The political pendulum has begun its usual vibrations. Two by-elections
have been lost by the Unionists this week, one in the Frome division of Somerset, where Mr. Barlow has defeated Lord Alexander Thynne by 299 votes (5,062 against 4763), though a year ago Lord Weymouth defeated Mr. Barlow by 383 votes (5,043 against 4 660). The total poll, too, is considerably increased, so that the change cannot be ascribed to any indifference as to the result. In the Wick Burghs, where Sir John Pender has retired, the Gladstonian candidate, Mr. Hedderwick, has come in by 1,054 votes against 842 for the Unionist, Mr. W. C. Smith, majority 212. A year ago Sir John Pender, the Liberal Unionist, got in by the narrow majority of 24 (913 against 889). And it is even said that a great many of the Gladstonian voters were at sea fishing, so that the Gladstonians hardly expected to win. Neither election is of much importance, but both alike show that the usual swinging back of the constituencies against the vic- torious party has set in.
