The making of " faggot-votes " in Midlothian for the
pur- poses of the Conservative struggle with Mr. Gladstone has been going on with extraordinary spirit and unscrupulousness. It is interesting to observe that amongst the faggot-votes thus created, of which the Scotsman of last Saturday gives a list, is one in the name of " Edward Stanley Hope, barrister, in London ;" and that the Times of Tuesday week contained the announcement that " the Queen has been pleased to appoint Mr. Edward Stanley Hope, barrister, to be Junior Charity. Commissioner for England and Wales, in the room of Mr. Longley, who has been promoted." We do not suppose that this -promotion is Mr. Edward Stanley Hope's reward for pro- moting a Conservative success in Midlothian. But we do say that it would be more fitting if an embryo. Charity Commis- sioner would not engage in political work of 'this very dubious kind. It is hardly a guarantee for impartiality in dealing with charitable trusts, that a man should, in the interests of
party, be so eager to defeat the natural working of the electoral system. We wish we could think that all the faggot-votes in Midlothian had been created on the Tory side. No doubt that is the case with the great majority. But a few, we regret to believe, have been manufactured in like manner by the partisans -of the Liberals.
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