Thus on the second day of the polling alone, on
which 76 seats were contested, 52 of them having been held by Unionists, the net gains of the Liberal and Labour candidates sufficed to wipe out the entire Unionist majority. London had followed the lead of Lancashire, and on Tuesday night of the 130 seats contested in England which at the Dissolution were represented by 45 Liberals and 85 Unionists, 105 were represented by Liberals and 25 by Unionists. The outstanding features of Tuesday's polling were the capture of 5 seats in London and 2 in Liverpool, where Major Seely was returned for the Abercromby division, and the successful invasion of the "Birmingham area," seats being won for the Liberals at West Bromwich, Wednesbury, Hanley, and Warwick and Leamington, where Mr. Lyttelton was defeated by Mr. Berridge. The Unionist candidates were successful in the City of London, where Sir Edward Clarke had a majority of 10,306, but Mr. John Burns was returned by a greatly increased majority in Battersea. We deeply regret, however, to have to record the defeat of Mr. Arthur Elliot at Durham by a Tariff Reform candidate. Parliament can ill spare a man of such character, temper, and ability, apart from the fact that no Free-trader has fought for his cause with greater courage, consistency, and disinterestedness.
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