THE ELECTIONS AND THE BOAT RACE: A PARALLEL.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Volume 3, Issue 145, 17 July 1880, Page 3

THE ELECTIONS AND THE BOAT RACE: A PARALLEL.

The Olobe sayi ihe Boat Rate had, as usual, a'fjora.ijj »6,aUw have the electionii;/ and mountebanks, " artful'dodj^t^'.^nJ' pinny showmeo, jpoftiadn minstrelsy, and petticoat»4-:r^^l»^ad.J H ni!" bailing from Whitechapel— we*» taey not all to bo' teen qn the banks of thu river between Putney and Mortlaie P. Nor is it difficult to discover somewhat similar types of oharaeter in that motley throng wbioh calls itself-." the great Liberal party." Hers we find Lord Hnrtingtun performing the celebrated "confidence trick," when asking the electors of England to entrust Liberalism with the government of the. country. 'AH tilings are promised to all. men by this, talented performer and liia confederates in return for their votes. The Established Church will be upheld or destroyed, Russia shall be flouted or soothed, Ireland shall be set free or held fast, the Permissive Bill shall be supported or opposed; let an elector only Say what suits his fancy, and one voice or another from the ingenious confederacy of Opposition leaders will promise it to him on the spqt|,pn)vided he only shows " confidence "■ by giving them his vote. Next wo have'; that exceedingly funny derformer,. Mt/;- Robert Lowe, enacting to the very life. M'the untamable dingo of thi Australian"fiusb."- ? ''.Hfs snapping and smrling are particularly pronounced just at present, on .account of his seat for L mdon Univcrsity':being threatened by a Conservative candidate for the first tine sinoe it was created. Mr. Gladstone finds a typo in those wonderfully adorned caterers for public amusement who emit fierce flames and dense clouds of smoke from their mouths. As he whirls through Midlothian in a cyclonic tempest of "sound and fury," the callous world smiles and asks 'whether the amazing performance is quite worthy of one who was a statesman.' Passing on to Mr. Forster, may it not be said that no living politician shows more adroitness in so shifting his political piinciples from one point to another, that no man can guess undor which covering they are to be found ? Mr. Bright, of course, is tho " strong man " —the immensely musculai person who proj«cts cannon balls into the air without caring much wjiere they fall; while Sir William Harcourt finds a parallel in the gifted improvisatnrc whose impromptu, but rather vulgar witticisms, are known on most racecourses. As for Mr. Chamherlain, Mr. Rylands, and other ardent Radicals, they bear a certain resemblance to thu peripatetic professors of pugilism who. in default of other fighting, are always willing to batter one another for a consideration. But in Sir Charles Dilkn v.-e find a replica of tho extremely unpleasant individual whose mission is to ventilate Ivepublicau sentiments at pnpuhir jrathsrings, and to proclaim the dawn of th'glorious day when everyone ono -shai have what belongs to everyone else, and f-onv-thing more besides.— European Mail. March 26.