The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-04-10 00:00:00

MR. GLADSTONE'S RETURN FOR
MID-LOTHIAN.

We take the following account of the Mid-Lothian election
rotu The Times of Tuesday :

This election, which has been the centre of interest
since the dissolution was anhounced, took place on
Monday, and resulted in a substantial majority for
Mr. Gladstone. The poll was conducted at seven
places—two of them in Edinburgh and the others at
Dalkeith, Gorebridge, Roslin, West Calder, and Ratho.
While the proceedings were comparatively quiet at Gore
bridge and Roslin, there was throughout a good deal of
excitement and a considerable display of party feeling.
At the Drill-hall, in Forest-road, Edinburgh, which
was the polling-place for the central district, there was
an abundant display of election literature in the form
of cartoons and other placards, and some well-known
voters on each side were greeted with cheering and
hooting. The voters in this district are believed to
have voted within five or six of their total strength,
the Liberals claiming that only two had failed them,
while three or four only on the other side were un-
accounted for.

When the poll closed, at four o'clock, a larp crowd
had assembled, and cheers were raised by anticipation
for "Gladstone, new member for Mid-Lothian." At
the Volunteer Hall, Grindray-street, a considerable
crowd surrounded the polling-place all day, and among
the more prominent voters there were Lord Elcho and
the Rev. Dr. Phin. who were hissed and cheered.

At Dalkeith there was during the whole day con-
siderable excitement. In the morning the Conserva-
tives found that the whole of their placards and elec-
.tion literature had been covered with lamp-black.
About two o'clock a fictitious result of the Middlesex
election was given out, stating that Mr. Herbert
Gladstone had been elected by a gre,at majority. On
the actual number being published about four o'clock,
they were displayed from the Conservative committee-
rooms in the "Cross Keys" -Hotel, and some stones
were thrown, breaking several panes of glass. On both
sides a majority of votes was claimed in this district
A torch-light procession took place in the evening,
the arrangements having been made in anticipation of
the result.

At Roslin, where about 450 electors had to vote,
the strength of the polling also took place early in the
day. At Gorebridge, where the Conservatives voters
were not believed to be strong, there was a quiet poll,
very little excitement being aroused in this sparsely
populated district of the county. At West Nide;
where about 250 electors voted, there was a good deal
ci bustle, the non-electors from the mining villages
round about taking great interest in the election. Several
well-known Liberal voters, including Mr. McL?..gan,
candidate for Linlithgowshire, were enthusiastically
cheered, while those working on the other stile were
hooted and hissed. Among the incidents was the
arrival of an old man 'who had not been out since last
general election, and vsho came up to record his vote
At Ratho, where the district constituency numbers
about 300, there was great stir, the people here show-
ing a decided preference for the Liberal side, but in
general the proceedings were quiet and orderly. Im-
mediately on the close of the poll the ballot-boxes
were brought by rail or otherwise to the Sheriffs
Court buildings, in Edinburgh, where the returning
officer, Sheriff Davidson, had a large staff of enume-
ratcors engaged. In anticipation of a large crowd the
authorities had strongly barricaded George IV. bridge,
on which the Court-house stands, fearing a pressure on
the railings. Owing, however, to the staff engaged,
the enumeration was concluded more quickly than had
been anticipated, and the crowd was consequently
smaller, the result not being expected till after eight
o'clock. At a quarter-past seven Sheriff Davidson
announced the result as follows :

Mr. Gladstone .. ... 1,579
Lord Dalkeith ... 1,368
Majority for Mr. Gladstone ... —2ll
The votes recorded numbered 2,961 out of a constitu-
ency of 8,260, and 14 voting papers were rejected—
namely, for want of the official mark, four; voting; for
more candidates than one, three; writing or marking
on the paper so that the voter could be identified,
three; and unmarked, or void from uncertainty, four.
On the poll being announced to the crowd outside
there was great cheering, and an immediate rush was
made for the post-office, where several hundred mes-
sages were handed in within a few minutes in response
to inquiries from all parts of the country. At Lord
Rosebery's residence, in George-street, a large crowd
speedily assembled, and in reply to the cheering and
calls Mr. Gladstone and Lord Rosebery appeared at
the balcony. In the interval before their appearance
various popular airs were taken up and sung by the
crowd.

