Three elections have occurred during the week, and Liberals have
won them all, but none of them are very encouraging to the cause. Mr. Rylands carried Burnley on Saturday by 3,520 to 3,077 votes given to Mr. Lindsay, but the Conservatives were nearly 800 stronger than at the last election. Mr. Blake also carried Leominster against Mr. Bateman-Lennox by 434 to 349, and as Leominster was supposed to be a borough owned by a brother of the Conservative candidate, the victory was striking, but it was won mainly, it is said, by appeals to Nonconformist feeling. And finally, Mr. Jacob Bright has beaten Mr. Powell at Man- chester by 22,771 to 20,985, not a heavy vote in a city with 57,000 electors, but showing an increase of Conservative strength. Mr. Bright votes straight, but we regret that both candidates were not punished by larger abstentions for their conduct in reference to Home-rule. Both paid court to Mr. Butt and the Home-rulers, and neither, we may be sure, have the slightest intention of granting their demands. It is believed that the Irish at last preferred Mr. Powell, Mr. Bright being denounced by leading Catholics as an "advocate of secular education."
