Mr. Goschen made a speech at Hawkhurst, in Kent, on
Tuesday, in favour of the candidature of Mr. Lawrence- Hardy, the Conservative candidate for the Ashford Divi- sion of Kent. He remarked on the number of times the Government had been counselled to resign in consequence of defeats at by-elections, and pointed out how impossible it would have been to present their policy fairly to the judgment of the country, if they had followed that precipitate, and pro- bably not very disinterested, advice. It was only during the last two years that the policy of the Government had really borne the fruit which they had always expected of it, and which at last it had really borne. In fact, Mr. Goschen's illustration of this point furnishes a very powerful argu- ment against that cry for shorter Parliaments which really means the mutilation of Ministerial policies, quite as much as the hurrying on of hasty and premature popular judgments. Mr. Goschen's only fear as regards the General Election was that the Unionists would underrate the strength of their enemies. Our own fear is of an opposite kind,—that they will overrate it. So many of the by-elections have been dis- couraging, that we have been too much discouraged. The omens of by-elections are seldom trustworthy. Votes given on by-elections are often anticipatory compensations for very ,different votes to be given when the struggle comes to a head.
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