Mr. Gladstone, who was received with enthusiastic
cheers, said :—Gentlemen, lekme give you a few words
of kindly greeting. (Cheers.) I will not include in
that one single word that can give offence to anyone.
(Cheers.) This cause, which has been fought well
and gallantly on both sides—(cheers)----is not a per-
ional, but a public cause. (Cheers.) We will not
allow ourselves to mix with it, even in the hour of
joy at our "success, any personal passion. (Cheers.)
VS/ e have been engaged in an arduous struggle, and it
has been carried on by the strength of that sentiment
expressed in the county of Mid-Lothian—(cheers)—
which we know now to be the sentiment of the nation.
(Cheers.) Gentlemen, it has been said, and said truly,
that I have oftentimes detained you long. (Cries of
"No, no," and cheers.) I have been encouraged by
your patience and indulgence. (Cheers.) But there
is no reason that I should now detain you. (Cheers,
and cries of "Go' on.") The words of gratitude and
acknowledgment which I have to speak, and which
are entirely unmingled, as I trust, with gall, are words
that, having passed from my lips, go straight, as I
well know, to your hearts. (Cheers.) What we have
nci-tv to show, gentlemen, is that we can use the strength
which we have shown ourselves to possess (cheers),
and that we can turn the victory we may be said
to have obtained both here and elsewhere to good ac-
count for the common and universal benefit of our
country. (Cheers.) God prosper England, Scotland, and
Ireland, and all who dwell in them, be they Liberals
or be they Tories! (Cheers.) For us who are
Liberals—(cheers)—may we be enabled to persevere in
bearing what your forefathers would have called a firm
testimony to our cause through evil report, as it has
been for the last few years, and through good report,
as we trust it will now be. (Cheers.) Your opponents I
we heartily wish the benefit of reflection. (Laughter
and cheers.) Our desire is that they should be
opponents no longer (cheers and laughter), but that
we should all with one heart and one mind devote
ourselves to the performance of our pub& duties in
the maintenance of the interests, the honour, and
the high character and repute, of a great and
glorious empire. (Cheers.) Here loud cheers were given
for Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone on the proposal of Mr. R.
A. Macfie.

Lord Rosebery, in answer to calls, then addressed
the assemblage. He said :—The election is over, and
lam unmuziled. (Laughter and cheers.) As a Mid-
Lothian man I can tell you that no Mid-Lothian man,
however old he may be, or however long he may have
to live, will have spent a prouder night than this.
(Che3rs.) It is a great night for Mid-Lothian (cheers),
a great night for Scotland, (cheers), a great night for
your county member (cheers), a great night for Great
Britain (cheers)—aye, and a great night for the world.
(Cheers, and a Voice,—" And a bad one for Dizzy.")
(Laughter.) It has been the fortune of this county
to be chosen as the central battlefield of that great
contest that is being waged at this moment. (Cheers.)
In the county of Mid-Lothian has been fought, not a
battle between Whig and Tory, or Liberal and Con-
servative, but a battle of constitutional government
and of oppressed nationalities throughout the world.
(Cheers.) And what has been the reward of Mid-
Lothian ? She has fought this battle' you have fought
this battle, by and for yourselves, and you are rewarded
by having as your county member the foremost man
of Great Britain—(cheers)—the greatest champion of
liberty that now lives in the world—(cheers)—and, to
use the words of Pitt, I will only say now that I trust
that Mid-Lothian, having saved herself by her own
exertions, will save Great Britain by her example.
(Loud cheers.)
At the conclusion of Lord Rosebery's speech the
crowd passed into Princes-street, where groans were
given at the Scottish Conservative Club. The New
Liberal Club was illuminated in every window and
surrounded by an immense crowd, and on prominent
points in the city coloured fires were burnt. For some
time the excited crowds perambulated the streets,
cheerinc, and hooting at the various newspaper offices
or elsewhere where political feeling found an object on
which to display itself. In the course of the evening
the crowd burnt a rude effigy,- said to be that of the
Earl of Dalkeith, in front of the New Club.

The result of the Mid-Lothian election was known in
Leeds at half-past seven on Monday evening, anti the
news circulated throul,th the town with wonderful
rapidity. Groups in the streets, on first becoming
aware of Mr. Gladstone's victory, cheered most
heartily. At 8.15 the Mayor of Leeds, accompanied
by several ladies, appeared in front of the Town Hall
and announced the official numbers. Loud and pro-
longed cheering followed, and Councillor Scarr made a
short speech.

Mr. Gladstone has issued the following Manifesto to
the electors of Mid-Lothian :

" Gentlemen,—Contending against many influences which
we think misguided, and against the illegitimate influence of
spurious votes, you have by your spontaneous efforts more
than fulfilled all the expectations with which you invited
me to come among you, and have achieved a victory which
had already told by anticipation, and which will now further
tell by direct example upon the course of the elections.
"That course, however, has from the first day of the contest
been unambiguous, and the party which termed itself the
Constitutional Party, the Patriotic Party, the County Party,
and the National Party has now seen the nation rise up and
shatter at a stroke the fabric of its power.

