Doughty addressed a meeting of his constituents
at Grimsby, and announced that he had applied for the Chiltern Hundreds and would seek re-election. "Men of common sense were asking themselves this question, How long were they going to continue agitating over these Irish grievances and neglecting the needs and difficulties of the people of this country ? " He had thought the Liberal party was a party of Liberal views, but he found that if people had opinions of their own they would be ostracised. As long as he represented the Borough of Grimsby he would not be dic- tated to by any clique from Ireland. He had promised to vote for Home-rule, but he was there to tell his constituents that he had altered his mind. "He contended that Ireland was put on the same level as the remainder of the United Kingdom by the passing of the Local Government Act, and that the object of the Irish Members was to effect a separation from Great Britain." Seeing this was the case, he could not possibly help any of the Irish proposals pointing in this direction. There was throughout a manly and downright ring about Mr. Doughty's speech, and we are delighted to see that it won the sympathies of his audience. His opponents did not venture to divide the meeting against him, and it seems probable that there will be no contest. The fact is, the bulk of the Liberal voters in their hearts agree with Mr. Doughty on the Irish question, though, as a rule, they think it unneces- sary to trouble about the matter, which they believe to be no longer practical politics.
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