NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE struggle is not finished ; but five hundred Members have been elected, and it is clear that the Unionists have triumphed. Broadly speaking, Mr. Gladstone's policy has been accepted by Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, but rejected by England, where the majority against him exceeds two to one. The Metropolis, in particular, has shown itself entirely opposed to Home-rule, the returns showing a majority of fifty-one Unionists to eleven Home-rulers, a majority with- out a precedent. The same tale is reported from every part of the Kingdom, Yorkshire excepted—the returns thence being unknown—and it is believed, of course on incom- plete evidence, that the Unionist majority in Parliament will reach a hundred. The bulk of their force is, of course, Conservative, and rumour is busy with the pro- bable action of Lord Salisbury, without whose consent nothing can be arranged. It is as yet too soon to form an opinion on the situation, for if the Premier regards the Unionists merely as Gladstonians out of temper, he may insist on making them, in Parliament, some final offer. It is too late for that, and we hope the result of the Election, as we have said elsewhere, will be a Unionist Administration, with Lord Hartington at its head and Lord Salisbury Foreign Secretary. A serious change in the verdict is now most improbable.
