Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, the ex-Mayor of Birmingham, was returned to
Parliament on Tuesday, in place of Mr. George Dixon, without opposition, and made a speech on the occasion which, if not exactly remarkable, was at least clever and vigorous, and not without humour. A Tory print, he said, whiob thought the electors of Birmingham brutal, ignorant, and stupid, " had informed them that he was going to Parliament as the representative of Mr. R. W. Dale. If that were so, there would be no Member of the House of Commons who would have a nobler, wiser, or better constituency." Of course Mr. Cham- berlain spoke of the Disestablishment of the Church as likely to endow the Church clergy with all the social virtues of Dissenters, and of course he said a good deal on the; necessity of measures to prevent England from becoming, as well as " the Paradise of the, rich," the "Purgatory of the poor," and of course he insisted on the necessity for " free ]and and free schools." Part of the use of him in the House will be, that while he has not lost any of his faith in the routine Radicalism, and can express it well, he is a practi- cal man, who koows what political, co-operation and what admin- istration mean. We have explained elsewhere the political benefit we hope for from his return, and on the whole, congratulate Birmingham upon its choice.
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