The Washington weekly post. (Washington, D.C.) 1878-1916, 1900-10-30
THE BRITISH ELECTIONS.
VIII The Resaii Incline the Conservatives
to Take Up Liberal ReiOrmt
Frra he PhiIaasiphla Pres.

10 EEkf I kiDtFhf
4 FIRM The Philsssiphla Press
The clozeness OF the recent election In
Great Britain. by which the Marquis OF
Salisbury will find himself supported n
I ths new House that meets to-day by al
most the same majority he had at dis
solution. COWS an interesting steadiness
IN the electoral opinion. AT dissolution
I on September :. there were in the House
OF Commons 80 Conservatives and Union
! lists and n Liberals and NatiOrs-Ists
irish Party) a majority OF - ,sr ths
government on the main ISSUES. The cleo
t!on lasted less than 3 NINTH. all .he
constituencies having been p0!led by DC
;ober i. and in the new House Of COM
mons Lord Salisbury win have 81 fell
lowers. Conservatives and UnlOniStS willie
the Liberals and Nationalists cOmi: Up
some 3s, the Ministerial majority being
i52. This Unionist majority. as II is call
ed, Is not as large as Lord Salisbury's ma
J0rity In lSs5, which amounted to l52. but
the net gain OF two members satisfies the
leaders and gives them free hand.
30 far as the effect of the BOer war
goes, those VINO were for the govern
ments policy at the beginning Of it pTac-
tcally remained unaffected by either the
. tlunders or the scandals and they voted
for the war advocates with remarkable
unanimity. There was no landslide either
toward or away from the Conservatives.
and the Liberals barely held their own,
being themselves divided much as 10
policies In England proper, the Unionists
hold 333 seats to 126 fer the opposition,
In Scotland ii Is 81 to IS. in Wales to 26,
Liberalism having a stronghold in this
rugged region. while in Ireland there are
but Il Unionists and one Liberal to 81
Nationalist. The change In the general
distribution OF Unionist and Opposition
seats is so slight that maps showing the
political complexion Of the United King
dom in September at a glance do not
look unlike these representing the re
suits of the recent POLL
The tendency seems 10 be moving to-
ward UniOnist politics in the cities and
bOroughs, while Liberalism holds the
country districts. The workers are for
the government, the country folk against
II. London Is overwhelmingly Unicnist.
its 80 seas now, as in 1895, being 81 for
the CniOnists and only for the Liberals.
In 1882 the Unionsts had "a and the Lib
erals p seats. which represented serious
Liberal inroads on the IS Tory and II Lib
eral London districts in 1856. London as a
Tory center seems to have come to stay,
and this is also true Of the boroughs. the
Unionists having 127 seats to the Oppo-
sltion's 40, a net gain of for the
Unionist cause, which. however, really
brings back the boroughs to their ale
glance of 1886, when there were also III
Unionist bOrOughs. To-day, in eleven
great towns outside of London, there are
but 10 Liberal seats to Al to be repre-
scented by UnionIst candidates.
Backed up by the substantial majority,
1t is not unlikely that Lord Salisbury will
turn the tables On the Liberals by carry
ing out certain reforms they have been
urging, and so deprive them of certain
grounds for attacking the government. As
premier, Lord Salisbury has found this
method effectual before, and, as he has
no Gladstone 10 rally the Opposition, his
task is likely to be an easy one. AS he
is but seventy years old, he has. if he
lives up TO Gladstone's record, a long ca
reer ahead of him, since Gladstone was
just in his first premiership at seventy,
while Lord Salisbury, if he is In office
next spring. will beat the Victorian rec
ord for length of service as the chief of
government.