The Taunton election came off on Monday, both parties being
very confident, as both had pledges exceeding in the aggregate the whole constituency. The struggle was a fierce one, the card trick failed, and towards four -o'clock many of the voters were exceedingly drunk, and some more seem to have affected drunken- ness in order to break their pledges. All, however, was very quiet and orderly, and nothing was really known as to the result of the ballot till at half-past seven the returning officer announced that the numbers were 899 for Mr. Henry James and 812 for Sir Alfred Slade, thus giving the Solicitor-General a majority of eighty-seven. The election seems to have been fought with much fairness, though Sir A. Slade lost his temper about educational arrangements he did not understand, and Mr. James about the interference of some ladies devoted to female suffrage, who probably did him good. Sir A. Slade seems most hurt about the pledge-breaking, which certainly was atrocious, but we fear we shall all under the ballot have to reconcile our- selves to that. The ballot certainlpdoes not tend to refute Mr. Mill's harsh statement that the English lower classes lie as hard as any lower classes in Europe.
