The new Solicitor-General, Mr. Henry James, appears to be canvassing
Taunton with more prospect of success than Liberal candidates have lately had in boroughs of such doubtful antece- dents. He is actively supported, it is said, by both Dissenters and Churchmen, by both Teetotallers and Licensed Victuallers, and he is certainly speaking with brilliance and the air of hope. In his first speech he pointed out that, while everyone talked of Conservative reaction, no one even whispered that Mr. Disraeli, if he came into power, would try to undo what had been done ; and where, asked Mr. James, was the use of a reaction which never reacted ? He gave an admirable illustration of the need for the Burial Bill, relating how a burglar had been buried with all the best hopes of the Church for his salvation, and the very next day a Nonconformist of high worth and repute had been refused "the right to lie by the burglar," —except, we suppose, on condition that his friends cansented to dispense with any Nonconformist minister's aid. He told a capital story of an old lady of Taunton, who had declared she would never attend a yellow meeting again, "for ever since the last election, when Barclay and James had been returned, coal had been going up ; and as to butchers' meat, it was almost impossible to get it." Such is the way in which the stars in their courses always fight against a Government that is in.
