Lord Randolph Churchill's campaign in Birmingham has been cruelly interfered
with by the resolve of the Lords to throw out the Franchise Bill. In writing to Birmingham to excuse- himself from making a speech there on Wednesday, Lord Ran- dolph alleges "the hot weather, his attendance in the House of Commons, and other work," as having rendered him unable to. keep his engagements in Birmingham. Probably, however, Lord Cairns's proposed motion in the House of Lords has more to do with the internal heat from which Lord Randolph is suffering, than the power of the sun. It does not do to plead for Tory democracy to great meetings with such an example as this before the world of what Tory democracy means. It takes the wind out of the sails of Tory democracy when its chief representative has to admit that he is either acting quite alone, or with a party which objects in Coto to democracy, though it may plead for Toryism with a capriciously democratic dash in it.
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