In the case of the vacancies caused by Lord Edward
Cavendish's death and that of Sir Robert Fowler, there has been no disposition on the part of the Gladstonians to pro- voke a contest. Mr. Victor Cavendish has been returned for West Derbyshire without a contest, and Sir Reginald Hanson has been returned for the City of London, also without a contest,—both of them as steady supporters of the present Government. Some of the Conservative papers show a dis- position to congratulate the Government on these unopposed returns ; but it would be a bad sign indeed, if in either case the Gladstonians had thought it worth while to undertake a contest at a point of time so near to the General Election, and in constituencies where the Unionists are so numerous and predominant as in the City of London and West Derbyshire. The Gladstonians are quite entitled to say that in these con- stituencies it would have been throwing money away to have insisted on a contest at the present time. Their means could hardly have been devoted to a contest less likely to re- munerate them as a party for their expenditure of energy and money. it is not wise to "make-believe" that such victories as these are encouraging. It would be most dirs. couraging if they bad not occurred.
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