29 JANUARY 1881, Page 2

It had become necessary that the Lord-Advocate for Scotland should

have a seat in Parliament, and no other being available, his father, the senior Member for Edinburgh, resigned in his favour. Constituencies never quite like these family arrange- ments, and Mr. Jenkins (" Ginx's Baby "), who thinks, with Mr. J. P. Robinson, that the world will not go round unless ho hollos out " Gee !" took advantage of that fact to put Mr. M`Laren to the expense of a contest. He stood, of course, upon ultra-Liberal opinions, the regular excuse for playing hit° Tory hands, and though believer had a chance from the first, he went to the poll. Only 15,000 out of 28,000 electors took the trouble to vote, but they smashed Mr. Jenkins's pretensions by a vote of 11,390 to 3,940, a part of the latter being probably Tories. Mr. Jenkins has some ability as a satirist, and knows something, we believe, about Canada, but he made no mark as a Member, and by contesting Edinburgh should make his future election as a Liberal impossible. There is no nuisance equal to a candidate who, at a groat public crisis, runs the risk of dividing his own party and impeding his own Government,

because he will not sacrifice even the off-chance. We hate caucuses, but the Mr. Jenkins of politics almost justifies them.