Page:The Annual Register 1899.djvu/77

 1899.] The Bye-Elections. [69

drawing more and more from an active part in politics, were events and rumours which but slightly affected the United Kingdom. The gradual disintegration of the Chinese Empire, the continued danger from the Dervish power which was again gathering together its shattered forces, and the sudden death of Lord Herschell, " the cement of the Liberal Cabinet,' ' were matters which came home more nearly to the average elector, while for the moment " the crisis in the Church," the comparison of the wrongs of voluntary and board schools, and the wearing of party medals by school children were forgotten.

The bye-elections in Scotland and Yorkshire conveyed but little information as to the wishes of the electors. In North- West Lanark, a distinctly industrial constituency, Dr. C. M. Douglas, an advanced Liberal, at one time Assistant Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, was returned by a majority of 359 votes over Mr. G. A. L. Whitelaw, a local Conservative landowner, who in 1892 had carried the seat by a majority of 81 votes, and lost it in 1895 by 97 votes to Mr. Holburn, a Labour candidate. The poll on the present occa- sion was a larger one than in 1895, so that the absence of a Labour candidate could scarcely have kept many electors away. In the Eotherham Division of the West Biding Mr. Acland's seat had been one of the safest on the Eadical side, and from 1885 to 1895 it was not seriously disputed, his majority in each contest having been about 4,000. His retirement had been announced a long time in advance, and only held back until the party arrangements were complete. Mr. W. H. Holland, the President of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, who had sat for Salford (North) from 1892-5 was chosen to champion the Liberal cause, while Mr. E. H. Wragge decided to test the strength of Unionist opinion in this Eadical stronghold. Whether owing to the traditional jealousy of Yorkshire and Lancashire, or from some local cause, Mr. Holland's majority fell below 2,000, the actual figures being Holland 6,671, Wragge 4,714, the Unionists never having polled so many as 3,000 votes on any previous occasion. The small borough of Hythe, which for so many years had been represented by a chameleon poli- tician who possessed the permanent qualification of being chairman of the South Eastern Eailway, had in 1895 returned a Conservative by a substantial majority of 463 votes. Sir J. Hart, who had on that occasion stood as a Liberal, again offered himself on Sir J. B. Edwards' retirement, but the Conservative electors by a majority of 527 returned Sir E. Sassoon, who for some time had been nursing the borough. The West Eiding had another opportunity of proving its staunchness in the Liberal cause. Since 1885 the constituency had been con- tinuously represented by Mr. T. Wayman, a prominent wool- stapler, .who had been Mayor of Halifax on several occasions. The Liberal majority, however, had been steadily decreasing, and in 1895 he was only 306 votes above the Unionist candidate,