Sir Henry Storks has sustained a severe defeat at Colchester,
having received 500 less votes than the late Liberal Member, Mr. Gurdon Rebow, and nearly 600 less than his opponent, Mr. Lear- month. The defeat is claimed by the Conservatives as a triumph, but not quite fairly. We dare say the Conservatives can carry Colchester if, as is reported, the son of the late member is a Tory, but in this instance the Liberal candidate was defeated by Mrs. Josephine Butler. Sir H. Storks is a warm advocate of the Con- tagious Diseases' Act, and a letter was produced from him in which he said that the Government must "recognize prostitution as a necessity." He probably meant "as an inevitability," like sin, death, or hail ; but the sentence ruined him in Colchester, a garrison town, where the Act has been put in force. His defeat is a loss to the House, but it was not very prudent to send him to Colchester, where all local circumstances were against him. That Act will have to be either given up or discussed in Parliament with open doors. At present, the people rage at it without under- standing it, or knowing who does and who does not approve it. The Member for the Ayr Burghs has cost us the seat at Colchester.
Previous page
