Show ENGLISH POLITICS The Springfield Republican recently contained con-tained a thoughtful article on The Plight of a Radical it being based upon some remarkable re-markable statements upon the English political situation by Hon JOSEPH CIIAM BEIILAIS It seems that tho British statesman states-man has about reached the conclusion that the game is not worth tho candle and he seems disposed to return to private life He attributes the fact of his not doing BOat BO-at once to a sincere feeling of patriotism He speaks in very bitter tones so much so that he seems to have lost his temper and his judgment at the same time for ho accuses ac-cuses the Gladstonians of having bribed voters which sounds very silly at this distance dis-tance een though coming from milord and backed by so conspicuous and able an Anglomaniac as the Republican writer The home rulers arc presumably on the high tide of prosperity as it is admitted that the opposition to the cause is hopeless The coalition which CIIAMBEPLAIK and HAIITIKOTON formed with the Tories has now been in power about three years end singularly enough out of sixty by3lectioi s which have occurred within that time only one LiberalUnionist has been elected this being in Doncaster Yorkshire England early in 1837 This it must be admitted all around is a rather poor showing for a combination which was established with the expectation and for the purposo of holding sway in her majestys dominions for one generation at least There never was a plainer case of reckoning without the host and it is therefore hardly to be wondered at that the British statesman is willing to forsake a pursuit which at least yields him so little hopo and consolation The article then goes largely into statistics I statis-tics showing that in 18S7 the Liberals captured four government scats in 1SSS I three and thus far this year live Upon the other hand the government has scored I but one victory in a Liberal district In ten other contests the Liberals have in creased their majorities while in six cases their majorities were scaled down There were no important results in the first eleven byelections after SALISBURY was returned to power in 1SSS but in February 1SS7 the Liberals carried Burnley which had been represented by a LiberalUnion ist Then strung along through the two years and more since came the Liberal victories vic-tories in Spaulding Coventry Norwich Edinburg Southampton Ayr Burghs Govan Kennington Rochester Poterboro and North Bucks The Liberal gains also in the aggregate vote are notable showing that a tide is running in old England toward to-ward a settlement of Irish affairs along the lines proposed by Mr GLADSTONE But the Gladstonian position is even stronger when we compare the present situation with the election of 1SS5 While the year ISSfi was disastrous to the Liberals they won thirtyfour scats which had been occupied by Tories or Liberals in the Parliament Par-liament of IbSo and seven have since been added by special elections That is to say the Gladstonians now hold fortyone seats which the Unionists held in lisST This is an immense showing in behalf of the popular popu-lar party of Great Britain showing as it does that the rehabilitation of tho Liberal cause has proceeded by gradual steady and persistent growth and is therefore destined des-tined in a short time to return to power and to remain there It is also stated that thousands of the voters of that party stayed away from the polls in 1SS6 and their subsequent gains show that one bono b-ono they are returning to their places being satislied that the policy of coerc o i adopted and maintained by such men as the infamous BALFOUU will not do and can never gain anything like popularity in the nation The article proceeds to show that it is not certain that the retirement of Mr CUAMHEUL would hasten downfall of Lord SAIISKUKT in any appreciable degree While he has been a flay member and fertile in partisan expedients he really could not count upon a beggarly halfdozen members of parliament ready to obey his summons It was the Whig liberals led bj Lord HAUTINGTON that gave the coalition I its vitality The merciless friction of parties par-ties has reduced Mr CIIAMIEIUAIX to the smallest political importance Such is the fate of a pronounced Radical who gained reputation and office by parading a full line of extreme measures and then welt over to the support of a Tory government because be-cause he was offended at GLADSTONES method of treating the Irish question If CHAMBERLAIN had not admitted the principle prin-ciple of homerule butihad held first and last to a conservative djstrust of demo cratfc experiments as II IKTINRTON has I done there would be some degree of pity for his predicament THE HEKVLD has always entertained feel ins of the greatest respect for the grand old man and entertained the belief that his Irish policy like that of tariff reform in the United States would surely prevail when the people came to understand it Judging from the steady and accessions ac-cessions to the Liberal ranks across the water and the recent elections in this country the awakening cannot be far off now |