Among the Election news of the week will be found
a few cu- rious portents. Knaresborough appears to be really bent upon vindicating its capacity for selecting a man of sense ; the Honour- able William Lascelles being the probable Member. Mr. Ferrand retires, having lost the countenance of Lord Harewood ; for Lord Harewood has discovered that he agrees more with his brother William than with one-idea'd Mr. Ferrand, and so Knaresborough "deviates into sense." Adieu, therefore, to "the great Mott case." Mr. F. H. Dickinson has found occasion to declare, in answer to a local " Protestant Alliance," that he can make no difference between Roman Catholics and any other "Dissenters." Mr. Dickinson may be considered as representing the lowest point in the scale of Liberal Conservatism, just where it rises above old Toryism : his declaration, therefore, is important as a sign of the times. It does not appear to have damaged him with his constituency, any more than Mr. Lascelles's sense injures him, nowadays, at Knaresborough. It would be a fortunate thing in the coming struggle if con- stituencies were really to consult their own opinions—to find out ivhat they themselves think and desire ; and were to act upon such convictions without suffering themselves to be led like sheep by "S cry," or gulled by the professed election-dealers. Such a new fashion at elections would at least return as good a Parliament as the existing electoral body is capable of selecting.
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