NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE North Norfolk election is a heavy blow to the Liberals. In 1876, when Sir T. Fowell Buxton stood against Colonel Duff, he was beaten by only 110 votes (2,302 against 2,192 votes). Last Tuesday, he was beaten by Mr. E. Birkbeck, the Tory can- didate, by the greatly increased majority of 490 (2,742 against 2,252), Sir T. F. Buxton polling 60 more votes than in 1876, while Mr. E. Birkbeck polled 440 more votes than Colonel Duff polled two years ago. No one can deny that the issue was put on the broadest grounds, or that it was thoroughly understood. The result means an emphatic vote of confidence in the Government, given by a very typical kind of rural constituency. So much we unreservedly admit. Of course, it does not mean that English public opinion generally is on the same side. North Norfolk is no more to be treated as a fair representative of the general run of English public opinion, than Denbighshire, or Argyllshire, or Birmingham. It is not the first time that English rural opinion has stood fast to a bad cause, while English urban opinion and Welsh and Scotch rural epinion have resisted it.
