The Government have lost but few of their conspicuous Mem-
bers. Most important is the failure of Mr. James Lowther, —the Chief Secretary for Ireland,—whom York has very wisely placed at the bottom of the poll, for a worse Chief Secretary for Ireland never was appointed, even by Lord Palmerston. Mr. Algernon Egerton, Secretary to the Admiralty, has also been unseated in South-East Lancashire ; and one or two other minor officials, like Mr. Salt, Parliamentary Secretary to the Poor- law Board, have lost their seats. But Mr. Cross, the Home Secre- tary, in South-West Lancashire, like Lord George Hamilton in Middlesex, and Mr. Smith, in Westminster, comes in at the head of the poll, though he hardly deserved it, for the arduous- ness of the canvas and the misfortunes of the Government during its progress. had seriously soured his usually imperturb- able good-temper. Towards the end of his canvas he was hit- ting out very wildly indeed, and with really no effect, for Lord Hartington and Lord Derby, at whom most of his blows were aimed, were quite beyond his reach. It is as good as a play to find Mr. Cross appealing passionately to the inviolability of the Ballot, and insinuating all sorts of charges that the pre- siding power at Knowsley might try to make its influence felt, even beneath that awful aegis of the Pallas Athene of political life. The fiery Cross of Lancashire, cowering under the shield of the Radical Ballot, was certainly a spectacle to angels and to men.
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