The elections here are proceeding very nicely.  It is the first time that the Irish in England have voted en masse for one side, and in fact for the Tories. They have thus shown the Liberals the extent to which they can decide the issue even in England. The 80 to 85 Home Rulers Liverpool, too, has elected one who occupy the same position here as the Centre Party does in the Reichstag  can wreck any government. Parnell must now show what he really is. Incidentally, a victory has also been won by the new Manchester School , that is, the theory of aggressive tariffs, although it is here even more absurd than in Germany, but after eight years of commercial stagnation the idea has taken possession of the young manufacturers. Then there is Gladstone s opportunist weakness and the clumsy manner of Chamberlain, who first throws his weight about and then draws in his horns; this has called forth the cry: the Church in danger! Finally, Gladstone s lamentable foreign policy. The Liberals profess to believe that the new county voters will vote for them. There is, indeed, no telling how these voters will act, but in order to obtain an absolute majority the Liberals would have to win 180 of the 300 still outstanding districts, and that will hardly happen. Parnell will almost certainly wield dictatorial powers in Great Britain and Ireland.
Letters: Marx-Engels Correspondence 1885. Ireland