One of the most important events of the week has
been the utter rout of the ' Jingo' party at Tamworth. Mr. Ilanbury, it will be remembered, resigned his seat, to accept the seat vacated by Sir Charles Adderley (now Lord Norton) for North Stafford- shire, for which he was elected without a contest. In his room, Mr. Bridgman, —a son of Lord Bradford's,—was proposed for Tamworth, and it was supposed that he would have an easy victory. Mr. Hamar Bass, however, entered the field in the Liberal interest, and especially as a strong opponent of Lord Beaconsfield's tawdry foreign policy, and was elected, being declared at the head of the poll on Wednesday by the great majority of 579. Indeed, the Liberals were very nearly two to one of the Conservatives. And the proportion of votes polled was very large indeed. The number of names on the Register was 2,090. Mr. Bass polled 1,188 votes, and Mr. Bridgman 607, giving a total of 1,793 votes actually given. About 100 voters were either dead or absent, so that only 197 persons either ab- stained or gave votes which were wasted for some informality. The election is, indeed, one of the most signal and significant expressions of opinion delivered by any constituency for many years, and seems to us to indicate that while Lord Beaconsfield has been recognised as the commander of the vessel of the State, the confidence of the people was really reposed in Lord Derby, who was looked upon as the master, and as virtually responsible for the sailing orders. Clearly the despatch of Indian troops to Malta has not delighted Tamworth.
