Page:The Annual Register 1899.djvu/141

 1899.] The Bye Elections. [133

Balfour to resign if he could not convince his colleagues, but Mr. Dillon forgot that it was by leaving the question entirely open that Catholic emancipation was brought about.

Outside Parliament there were not wanting symptoms of the decline in the popularity of the Ministry, but they were not stronger than was the case whenever either party had been long in office. The cause was partly due to the ill-will always provoked by the refusal of the party in office to fulfil promises made without authority in its name, and partly to the restlessness which insured the alternation of Liberals and Conservatives on the Treasury benches. The retention by the Eadicals of the seat for Southport, already referred to, was so little anticipated that the Conservative party invited Mr. C. B. Balfour, a nephew of the Premier, to contest the seat. On Mr. Curzon's appoint- ment as Viceroy of India Sir H. Naylor-Leyland had defeated Lord Skelmersdale by a majority of 272, but it was asserted that this was a fortuitous victory, due to causes unlikely to be repeated. Sir George Pilkington who had at one time, when the Liberals held the majority, represented Southport, was an ideal candidate for a wavering constituency, and Ins knowledge of local feeling and requirements more than outweighed the relationship of the Conservative candidate. Sir G. Pilkington in the event (May 30) received 5,635 votes against 5,052 recorded by Mr. Balfour, showing a marked falling-off of Tory support. This was locally attributed to the efforts of the Laymen's League, which determined thus to show its appreciation of Mr. A. J. Balfour's attitude in the House of Commons towards the Clergy Discipline Bill.

The election for South Edinburgh, due to the death of the sitting Unionist member, was not to be explained away in a like manner, but the decline of Conservatism in the Scottish capital was even more marked than in Lancashire. In 1895 Mr. Cox had defeated the sitting Radical member by the narrow majority of 97 on a total poll of about 9,500 voters. On the present occasion the Conservatives were represented by a strong candi- date, Major-General Wauchope, who for some time had taken an active part in local politics, and was personally held in great esteem by all parties. His Radical opponent was Mr. Arthur Dewar, a member of a firm of distillers, but more immediately connected with Perth than with Edinburgh. He, however, proved himself to be the more acceptable candidate, and eventually carried the seat (June 19) by an unexpectedly large majority of 831, the votes for Mr. Dewar being 5,820 against 4,989 for Major-General Wauchope. The East Division of Edinburgh had almost simultaneously to show how far its opinions had undergone a change since the Radical Dr. Wallace had defeated the Unionist Mr. Goschen in 1886 by 1,441, in 1892 Mr. Fullerton by 1,160, and in 1895 Mr. Younger by 449. The Liberals on this occasion were represented by Mr. Macrae, a local business man, who so far had taken no leading part in