Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-01-20
Try CABLE 10 THE DISPATCH. l


LONDON, January 19.-The Grand Old
Man must have slept the sweet placid sleep
of babyhood last night, for just before he
had crawled into his bed in Naples tele-
gram came to tell him of a knock-down
blow to the Tories and a humping victory
for Gladstone, Parnell, home rule and vir-
tue in general Govan is a Scotch district,
and the Tories fondly hoped it was theirs
for good and all. They not only carried it
at the Parliamentary election in 1886, but
also in 1885, when Gladstone was supposed
to be strongest This morning the Tory
landlord and his mugwump Unionist
brother had their day spoiled by the news
that Yesterdays election had replaced the
Tory majority of 362 by home rule ma
jority of 1,071.
The attempts of the Tory press to wriggle
out OF the crushing defeat are more humor-
Gus than usual, and go to swell the pleasant
sensation of the Home Rulers, the magnitude
OF whose victory surprises them almost as
much as it does the Tories. The only re-
source of the latter is to roundly abuse poor
Sir John Fender, their defeated candidate,
as unfit for the place, nice. gentlemanly
habit which, by the way, is rather charac-
whom we hear SO much about.
WHAT THIS ELECTION MEANS.
This is the most significant of all the bye
elections. 1t means, in plain English and
beyond all doubt, that in the present state
of public opinion, general election would
mean a tremendous victory for Grand Old
Gladstone, and a chance for the Irish to
manage their own national affairs.
A hon
such as must have tremendously excited any
other big town, has just been witnessed here,
and London seems scarcely to have noticed
1t. / mean the substitution of the County
Council for the corrupt Board of Works,
which ran things before. The Importance
of this change lies in the fact that London
is now threatened with a government in the
interests of the masses of its inhabitants,
and not of its proprietors. The change is a
Tory measure, but it looks very much as
though the Tories would very soon find in
Mr.. Ritchie, with his local government bill,
a dark-complexioned Frankenstein of a
most obnoxious type.
The Grand Old Man didn't fight the BILL
a fact which some complained of, but it will
soon be seen that on that occasion Gladstone
proved himself foxy as well as grand and
old. He allowed the Tories freely to legis-
late themselves into very hot water.
ENOUGH TO FRET THE TORIES.
Gu: of 119 county Councillors, 20 or more
are ultra-Radicals, who are pledged to such
measures as are calculated to make the
head of the average Tory look infinitely
more fretful than the back of the most cas-
lily irritated porcupine. These 20 Council
lors, if they are true to their colors, will
fight to take the control of the police awav
from the Home Secretary; to tax ground
rents-a very painful thing for the Tory
land owners; Inappropriate the endowments
of turtle-eating city companies-a painful
thing for big-bodied business magnates; to
have water, gas and tramway companies
controlled by the city; to have the public
admitted to the meetings of the Council,
and to effect numerous other gravely revo-
lutionary and common sense reforms.
The Council is queer body, with none
of the uniformity of character observed in
the traditional Board of Works or Alder
manic body. Lord Roseberry, who is as
radical as any lord married to a Rothschild
can very we'll be, is a member, and will
probably be President of the Council Lady
Sandhurst and Miss Golden, daughter of
the anti-protection celebrity have both been
elected, but while women are allowed to
vote, it is not quite settled whether they can |
be members of the Council.
Mr.. Barns, a good type of Socialist, who |
takes life easy at night but works hard all |
day for living, is elected, and so is Gus
Harris, manager of Drury Lane Thester,
and by long odds the most widely adver- |
tised man in England. 1t will be interest |
ing to watch this Legislature, probably the |
queerest ever brought together, and see how
Its different elements will get on.