If we are not mistaken, the Pall Mall a few
months ago designated Colchester as the best and most trustworthy of political barometers. If so, the omen of Tuesday's election is indeed favourable to the Unionist cause. Lord Brooke, the Conservative Unionist, was elected by 2,126 votes, against 1,687 given for Mr. Gurdon, the Gladstonian,—majority, 439. The Conservative vote is absolutely larger than either in 1885, when it was only 2,044, or in 1886, when it was only 1,996, and the majority was larger than in either election, for in 1885 the Conservative majority was only 166, and in 1886 it was 295. It is, therefore, larger by 144 votes than in the best of these years, and this against a Gladstonian candidate who is under- stood to have been unusually strong. We do not ourselves attach any very great importance to the test of by-elections in any case—certainly not in a capricious place like Colchester. Still, the Colchester election ought to silence the babble of confi- dence on the Gladstonian side as to what the verdict of the country will be.
