another six weeks all Great Britain and Ireland will be in the ferment and turbulence of a general election, And judging from the heat that hus alrendy been displayed, the coming fight promises to surpass in parti gin frenzy any election we have. seen in recent years, The newspapers which have been received from home report more free fights and disturbances at political _meetings, than could have been expected three months before the election, The addresses of candidates are full of rancour which promises well for violent rioting Inter on, In one county we may road that the Tory candidate was interrupted by groans and other inarticulate noises, until, hose modes of expressing their opinions pulling on the oppos tion, they stormed the platform and compelled the orator and his friends to fly, In another that a Liberal member of Parliament who hnd gone into district to enlighten the newly enfr chased voters, was by them set upon, and but for for his friends forming body gard would certainly huve been ill-treated. These di jonas Are quila ueunl at election times; but it is the frequency with which enlightened yoters have been partaking of them so long boforathe polling, that has caused especial notice to be bestowed on them, Whether the candidates think that unscrupulous abuse of their opponents ix necessary to recommend them to the Demvoracy, ov it is due to deterioration in the character of the candi or is owing to no particular ensue, it is undoubted that a greater amount of rough con. not haa been indulged in than would have been expected, considering the progress that we are often assured education has made in late yeara, It is to be hoped thnt the excitement having ourly come to a grent height, may exhaust itself before the election 80 far to allow the polling to tuke plow in decorum, Besides Locnl Government in the counties there is no grent issue that oan fairly be anid to be before the ounstituencies. That is not a matter likely to nronse great enthasinsm among the clectornte, especially us both the great politinl parties and the Home Rulers fre randy to support a measure to give effect to it. Such qnestivns as the reform or abolition of the House of Lorda, and the disestablishment of the urder, are, in the slang of the duy not within the range of practical p ties, But should the Radicals obtain such strength at the general elect to enable them to dictate the fa Liberal Cabinet, a thorough reform of the Land-lowa is cortuin to be proposed. If it la brought forward by strong Liberal ministry, there is no doubt it will be carried, Probably no Inrge part of the House of Peers would offer a real resistance to mensntes which set free of: the grasp of the dead hand, simplified' ite transfer, and gave them. solves!'réal'rights' in the' possession of which they are now but life-renters, The question of Land Reform is just now in that position which makes it certain that a just and comprehen measure on the subject would pas The public kas had it before its mind with more or less prominence from time to time for many years past, nnd there are indications that people generally have come to the conclu. sion that the Land laws must be modernized in the interest of the nation.
Free Sull is one plank in the Radicn) platform, and Free Church and Free Education are two others, The advocates of the former be obliged to wait, bat it is quite likely that educa. tion will be made free whintever parly may be in power. If the T receive such a majority at the general eleotio as will allow them to frame thei policy and conduct on their own pri ples, they might resist the demand for free education Tf, as way turn out to be the case, the two English parties are nearly equal, the present government may adopt Free Education as a sop to the democrney, In former election what were called the great interests pressed their claims on candidaten. These were the farming interest, the sugar and the shipping interests, and othere, who were in reality the gentlemen, more or leas cupitali griged in these trades and occupations, When we hear of the interests now, it is of the workmen engaged in carrying them on, The determi shown by large bodies of working men te have special representation in Parliament, though not displayed for the first time, is from the power given to them by the ow county for © on fw much grenter sense than hitherto, Ihe miners, for instance, in several districts in England are determined to have wen of their own craft to represent thet wherever they are strong enough carry the election, In other districts they have been attempting to exact a series of pledges from candidates, which, if they should be embodied in laws would place every other interest subordinate to the mining. In one district in Scotland where the miners are able control the election, they have pledged themselves not to vole for any man who is an employer of labour,—'I'hese detnuds may irritate other sections of the electors, and the feeling that euch classes as the miners or the country iubourers are trying to grasp too much may tell against the Inbour candidates, Then, again, it is not quite certain that the jealousy of fellow-workmen which excluded so many working men from now quite dead. This deprivation of Edger, Lucraft and othere, may send a few hundred thousand working men electors to vote with the middle class or independent cane didates of buth parties, The addition of two millions of voters, most of them of a class utterly untried in politico, and the redistribution of the great cities and towne, makes it impossible to forecast the election, The new franchise and arrangements in England may upset all prophecies and exloula. tions and mock the wisdom of the wise, THE FRENCH ELECTIONS, So far 306 members out of 557 have been elected to the Chamber of Deputies. Reuter says that the Conserra. tives have gained 93 seats; and they have a majority of 24 over the Republicans on the elections which have been ascertained. This result pointe to the maintenance of moderate government in France,-and to the defeat of the reactionaries and " Reds." It is pro. bable also that the present government of AM. Brisson will soon give way to a stronger ministry, of which M. Ferry will most likely be the head. Notwithstanding the mistakes which he made when in office M. Ferry is the strongest statesman, or perhaps we should rather say, politician, France has at the present time. The excesses in their anti-clerical crusade of the Gambettists, put them out of the question. M. Clemenceau is a man of extreme views, whose friends have lately been compelled to assert that in office he would carry out a safe policy. But while this is being said for him, he himself is advocating what sober minded people, who, after all, carry nine general elections out of every ten everywhere in the world, consider wild schemes, At a time when France needs a strong government her electors are not likely to give power to a man, for whom the best that can be said is that he is not so bad ashe seems. Nor, after M. Clemenceau, is there any politician whose standing is such as to make him a possible rival to M. Ferry. Conservative or moderate Republicans and the Reds possess among them the political force of France. Legitimatism and Bonapartism are left out of all calculations. Whether M. Forty returns at once to power or not, his foreign and domestic views must animate those who admi affairs. What his policy is may possibly be gathered with sufficient distinctness from the letter of the Paris Correspondent of the Times, dated 27th August last, in which the opinions and position of the rival politicians is set forth with much fairness. In Foreign affairs, M. Ferry can only follow "a policy of digestion." "He has taken Tavis, Tonquin and Madagascar, and now he has only one thing to do and that is to organize these conquests." In order to do so he must have the express or tacit assistance of Europe, of the whole of Europe, and above all of England." To obtain this he will not resume his old teasing policy, because by doing so he: would expose himself to reprisals, especially from England. In short M. Ferry is to be a reformed foreign minister. Confidence is felt in his frm
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.