THE DEPTFORD ELECTION. T HE contest in Deptford was only a
by-election, and by- elections prove little ; but it had a certain importance of its own. The leaders of the Home-rule Party are men wise in their generation, and they know quite well wherein the weak- ness of their proposal, considered as a measure to be carried by plebiscite, really consists. They have carried Ireland and Wales, and they think—erroneously, as we believe—that they will carry at all events a majority of seats in Scotland. That is much ; but nevertheless, though the fact is so habitually slurred over, three-fourths of the people of the United King- dom live in England, and till they have been won com- paratively little has been effected. The Home-rulers think they can win them by appealing to the lower democracy against the upper and middle class and the skilled work- men, and can "move " this democracy through three im- pulses,—their dislike of those above them, their fellow- feeling for all who are oppressed, and their belief that Mr. Gladstone is in some special and unusual degree the poor man's friend. They made, therefore, of Deptford a test case. It is a large borough, inhabited almost entirely by working people, is just now not very prosperous, and is full of extremists of all kinds. Mr. Champion, we believe, thinks that a third of the Liberals in it are Socialists ; and though Socialists always misreckon their hosts, there can be little doubt that extreme parties possess in Deptford many adherents. Deptford seemed, therefore, a likely place to carry ; and the Home-rulers in that borough possessed, moreover, some of those advantages which wire-pullers think—very stupidly—more important even than ideas. The chief ground-landlord and late Member, Mr. Evelyn, was a most popular man, and had just resigned his seat because, having been elected as a Unionist, he had been con- verted to the Gladstonian creed. We are not sure that is the right course of action when a man changes his opinions—at least if it is, it is hard to see the utility of debate—but it always strikes the people as manly, and as we saw in Edinburgh, in- creases the personal regard for the resigning Member. More- over, the roughs of Deptford had a quarrel with the police, there is a strong contingent of Irishmen living in the borough, and the Tory candidate was a man whose language roused his enemies as much as it attracted his friends. On the other hand, the Home-rulers had in their hands an ideal candidate, Mr. Wilfrid Blunt, a gentleman, a man of fortune, and a man of widespread notoriety, yet who sympathised so strongly with Ireland and the " cause of the people," that he was being " tortured " in prison for their sake. Altogether, Deptford was a good place to fight, and the party put out its whole strength. Members were sent down by the half-dozen to deliver fiery speeches ; a " burning " letter, describing the Irish as " a people struggling to be free," was obtained from Mr. Glad- stone ; songs, very good songs, too, some of them, were written for the occasion ; Irish landlords were denounced in the language of Tipperary ; and Mr. Darling, the Tory candidate, was as systematically libelled as if he had been Chief Secre- tary for Ireland, or a candidate for the American Presidency. We fear, too, that intimidation was employed, at least to the extent of hiring roughs to break up Unionist meetings, the idea being, we fancy, not so much to stop speeches as to raise an impression that the populace were violently excited on the Liberal side.
All these various influences had their weight. Mr. Evelyn carried with him most of his personal following ; the immense pressure called out voters who usually abstain, and the total vote for Mr. Blunt was 4,070, instead of the 3,055 given to Baboo Lalmohun Ghose in 1886. That is a large increase, and although the fluent Baboo was not a good candidate, the Home-rule leaders are entitled to boast that they increased their vote by 1,015, though their man was believed to be a Catholic, and was certainly in prison. They were never- theless defeated, having forgotten two essential things. The fuss they had made had roused the other side at least as much as their own, and the other side could not be pre- vented from voting if they pleased. The Home-rulers might speechify as much as they liked, spend hundreds on bludgeon- men, break up every meeting in succession, parade the streets as the popular, and therefore irresistible party, and circulate libels by the ton ; but still if the quiet folk who kept at home remained unconvinced, the ballot would reveal the truth. So it fell out. On the day of the election, it looked as if the Unionists had no chance, the houses being placarded with papers im- plying a resolve to " vote for Blunt," and the mob in the streets universally wearing the green ; but the unconvinced were more numerous than ever ; they voted as they chose, telling fibs, we fear, pretty frequently about their votes ; the Unionist vote was increased by 667, and Mr. Darling was returned by a majority of 275. The quieter section of the people had decided against Home-rule, and the appeal to the lower democracy had failed. Even in Deptford, which is a crucial case, that section had not a majority. That result ought to encourage the Unionists throughout the Kingdom. The " roughness " of Deptford as a whole is probably exaggerated by men accustomed to the peculiar quiet of London, but there can be no doubt either that the lower democracy is unusually strong there, or that the borough is unusually penetrated with what we may describe broadly as "Red" feeling. If the Home- rulers cannot win in Deptford by their present methods of appeal, they cannot win anywhere ; and what other methods are they to try ? They cannot argue for law and order in England and excuse its defiance in Ireland. They cannot keep the Home-rule Question out of the contest. They cannot convince the respectables by any arguments which they have not already used. They must go on as they have begun, and Deptford shows that, with every adventitious circumstance in their favour—for Mr. Blunt, seen in the far distance languishing in a cell, was a capital candidate —they still cannot make the necessary way. They call out thousands ; but the very loudness of the call, and the sound of the tramp of those who respond, rouse the defenders. It took a miracle to capture Jericho, for Joshua's trumpets always woke the besieged.
There is a reason, apart altogether from the Home-rale Question, for gratification at the result of the Deptford election. It is more than ever beneficial, now that social questions threaten to crowd upon us, that this vast capital should remain conservative, that Parliament should feel free, that pressure upon it should come from the true country as a whole, and not from the vast populace gathered under the shadow of the Clock Tower. We all know the result of the furious Liberalism of most Continental capitals, and do not want to be compelled to garrison London as Paris, Vienna, and Berlin have now for years been garrisoned. It is an element in English solidity that London should remain moderate in opinion, and this election shows that it does so remain. The English Home-rulers may not love disorder more than any other party—we do not think their leaders do—but they are compelled by the logic of their position to seek the aid of the disorderly ; and if London were upon their side, the conse- quences might be grave. As it is, London steadies them, compels them to reflect whither they are hurrying, gives them a party reason for refusing to tamper with the guarantees for order and civilisation. We maintained that thesis before this wretched Irish Question came up to spoil all politics and im- pede all progress, and every day convinces us more and more of the truth of the proposition. It is good for all in the Kingdom, its Liberals fully included, that London should be sedate, disposed to disbelieve in Utopias, and hard intellectually to move. The Metropolis, itself vast as a nation, and richer than many nations put together, is ballast in the ship.
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