"There is yet, indeed, much to complete. The con-
stituencies generally, and those of Scotland in particular,
will, I am persuaded, end in the same spirit as that in which
they have begun.

"On the whole, however, gentlemen, and as to the main
issue, the country at large has already spoken. The light is,
fought and won.

this 15 sO, I gladly and, as far as depends on me,

once for all desist from any further reference to that indict-
ment against the policy of the existing administration,which,
encouraged by your patience, I have laboriously endeavoured
to place before you.
"To arrest mischief has been my only object. We can
well dispense with exultation in the hour of victory.
"Personally long engaged in the hottest of the conflict, I
rejoice not only in the prospect of good to be accomplished
by the accession of the Liberal leaders to power, but in the
cessation of a controversy always on the verge of bitterness.
"The efforts of the party which now seems likely to attain
the full measure of its predominence will, I trust, be steadily
and temperately addressed towards establishing the external
policy of this country upon the lines of justice, equal right,
and sympathy with freedom, and towards the direction of the
Internal government and legislation in the methods and the
spirit which during the last half-century have done so much
to relieve the people, to gain respect for the laws, to strengthen
the foundations of the Throne, and to consolidate the struc-
ture of this great and noble Empire
"To assist in this work, to the utmost of my limited
power, will be, Gentlemen, the best and only return that I
can make for the confidence which you have given me with a
generosity, I never can forget, and amidst tokens of enthu-
siasm which have made this election memorable even in the
annals of Scotland.
"I have the honour to be, Gentlemen,
"Your faithful and grateful servant,
"W. E. GLADSTONE.
" Edinburgh, April 5, 1880."

On Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Gladstone addressed a,
large assemblage in front of the Town-hall, Linlith-
gow. Ax it was the polling day for the county the
town was unusually busy, and the right hon. gentle-
man receives! an enthusiastic welcome. When it be-
came known that Mr. Gladstone was to pay a visit, a•
band, followed by a large crowd, proceeded to the
outskirts of the town to nteet him. Mr. Glad-
stone drove-ffOm Dalmeny-park in an open carriage
and four, with postillions and an outrider, and he was
accompanied by the Earl of Rosebery, Mrs. Gladstone,
and Miss Helen Gladstone. The band met Mr. Glad-
stone in the vicinity of the town and then preceded
the. cart jge, which went slowly along the principal
street to the Town-hall. Mr. Gladstone alighted there,
and proceeded to the Council Chambers. After a brief -
interval, during which Provost Dawson and other
gentlemen were introduced to him, Mr. Gladstone,
amid loud cheers, addressed the assemblage from a
balcony in front of the Town-hall. In the course of
his speech he said :
I have been personally and warmly engaged for a length of.
time in this great conflict. I have now laid down my arms.
(Cries of "No, no.") I do not mean that I have renounced
the service of my country, but I mean that I have done, as I
hope, with the keen controversy that has led up to the
present election. (Cheers.) From this time forward we
hope to open a new, and, as I trust, a happier, chapter of
our history. (Cheers.) Having disposed of the conflict
in which we have all been parties, we have now to think of
the interests and welfare of the country —(cheers) ;—of peace-
ful and progressive improvement—(cheers);—of an honour-
able, upright, straightforward foreign policy—(cheers);—of a
course of procedure analogous to that which during half a
century has so largely contributed to the happiness of the
country. (Cheers.) It is in that sense only, gentlemen,
that I for one have laid down my arms in order to be-
take myself, with the authority that I derive from the
confidence of your metropolitan county, and I may say,
I think, from a very general manifestation of regard on the
part of the people of Scotland, to the performance of the
more tranquil though anxious duties of a member earnestly
bent on the improvement of the laws and the interests of the
country. (Cheers.) With these few words, gentlemen, I
renew my thanks for your kindness (cheers), I renew my
good wishes for your success (cheers), and in offering these
good wishes I may venture to add that I hardly look on
them as having reference to a future contingency, but I may
call them congratulations on a triumph actually achieved.
(Cheers.)
Mr. Gladstone, accompanied by Provost Dawson,
Mr. Henderson, Procurator-Fiscal, and party, after-
wards visited the ancient parish church and palace.
After spending some time in examining the various
objects of interest, Mr. Gladstone and party left Lin-
lithgow for Dalmeny amid loud cheers.