[11] A good illustration of this may be obtained by comparing the two by-elections which have taken place since the present parliament was elected, in North-East Lanarkshire. In both cases a typical orthodox Unionist and a typical orthodox Labourite were in the field. But the Liberal candidates were of a very different type in the two cases. In September 1901 (while the South African War was still in progress) the Liberal candidate was Mr. Cecil Harmsworth, of the “Daily Mail,” an Imperialist of so pronounced a kind that all the organs of the Anti-Imperialist press and many of the Leaders of Anti-Imperialist Liberalism advised the electors to vote for the Labour candidate. This year on the other hand the Liberal candidate was a strictly orthodox Liberal who succeeded in uniting all sections of the party. I give the figures for both elections.
By-election 26/9/01.
Sir W. Rattigan (U) 5673
Mr. C. Harmsworth (L) 4769
Mr. R. Smillie (Lab) 2900
By-election 10/5/04.
Mr. Finlay (L) 5619
Mr. Touch (U) 4677
Mr. Robertson (Lab) 3984
The noticeable thing about these figures is the enormous increase in the Labour poll. It may reasonably be supposed that the fulminations of a large section of representative Liberal opinion against Mr. Harmsworth produced some effect on the voting, and one may therefore take it that a fair number of electors, who voted for Mr. Smillie in 1901, voted for Mr. Finlay in 1904. Yet Mr. Robertson’s gain is far greater than Mr. Finlay’s. This can only mean that a large number of working men, who, in time of war voted for the Tory Imperialist candidate, voted for the Labour candidate in time of peace.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
This eBook makes the following corrections to the original text:
- Pg 23 “pratically” changed to “practically”
- Pg 47 comma added after “origin”
- Pg 53 comma added after “leave”
- Pg 57 “Ultramonanism” changed to “Ultramontanism”
- Pg 63 “inpossible” changed to “impossible”
- Pg 64 period added after “divisions”
- Pg 70 “ebulition” changed to “ebullition”
- Pg 72 comma added after “attacked”
- Pg 77 period added after “unconscious”
- Pg 84 comma changed to period after “system”
- Pg 95 period added to “Mr Chamberlain”
- Pg 107 period removed before colon
- Pg 116 “repudition” changed to “repudiation”
- Pg 119 period added after “Voluntary School”
- Pg 124 period added after “ad hoc”
- Pg 124 comma added after “foreign affairs”
- Pg 131 “nausious” changed to “nauseous”
- Pg 144 “shold” changed to “should”
- Pg 147 “couse” changed to “course”
- Pg 149 “abandon the the” changed to “abandons the”
- Pg 150 period added after “for it”
- Pg 152 period added after “statesmanship”
- Pg 156 period added after “surroundings”
- Pg 167 “inadmissable” changed to “inadmissible”
- Pg 168 “attentuated” changed to “attenuated”
- Pg 182 comma added after “a priori logic”
- Pg 183 “economic of political” changed to “economic or political”
- Pg 198 “socialogical” changed to “sociological”
- Pg 199 “develope” changed to “develop”
- Pg 209 period added after “kind”
- Pg 218 “to-wards” changed to “towards”
- Pg 202 “employées” changed to “employés”
- Pg 225 “artizans” changed to “artisans”
- Pg 230 comma changed to period after “Gold”