The election for the Evesham division of Worcestershire on Tuesday
shows how fast the tide is rising against Lord Rosebery's Government. Colonel Long got in by a majority of 1,175 on a total poll of 8,345 votes,—for Colonel Long, 4.760; for Mr. Impey, 3,585. This is the heaviest poll which has ever been taken in the division, and the Unionist majority is the greatest except that of 1886, which was 1,736, or 561 more than Colonel Long's majority of Tuesday. And it was obtained on the New Register. On the other hand, the majority was much greater than in 1892, and that though the great floods and heavy snow in the division made polling very difficult, especially, it was said, in one decidedly Unionist district, which was surrounded by water on every side. It was the Ulster Unionist deputations who earned this great victory for us ; but the victory will, we fear, still further delay the appeal to the constituencies. Indeed, before the poll, Lord Rosebery was already preparing for a policy of masterly inaction, as he declared at Cardiff on Saturday that if the Government received proper support in the House of Commons, he believed it " had a long spell of good work before it,"—a remark indicating a very different attitude of mind from that which Lord Rosebery expressed at Glasgow and Brad- ford. It is clear that the nearer the Government get to the inevitable Dissolution, the less they like the prospect.
Previous page
