The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1880-04-15

THE ENGLISH ELECTIONS.
A Change of Administration for John Bul

THE ENGLISH ELECTIONS.
A Change of Administration for John Bull.
The recent parliamentary elections in
England, which closed last week, have
resulted in a complete victory for the
Liberal party, led by Mr. Gladstone in
opposition to the existing ministry. The
change in the majority in parliament from
the Conservatives to the Liberals necessi-
tates the formation of new ministry in
which Mr.. Gladstone will likely be the
Premier instead of Lord Beaconsfeld.
Speaking of these elections the New
York World says:
The special dispatch which we publish
this morning from the exceptionally
we'll informed correspondent of the
World at Edinburgh answers the most
Immediately interesting question which
people of all opinions are putting to
themselves on both sides of the Atlantic
in connection with the great political
revolution in England. When Lord
Beacons6eld resigns the seals of Office
the Queen must call upon Mr.. Gladstone
to form new Government. Whether
this is absolutely the best solution of the
problem put before the Liberals by their
sudden victory is matter hardly worth
discussing. 1t is the only practicable So
luton. While numbers of able and in
Auential men in his own party undoubt-
ed!y go in great fear and concern about
the leadership of Mr.. Gladstone, the
great voting masses of his own party
were never 80 much devoted to him as
they now are, and even che ofice-loving
classes of the Wings must feel, whether
they like to or not, that but for him the
victory which promises The spoils of
power could never have been planned or
won. No matter how great the difficult
ties may be of forming q harmonious
Cabinet under the avowed and active
Premiership of Mr.. Gladstone, the diff
culties would be still greater, in the way
of conducting an administration nomi-
naily under the control of Lord Gran
vile or Lord Harrington, with Mr.. Glad
stone overshadowing the whole Cabinet
from q position of indefinite authority
and unlimited influence. 1t is possible
and not improbable that g new Gladstone
Government, caught between the wheels
of great Continental undertakings to
which it has not been party and of
formidable Home-Rule alliance in Ire.
land, may find the task of retaining place
and power more difficult than it has
found the task of expelling the Conserv-
atiyes from place and power. But this is
trouble inherent in the situation, and it
could not have been mended by any
combination among the Liberal leaders.
| 1t still remains to be seen, indeed,
whether Lord Beaconsfeld may not have
taken this inherent trouble in the actual
condition of the Liberal party into his
calculations when he suddenly brought
matters to crisis by a dissolution of
Parliament last month. Seeing as he
must have seen the rapid set of the tide
in favor of his political opponents, and
knowing as he must have known the
p,erilous extent of the Continental COM
plications in which through his policy
Great Britain has become involved, it
may have seemed to him the most judi.
cious thing he could do to risk battle
the results of which, if it went against
him, would leave the victorious Liberals
to face the perple1ities and perils of a
general situation in Europe quite without
precedent inTecent times. However this
NAV be, it is quite certain that Lord
Beaconsfeld in opposition would have
made the success Of any Liberal Admin
istration not openly controlled by Mr..
Gladstone impossible, and chat he will
give to the new Government of Mr..
Gladstone himself very sharp and try
ing struggle for existence. Nobody
probably understands this better than
Mr.. Gladstone himself. For some years
past the political contest in England has
really been, in substance, duel between
these two well.matched and cleanly con-
trasted ptotagonists. 1t is in Mr.. Glad
stones favor for the new phase now be-
ginning of the contest, that the peculiar
| Circumstances of the present situation,
and his own exceptional relations to it.
set him free, as he has never been setfree
before when in power, to avail himself Of
new lieutenants and to infuse fresh blood
into the working staff and system of his
Government
The World recently alluded to the
fact that since the Reform act of 1882 no
Conservative Administration had ever
successfully appealed to the electors.
Another fact as curious is that Sir Rob-
ert Peel has been the raven boding inn
minent disaster to almost every Cabinet
that has risen and fallen during the
thirty years for which he has represented
Tamworth in Parliament. Though sit.
ting upon the Liberal benches he Joined
in the attack on the Russell Ministry
which fell in 1852, and after leaving
Lord Palmerston's Administration he
participated in the successful onslaught
on the Conspiracy bill which ousted his
late colleagues. At first friendly to the
second Derby Administration, the Liber-
all l.Conser7atiye Baronet soon went into
opposition to it, and the ministers were
driven out. Earl Russell dismissedyhim
| from the Chief Secretaryship for Ireland
as soon as Lord Palmerston had passed
away, and some six months later Sir
Robert, who had been helping the assail-
ants of the Reform bill, had the satisfac-
ton of seeing the Liberals beaten op,the
Borough Franchise clause. Again in
1868 he was found antag6nizing the Dis
raeli Ministry on the Irish Church ques-
ton, and before the year was out there
was no Disraeli Ministry. Some FIVE
wears later his declaration of opposition
to the Gladstone Administration. prelud-
ed its overthrow, and it is less than a year
since he made his famous attack on the
ridiculous Imperialism of the present
day." which the gossips said had deeply
impressed the Premier, as he had not
failed to notice the singular certainty and
swiftness with which the collapse Of a
party>in' power'had always followed the
eccentric Baronet's declarations Of hos
tilities. 1t is pity that Sir Robert has
retired from Parliament, for, as Boerne
said about Talleyrand, be is simply iu'
valuable as a political barometer.