The Taunton election resulted on Saturday in the return of
the Conservative candidate, Mr. Alleopp, by a majority of 536,— for Mr..Allsopp there polled 1,426 electors; for the Home-rule candidate (Hr. Sanders), only 890. There was no contest at the last General Election; but in 1885, when the Rome. rule question had not yet coma up, there voted for the Conservative 1,361, and for the Liberal (Sir Charles jewel), 978. The Liberals, therefore, have lost 88 supporters by the introduction of the Home-rule question; and of these, 65 have given their vote to the Conservative. Mr. A. W. S. Stirling, writing concerning the election to Thursday's Times, says :—" Mr. Sanders did his best to make the contest turn on the Crimes Bill, and the Unionists accepted the challenge. It was on that famous Bill that the poll was taken, and the constituency pronounced its verdict." "Despite the superhuman efforts which Messrs. Harrington, Mahoney, Broadhurst, Ellie, and Acland made to rouse in the electors of Taunton some feeling of hostility to the Crimes Bill, I believe not one single working man's vote was lost, not one Unionist worker even made lukewarm, by reason of the din which the Separatists created to veil their weakness." "Nothing did the Unionist cause so much good as the refusal of the Irish leader to defend himself against the imputations which you, Sir [i.e., the editor of the Times], have been foremost to bring against him." Unquestionably, the courage of the Times has had a great effect on the country, and that effect is only now beginning to tell.
