the Conservative candidate comes in by a majority
which is simply overwhelming. It must however be remembered that it
would be misleading to compare the poll at either of these elections
with the polls at any of Mr. Gladstone's contests. The issue was
different in the two cases. The elections of 1878 and 1880 were far more
distinctly trials between political parties than the several elections
in which Mr. Gladstone succeeded or the final one in which he failed.
First of all, there is a vast difference between Mr. Gladstone and any
other candidate. This difference indeed cuts both ways. The foremost man
in the land is at once the best loved and the best hated man in the
land. Neither Mr. Smith nor Mr. Stuart nor any other candidate that
could be thought of could call forth either the depth of enthusiasm in
his supporters or the depth of antagonism in his opponents which is
called forth by every public appearance of Mr. Gladstone. No other man
has, in the same measure as he has, won the glory of being the bugbear
of cultivated "society" and the object of the reverence and affection of
thinking men. But, apart from this, the issues were different. Mr. Smith
and Mr. Stuart stood directly as Liberal candidates. Mr. Gladstone, at
least in his earlier elections, was still in party nomenclature counted
among Conservatives, and he received but little support from professed
political Liberals. The constituency was then confined to men who had
signed the articles of the Established Church, and the election largely
turned on controversies within the Established Church. I venture to
think that the High Church party of that day was really a Liberal party,
one that had far more in common with the political Liberals than with
the political Conservatives. But it is certain that neither the High
Churchmen nor the political Liberals would have acknowledged the
kindred, and the great mass of Mr. Gladstone's supporters in 1847, in
1852, and even later, would assuredly not have voted for any avowedly
Liberal candidate. In his later elections Mr. Gladstone received a
distinct Liberal support; still he was also supported by men who would
not support a Liberal candidate now. As he came nearer and nearer to the
Liberal camp, his majorities forsook him till he was at last rejected
for Mr. Hardy. The two elections of the last four years have turned more
directly, we may say that they have turned wholly, on ordinary political
issues. Controversies w