Among the more remarkable incidents of the Elections is the
rejection of the Marquis of Lorne for Hampstead. He was a candidate who combined the Liberals, in spite of a certain ten- dency to vacillate and accept pledges which he ought to have refused, and he also commanded the votes of those who delight in even a vicarious approach to the precincts of the Court. But he was beaten by Sir Henry Holland,—certainly one of the very best of the Conservatives, but still a steady adherent of the wrong cause,—and was beaten by a good substantial majority. Again, there is a curious unpropitionsness about Mr. Ayrton's fate. No abler man ever sat in Parliament, but he is so much of a political porcupine that he cannot now get a following at all. After re- fusing contemptuously to retire from the contest for the Mile End Division of the Tower Hamlets, he polled just 420 votes. There are some, however, of the defeated Liberal candidates who pro- mise very well for the future. In Liverpool, for example, Mr. Augustine Birrell,—though he was beaten by some 900 votes, —the author of that clever little volume of essays, " Obiter Dicta,'t not only polled a good poll, but delighted his supporters by his lucid and humorous speeches. Mr. Nixon, also, by his chivalrous battle at Bristol, ought to fix on him the eyes of any constituency which may want a good Liberal candidate.
Previous page
