The Earl of Lincoln has failed to obtain his return
for South Nottingham ; and in his place sits Mr. Hildyard, a Protectionist, who is not too old to learn better. Several of Sir Robert Peel's colleagues are now excluded from the House of Commons, and
among them two important Ministers—the Secretary for Ireland, and the Secretary for the Colonies. The loss of South Notting- ham is worse than that of Westminster, inasmuch as a real opponent is now returned, and Lord Lincoln is a more prominent Minister than Captain Rous. In both cases the defeat seems to have been somewhat gratuitously courted, and those who are learned in electioneering affairs blame Sir Robert Peel for mis- management. It may be that he was deceived by Captain Rous's belief of a sure hold on Westminster ; that Lord Lincoln was misled by his local agents ; and that these losses are defeats in generalship. We are disposed to think that the Premier has been occupied in no such small calculations ; that, absorbed in his great measures, he has arranged the subordinate offices of his Ministry as he beat could on the merits of each appointment,— Captain Rous's, for instance, being a Free-trade appointment to an unimportant office—Lord Lincoln's, a choice of the best man; and that Sir Robert takes his chance as to minor Parliamentary* successes or defeats, with an equal, almost with a reckless mind. Lord Lincoln's energetic, uncompromising, and earnest assertion of a thoroughly policy in commerce, and the avowal which he is understood to have made to Mr. Evelyn Denison of a truly generous policy in Irish matters, political and religious, confirm the view that the selection of such a colleague for the Irish Secre- taryship was made on the real merits, and not proforma as a mode of appealing to the constituents.
