Several elections have occurred this week, but the Conserva- tives
have not yet found a seat for Sir Hardinge Giffard. Mr. Cave as yet keeps his seat for Shoreham. Mr. Cavendish Bentinck has been returned again for Whitehaven, his only opponent having been an advocate of the Permissive Bill, and obtaining only 313 votes against 1,303. In Leominster, which it was supposed was vacated by Mr. Arkwright to seat the Solicitor- General, Mr. C. B. Hanbury Lennox has come forward, supported by the largest owner of property, and will be returned. In Horsham, a bitter contest is going on between Mr. Hurst and Colonel Aldridge, with a Permissive-Bill candidate intervening to injure the Liberal cause ; and in Ipswich, it has apparently been settled that Mr. Clement Cobbold, brother of the deceased Member, Mr. J. P. Cobbold, should either be returned unopposed or stand as the Conservative candidate. The demand for seats is, in fact, so great, that a luckless Solicitor-General has hardly a chance. We notice, however, that Sir John Karslake—whose eyes, we regret to say, have become no better—has announced to the electors of Huntingdon his intention to resign, and Sir H. Giffard may be found an acceptable candidate there. Nominee boroughs are in- defensible things of course, but if Government were in possession of a few, the business of the State would be much more easily performed. At present, for an outsider to be considered worthy of office—that is, to be exceptionally distinguished—seems to electors no claim at all.
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