31 JANUARY 1874, Page 3

The result of the elections in Ireland seems likely to

confirm the expectations we hazarded in August and September of last sear, that Home Rule will find no substantial support at all in Ulster, and that the total number of Home Rulers in all Ireland will be very much smaller than has been expected,—certainly not larger than the number of Repealers elected in 1847, and the number of the independent Opposition elected in 1852,—i.e., between forty and fifty. As far as we can judge as yet, Home Rule has no prospect of success at all in Ulster, while in all Ireland we shall be very much surprised if there are elected forty even nominal Home Rulers, whether otherwise calling themselves Conservatives, Liberals, or Nationalists. We doubt if there are now above fifty Home-Rule candidates, and many of these are as yet competing for the same seats, so that all of them cannot be returned. We do not doubt that the result of the elections will be a deep disappointment to the excited expectations of the Home-Rule party. And of the nominal Home Rulers elected, the majority will probably be as ready to obey the Liberal Whip as the most devoted of the official Liberals.