Political Campaigns 



doubt I shall be able to stand the test of the Parliamentary 

 equivalent to ' weighing in ' on this occasion." 



11 The victory of Brigg," as it was called everywhere, caused 

 a very great sensation in the country generally, coming as it 

 did immediately following the loss of Forfar to the Liberals. 

 " Punch" had some excellent cartoons on the subject, and there 

 is no doubt that the Brigg victory hastened the downfall of the 

 Rosebery Cabinet. Here again we can see the note of friend- 

 ship to the individual, for Lord Rosebery, himself a friend of 

 my brother, though a political opponent, and one who must 

 have been smarting at this second blow to his Ministry, in a 

 speech he made on 12th December, 1894, shortly after the 

 Forfar and Brigg elections, showed himself as magnanimous to 

 Maunsell as an opponent to his policy as he was faithful to 

 their old friendship. He said, "It seems hard in this great 

 meeting " (the hall in which he spoke, accommodating 8000 

 people, being filled to overflowing) " to feel any sense of dis- 

 couragement" (a Voice, "Brigg" ). " It is quite true we have 

 lost two bye-elections, but I think the losses both in Forfarshire 

 and at Brigg can be explained entirely by local circumstances." 



Of the Forfar election he added, "The death of my dear 

 friend the late Lord Dalhousie lost that election." Of the 

 Brigg victory he remarked, "In the case of Brigg we had to 

 deal with an excellent local candidate — a good sportsman, — ah ! 

 gentlemen, the election agents are not wise who despise good 

 sportsmen, and one who had the inestimable advantage of 

 having fought the seat twice already, and, gentlemen, is there 

 not something in these attempts, though hitherto unsuccessful, 

 that appeals to the sense of fair play in Englishmen ? And I 

 don't think we need particularly complain. To hear the hulla- 

 baloo that is kicked up, one would think that we were the only 

 Government that had lost a bye-election." 



141 



