The Sun.
London, England, 1868-11-25 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC jOMIITALO,

The Times remarks that the prosperous Lancashire
middle class consists of sincere but not energetic Liberals,
who will at future elections probably find means to have
their opinions represented. But they have had to contend
,on the present occasion with a party which has been
roused to extraordinary activity by the nature of the
question on which the national opinion was to be taken.
No one can doubt the reality of the zeal and the
efficiency of the preparations they made for this contest.
Indeed, throughout the counties in general the whole
strength of the party has been put forth, and no
influence, political or social—may we not add pecu-
niary ?—has Leen spared in order to maintain the
Coven-uncut and to defend the Irish Establishment. The
principal cause of Mr. Gladstone's failure, however, is
undoubtedly to he sought in the extraordinary prejudice
which the Irish immigrants have created in Lancashire.
It would really appear that some districts of the county
are as Tory in their sentiments as in the days of the Pre.
tender. The result of the elections it believes to have
been accidental, but not such as to affect national politics.
It is at least satisfactory to have a proof that ProtestAntism
has not been denied free play, and that the battle of the
Irish Church has been fairly fought out. The defeat of
,*,he Liberal policy in one populous district only gives
greater weight to the general decision of the country.

The Post thinks it remains to be seen whether or not
the personal defeat which Mr. Gladstone has sustained
will affect the strength or the discipline of the party he
expects to rally round him when Parliament meets. Be
Ibis, however, as it may, his ejection from Lancashire will
prove a heavy blow to the leader of the Opposition. When,
on Saturday last, he pressed his claims on the electors
in a speech from the hustings, he deprecated on
their part an act which would convert him into
a species of parliamentary vagrant. The term
was one of his own choosing. Although con-
fessedly the most eloquent statesman of his day,
second in erudition to none, and more than once the
leader of the House of Commons, it has been his strange
ill-luck at two successive general elections to lose the con-
fidence of his former constituents and to be adopted by
others whose suffrages he did not seek. Greenwich is, n,o
doubt, proud of having secured for one of its members one
of the foremost statesmen of the day; and just as, three
years ago, for precisely the same reason, Lancashire wel-
comed the rejected representative of Oxford University,
Mr. Gladstone may console himself for his defeat with the
reflection that it is not essential that a great party leader
should be the representative of a very important consti-
tuency.

The Standard rejoices over Mr. Gladstone's defeat. He
himself, contrary to custom, has diligently "stumped"
the county, exerting all the force of his great eloquence,
all his charms of voice and manner and rhetoric, appeal-
ing earnestly to the local predilection of his neighbours
for one born and bred among them, whose eminence is an
honour to his birthplace—and he and his friends have
failed. His eloquence, his reputation, his Lancashire
birth, are all outweighed by the one great fact that he is
the leader of the Radicals, the chief of the, Dissenting-
Papal alliance against the Church of Erp,;land.
That alliance Lancashire has condemned. For its
sake, she has rejected her late Liberal member ;
and the chief of the Opposition, the Premier
expectant, must take his seat as rnemb'er for Greenwich.
The Tory losses are nearly all in small constituencies—the
Tory gains nearly all in large ones. The former are par:-
liamentary and incidental ; the latter national anarepre-
sentative. Mr. Gladstone himself observed, on Saturday,
that voices must be weighed as well as counted. It was
a strange thing for him to say at the moment ; it seemed
as if the ominous feeling at his heart found vent in
involuntary words. Mr. Gladstone was unmuzzled when
he went to Lancashire ; but he still wore a chain. Nov
he is perfectly loose there is no longer any barrier between
himself and that gaol of utter Radicalism to which he
has long been tending ; no bond between him and the
sober Liberalism of the middle classes or of the great
Whig families. He will be, no doubt, a more desperate
and dangerous politician than heretofore. But in the same
"roportion he will be weaker than he has been.
According to the Daily News, South-West Lancashire
has held itself unworthy to be represented by Mr. Glad-
stone. So much the worse for South-West Lancashire,
which proclaims itself unwortrk to be reptesented by the
Member for All England. The Liberal leteder, thanks to
the public spirit of Greenwich, which has earned the bide
ribbon of constituencies, was a member of Parliament
before he was rejected by South-West Lancashire, and
he is not less a member of Parliament for that rejec-
tion. Mr. Gladstone's enterprise was always known,
by himself as well as by others, to be a doubtful
one. It was an attempt to scale " the perilous scat."
In the last election for the then undivided constituency of
South Lancashire Mr. Gladstone's majority came from
what is now the south-eastern division. In the western
districts he was in a minority. That he should have been
able, in the face of an opposition sleepless in its energy,
almost boundless in its resources, and unscrupulous as to
its means, to run his adversaries so close as he did yester-
day, shows a growth of opinion and courage in his favour.
We say this for the credit of the people of South-West
Lancashire, who need all the palhations of their conduct
that can be offered. They have not yet emerged from
Toryism; but they seem to be struggling towards the
light.

