A funny illustration of the dizziness which is apt to
fall upon the small and unsound boroughs in the carnival of a general election was presented by the scene at Evesham on the declaration of the poll. The distinguished Mayor of that borough, a Tory burgess of the name of Allard, had declared the show of hands to be in favour of the Conservatives, a view utterly repudiated by the Liberals, whose agent, Mr. Herbert New, put out a placard pro- testing against the decision. On the declaration of the poll, his worship the Mayor is said, by the local paper, to have referred to this placard of Mr. New's in very passionate terms, nay, it is asserted that the great official shook his fist twice in Mr. New's face, using at the same time language of inordinate violence. It is Mr. Disraeli's view, we believe, that historical associations,— like the battle of Evesham,—deserve special representation in Parliament ; but surely not on the hustings ? And with such exceedingly bellicose mayors as these minute historical towns sometimes elect, there is no little risk of re-enacting the frays of history on the hustings in a practical form. The truth is, where there is no true public to form a constituency, political battles naturally assume the form of private rows.
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