Two seats in Parliament were vacated by death on Tuesday,—
that for Cambridgeshire through the death of Lord George Manners, brother of the Postmaster-General, and that for North- ampton through the death, after a long illness, of Mr. Charles Gilpin. In Cambridgeshire, it is not likely that the Liberals will contest the seat. In Northampton, there will probably be a triangular, or even more complicated contest. Mr. Gilpin was a great advocate of peace and economy, and a great opponent of capital punishment ; indeed, he was of Quaker extraction, and a nephew of the late Mr. Joseph Sturge, of Bir- mingham. The Radicals of the borough, anxious to secure as many as possible of Mr. Gilpin's supporters for his successor, are getting up, it is said, a requisition to Mr. Jacob Bright,—the great partisan of women's suffrage,—who, though probably of a somewhat different school of Radicalism, a Radical of a more rationalistic and. more Social tone of thought than Mr: Gilpin, will probably command a large proportion of Mr. Gilpin's adherents. As, however, Mr. Bradlaugh is said to be pledged to contest the borough,—he polled 1,653 votes in the last election, —the Conservatives will certainly have a chance ; and it is said that their candidate of last year, a Mr. Merewether, will be pro- posed again. We fear Northampton is likely to have something of a political Hobson's choice ;—could not the more reasonable electors persuade Mr. W. Fowler, the thoughtful land reformer who represented Cambridge before the last general election, to come forward?