The Morning Summary holds that it may be worth
while, amidst the excitement of the great victory on Tues-
day, to speculate as to the reason why Mr. Gladstone's
defeat caused such universal satisfaction. The reason
for the distrust of Mr. Gladstone is, we are convinced, th 6
widespread belief that his Liberalism is, after all, assumed,
and that since, through jealousy of Mr. Disraeli, he would
not join the Conservatives, the only plan by which he
could obtain power was to lead the Liberals. They were
desperately in want of a leader, and he, the moment Lord
Derby retired, and not before, attacked the Irish
Church in order to obtain power. The bait, of course,
held out to his High Church supporters was, that the
Church would be free, and we do Mr. Gladstone the
justice to believe that he was fully persuaded himself that

he was doing rightly. But, amidst the jubilant cry of
Liberal victory, let him reflect on the strength of feeling
• which he must have elicited against him when he is rele-
gated at Greenwich, and let him ask himself calmly
whether the temporary applause of a motley band of
Liberals who, glad enough to see the Church attacked by
a Churchman, yet hate his theological opinions, can com-
pensate him for the manner in which he sees those prin-
ciples which he holds derided by his own supporters.
Verily, the dirt to be swallowed in paying the debt for
greed of power and hatred of a rival is unpalatable to a
degree.

The Star says: As all the minor and major difficulties of the
Liberal party were combined in South-West Lancashire—
as Lord Derby's influence is paramount there—as the dis-
trict has for many years been the most Tory half of Tory
South Lancashire—we cannot but congratulate Mr.
Gladstone's supporters on coming within some 280 of the
number of votes necessary to have secured him the
victory. It was a splendid fight, and, considering the
boasts of the local Tories, may be considered in sae%
a triumph over unprecedented obstacles, though not
a victory in the practical result. Happily, it was
only a success of honour that was being contended for.
The substantial success was already gained. LorAPal-
merston, the most popular Minister of our tame; in the
height of his undisputed success, and at a perfe-when the
Tories were actually at their wits' end for a feasible cry,
was thought to have achieved a marvellous victory when
he obtained a majority of seventy pledged to nothing but
personal fealty. We cannot, therefore, but glory in the
prosperous issue of a contest which, in spite of all the
forces of bigotry and national prejudice, will, at the lowest
estimate, return a majority of 100, pledged not only to
support Mr. Gladstone generally in office, but to accom-
plish the 'unprecedentedly great and good act of
•statesmanship which is to be his first achievement in
power.

The Times says the question of the day, though it is
speculative rather than practical, undoubtedly is, What is
the cause of the Conservative strength newly-manifested
in county divisions ? It has been powerless to arrest the
judgment of the nation, which, in spite of this-drawback
has been pronounced with unmistakable clearness, yet it is
sufficiently remarkable to be worth discussion. It would
be foolish to pretend that we have lighted on a more de-
pendent class of voters by the reduction of the
franchise. It is not easy to believe that there is
a sudden development of Conservatism, to be always
found as we approach the £lO franchise, but disap-
pearing again, as we know by old experience, when we
reach that limit. We are driven to the conclusion
that there is in the issue presented to the nation at this
election something which has excited the fears' of a class
ordinarily Conservative, but generally too much apart
from public life to make any violent efforts to affect the
public judgment. It is not astonishing—indeed, it is too
consistent with previous knowledge—that the rural clergy
should oppose the destruction of the Irish Establishment,
from some blind fear that their own condition may become
the next subject of inquiry ; and in nicely-balanced con-
stituencies, if a class like the clergy bestir themselves
vigorously, they may turn the election. If such be the
secret of the phenomenon, statesmen may well take courage
to persevere in a policy the opposition to which is based
upon fears so palpably unfounded.

tin Monday, Mr. Welby Pugin. addressed Lady
Sear'sbrock's tenantry, and indignantly denied the report
that she has threatened to eject any of them for their votes.
The meeting heartily acquiesced in the great architect's
atittsgOnto._

ABCIIBISHOP MANNING ON 'ME
GENERAL ELECTION.

At the annual dinner of one of the Roman Catholic
tharities which took places at the Albion, in Aldersgate-
street, on Monday evening, Archbishop Mannifig referred
:o the general election. He said that the great question
which had for its object the rendering of justice to Ireland
was not so ;intricate as some would suggest. Those
who considered that it ought to take a long time to settle
were people who really did not wish it settled at all.
Within the last ten days the people of this country had
')een performing a work which some prophets had foretold
would be universally marked with tumult and slaughter.
He for one had never believed so. It was true
that there had been much disturbance in districts
which had been excited by pestilential firebrands,
but those disturbances were not widespread.
The "No - Popery" cry had most signally failed.
&Ten did not now believe that the Catholic Church
meant Antichrist, or that Catholics worshipped stocks and
stones. The English people as a nation loved justice,
and to do as they would be done by, and he was convinced
that they would not wish to take away liberty from their
Catholic fellow-subjects. " No Popery" had gone to the
limbo of all similar sentiments. The Archbishop's re-
marks were received with much applause by a large corn-
)any.