The Express.
London, England, 1868-11-24 00:00:00

17011711 vo

i -

Tile battle is nearly over. A few important
outposts am still to be contended, but to-day will
settle the fete of most of tho leading county con-
stituencies of the kingdom. To-morrow there is
a comparative lull, but on Thursday the conflict
will be resumed in 'North Norfolk, Bast Cumber-
land, South Fast Lancashire, Berkshire, and But
Essex. For all these counties and divisions of
counties there am sound Liberals in the field; and
in each of them is canvassing being prosecuted
with vigour and the polling-day looked forward
to with confidence. The victory in South Durham
yesterday is one well calculated to assure such
county candidates as are attacking what have
been hitherto considered the strongholds of
Toryism, and merits notice as one of the most
remarkable of the contests recorded. What Con-
servatives call a " tacit understanding" was said
to exist between the representatives of the two•
parties in the division, and both Mn. PgAttlt and
Captain SURTV.ES were counting on a quid, walk
over on the polling day. But lees than a week
• ego a second Lil eral, Captain Beseuorr, frightod
the Tory interest from its propriety, and eamo
iu
)(tette day ulatost without a oanvass. To those
who remember thb strenuous efforts by which
Captain Strurers was brought in three.yeara ago.
end bow confidently it has been sssertA that
Lis seat was too secure to be disturbed, this
victory in South Durham is aigniticant indeed.
The tattles in progress to-day will, wo
Lote,, furnish farther omens of suttees& The
counties are not, as a rule, labouring under
that surplusage of candidates which has been so
einLarrassing to some borough constituenei^i.
Only in Xid-Surrey are the ranks divi.letl by a
faire friend. Last night, however, Mr. Cuxtu.es
'V turves eloquently reminded the electors of the
literal policy of the last thirty years; and war
followed by Mr. Lowe, who once more avowe.l
his allegiance to Mr. GLADstosct in the most no-
reserved and unconditional way. That condi taus
whom these tried statesmen and party leaders
unite to support should be hampered by the action
of a candidate of the calibre of Mr. MARSH Nit-
A 07,1 is mortifying, but will not, we trust, result
in appreciably dividing the Liberals of the divi-
sion. As we write, our returns show how keenly
the conflitt is raging among the vast constitu-
t mks now being polled, and signs aro not want-
, ing of surprises in store for those who have
counted most confidently upon the action of the
counties.

LORD ELCIIO'S "HEREDITART

IiATINCTS."

WE shall not know the result of the polling in
Haddingtonshire before to-morrow night. But
if we may judge from the proceeedings at the
nomination on Saturday last, the contest will be a
severe one. It may be decided in favour of Lord
ELeno by the overwhelming preponderance of ter-
ritorial Toryism ; but there can be no reasonable
doubt that the whole mind and heart of the con-
stituency arc with the Liberal candidate, Lord Wit,
LIAR HAT, to whose remarkable qualifications his
opponent was constrained to do homage on the
hustings. The peculiarity of the present contest
in Haddingtonshire is that all the House of Tweed-
dale is divided against itself, and that all the in-
fluence of that noble family is exerted against
the candidature of one of its own most
distinguished members. Whatever landlordism
-can do for a Tory will be done for
Lord Eteuo, who, it is not too much to
say, is positively scouted by the conscience and
intelligence of the electors. We say nothing of
the reception which attended his appearance on
the hustings—the groans, the hisses, the derisive
shouts, the emblematic weathercocks. It is in
Lord Eteno's speech that we find the surest
proof of the estimation in which he is hold
in hie own neighbourhood, and by those
who know him best. Modesty and a lack of
self-esteem have not been precisely his cha-
racteristics in the House of Commons. Con-
ceive him when his foot is on his native
heath' The personal pronoun runs riot in every
sentence of his harangue. But, to do him
justice, he has not lost faith in the
genius, the virtues, and the importance of
Lord Rune. He pauses to laugh at his own
jokes, and to contemplate his own perfections
with the complacency of a middle-aged political
NARCISSUS. He excuses himself for having held
no public meetings on the ground, it seems, that
it is better for a candidate so prepossessing in ap-
pearance, and whose charms of manner are so irre-
sistible, to conduct hie (=Vass in his own proper per-
eon, since everybody he meets face to face inevitably
falls in love with him. It matters little to the
world at large what a man who has never
represented anything but himself has to say ou
the great questions of the time. Lord Rune
avows that ho was never a Reformer in tbo sense
of the Liberal party. He was for " a lateral "
(though he voted for a vertical) extension of the
saxifrage. As to the Irish Church he "tikes his
" stand on the principle of Establishments." No
awn, he declares, has done so much for the working
classes. as Lord ,E,wuo. Ile is still what
he has ever been, '• a free, independent,
Literal Conservative," whatever that may be.
Wus ho ono of those who sneaked iuto the
" Cave f- Nothing of the kind. " I repudiate
" that accusation." It was nothing but "an
" hereditary instinct " that drew him into the
company of those unfortunate men whom, with
scarcely an exception, the electors are consigning
to the limbo of political nondescripts. But we must
rive Lord Eeerio's explanation of this brilliant
tassage in his political career in his own words.
In answer to " cries of ' The Cave' and loud hiss-
" ing" he is reported to have favoured the crowd
with the following explanation
Naturally, I am coming to that. Why, like David
of old, we took refuge ins cave. (Vetoer.) That cave
was my home. (Renewed uproar, and a Voice—" You
Lould have stopped in it.") Its mouth was Mr. lowa.
and Lard Grosvenor was the Bing David whom we eat up
to reign over us. Now, gentlemen, lam not inharued, 41
ou we, of having been a member of that cave. (Great
disturbance.) In the that place, in so doing I woe only
following my natural instincts. Letam explain toyoawhat
I mean. My family comes from Fife originally, though I
am proud to think I am an Raid Lothian man now. Well,
oa tlve man of Fife, opposite East Lothian. there
ere large eaves. Above these eaves is Warn's% Castle,
and tie p
"Fail of Wees " means in old Seetoh "The
Earl of the Vane." Therefore, you see that la going into
the cave I was, I raid. only following my MVP natural
hereditary instinct',. In nun of these mews there is a nuts
portrait of au monster of mine, hewn in the rook about
a fboissimil years ago. Sir Janie % Simpson, who is a ...mat
antiquary, rave ene a copy of the portrait of my ancestor,
whirls I infonihd to hate boon, ht here to show you, only
it was too tares to carry. (Ilinine.) Now, gentlemen, I
hope I have shown lon that ire taking to the envy I was
I only following a hereditary troths&

Well, there are honest Liberals who bro
for tho diseppoexunce of Mr. Itoxeuoir, and honest