7 FEBRUARY 1874, Page 2

It is remarkable that the alarm caused by Sir Henry

Havelock's. utter rout at Stroud,. after Mr. Winterbotham's death, was a. false one. Both the Liberal candidates have been returned, and poor Mr. Dorington, who kept -the seat for six weeks or so and Scared us all so much, has lost the prize he held for so brief a, period. Clearly the defeat a few weeks ago was an accident, due probably to the rough personalities of the election and the offence they may have involved. The defeat at -Stroud was ominous, but not symptomatic of the ,defeat that -was preparing for us along the whole line.