A vacancy is soon expected in the representation of Oxford.
Mr. Langston, the present excellent member, is so exceedingly ill that he can scarcely hope ever to resume parliamentary duties, and people are beginning to talk about his successor. Mr. W. C. Cartwright, of Aynhoe, near Banbury, is already thought of in the Liberal interest, and a better repre- sentative Oxford could not easily get. In foreign politics he is informed as few Englishmen can hope to be, having lived long in Italy, and numbering among his friends the greater Liberal statesmen of that country. He has written much and ably on our foreign policy, and in home politics is a hearty Liberal, of that moderate and thoughtful type which is gene- rally and wisely preferred to mere Radicalism. We mention this because there is a distressing rumour that a Mr. Gazelee, who has a few Radical pledges, is to divide the Liberal party there. Oxford, we trust, will commit no such blunder. It would be an invitation to the Tories to go thither and conquer. We may hope, too, that the election, if it is indeed close at hand, may, to some extent, retrieve the old reputation of Oxford,—which recent elections have somewhat shaken,— for a high standard of electoral purity. The member's influ- ence is in some degree measured by the independence of his constituency, and the Oxford freemen ought to be taught that they cannot carry the election.
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