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CHAPTER II - 1880–1881

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 August 2010

Herbert Eustace Maxwell
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Summary

The abnormal intensity of political feeling aroused by the elections is shown by the number of seats contested in 1880 compared with those in former years. In 1859, at the general election, 101 constituencies were fought; in 1865, 204; in 1868, 277; in 1874, 199; and in 1880, 352, or nearly double the average of the other years.

The success of the Conservative cause in Westminster and the rest of the metropolis awakened no sympathetic echo in the provinces. From the results of the first few days' polling it was evident that disaster had been lying in wait for the Government.

The state of affairs [wrote Northcote to Smith on April 4] is gloomy enough, and I don't feel at all sure that we have seen the worst even yet. … I don't feel cast down. We have been overwhelmed before, and have recovered from it, and there will be plenty of work for us in Opposition. But I am very sorry for the chief. There is much to mortify him in this personal triumph of Gladstone's at what he must feel to be the end of his own political career. He may count, I think, on a reaction in his favour, but he will hardly again take office.

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Life and Times of the Right Honourable William Henry Smith, M.P , pp. 26 - 54
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010
First published in: 1893

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  • 1880–1881
  • Herbert Eustace Maxwell
  • Book: Life and Times of the Right Honourable William Henry Smith, M.P
  • Online publication: 29 August 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511696411.002
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  • 1880–1881
  • Herbert Eustace Maxwell
  • Book: Life and Times of the Right Honourable William Henry Smith, M.P
  • Online publication: 29 August 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511696411.002
Available formats
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  • 1880–1881
  • Herbert Eustace Maxwell
  • Book: Life and Times of the Right Honourable William Henry Smith, M.P
  • Online publication: 29 August 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511696411.002
Available formats
×