The Great Grimsby by-election has ended in a remarkable majority
for the Liberal Unionist, Mr. Heneage, who was returned on Monday by a majority of 964 votes over Mr. Broadhurst, the Gladstonian candidate (for Mr. Heneage, 4,427 votes ; for Mr. Broadhurst, 3,463). Mr. Broadhurst, however, did not probably obtain any large proportion of the Labour vote which was given to Mr. H. Josse last July, when he gained a majority of 636 over Mr. Heneage. We wish we could think that the change in the decision of the constituency is in the main due to the production of Mr. Gladstone's Home-rule Bill. It may be so, and if it is, it is by far the best political omen of the day. But looking to the attacks of the Labour party on Mr. Broadhurst, and the unfavourable reception which Sir W. Harcourt's teetotal measure has met with in places, we should fear that the quarrels among the members of the Labour party and the dislike of the Veto Bill are to a large extent responsible for this reversal of the electoral decision arrived at in July. But one thing is clear,—that, at all events, Great Grimsby has no serious wish to see the Home-rule Bill passed into law.
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