(To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.")
Sin,—With reference to your note on University representa- tion, will you allow me to point out that it is the two smaller Universities in Scotland that are distinctly Conservative ? Liberalism preponderates both in Edinburgh and in Glasgow,— in the former decidedly so. There, Dr. Lyon Playfair had a
majority of 343, and although he is known to have received some Conservative votes, his supporters were in the main. Liberals. It was Mr. Bickersteth's majority of 269 in St.. Andrew's that reduced Dr. Playfair's net majority to 74. In Edinburgh, Dr. Playfair's majority was 100 greater than it was in 1868. In St. Andrew's, he had in that year a majority of 12„ so he has lost ground there by 281 votes.
The case of Glasgow and Aberdeen is in some respects similar. The chief difference is, that while the Conservatives are propor- tionately as strong in Aberdeen as in St. Andrew's, the Liberals are not so strong in Glasgow as they are in Edinburgh. In Glasgow, Mr. Asher had a majority of only nineteen; in Aber- deen, he was in a minority by 400. The hopeful aspect of this Election has been the growth of the Liberal vote in both Univer- sities, especially in Glasgow, where a minority of eighty-eight four years ago has been turned into a majority of nineteen now. Even in Aberdeen the Liberal vote has increased by 140 since 1876, while the Conservative vote there has increased by only twenty-four. In the two Universities combined, the Conserva- tive majority has been pulled down from 604 to 381.
Not without reason do the two larger Universities complain that there is danger of their political sentiments being misrepre- sented, by reason of their reactionary yoke-fellows. It has been suggested that, on the plea of incompatibility, they might sue for divorce. The case of Edinburgh and St. Andrew's is made- all the harder (for Edinburgh), because two-thirds of the St. Andrew's constituency consists of graduates who never attended. the University, but who received their M.D. degrees on paying fifty guineas and passing a formal examination. Of Mr. Bickersteth's poll of 810 in St. Andrew's, 586 were M.D.'s of this class, and of these only seventeen are resident in Scotland.
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