The result of this Midlothian election was admitted on all hands, and by none more so than the Liberals themselves, as 'a grievous surprise,' 'an eye-opener,' 'a severe lesson.' It was realised now that after all Colonel Wauchope's candidature had not been quite the 'forlorn {126} hope' they had at first predicted it to be. As one of the party papers afterwards remarked, 'They had been taught the lesson that it does not do to depend too much upon the individuality of any one, however eminent, to carry a seat.... The advanced party was caught napping.' ... 'It is,' they said, 'most astonishing to find how well Colonel Wauchope is respected in the constituency now, and how much he has improved in his treatment of political questions. The outspoken and transparent honesty of his character has made him troops of friends in all quarters, and the attention with which he was received both by friends and opponents at the various polling-booths must have been gratifying to the gallant Colonel himself in no ordinary degree, as well as encouraging alike to him and his supporters to try conclusions again.' Seldom has a defeat been reckoned so much of a victory. Those of the 'forlorn hope' were amazed, for what at first appeared so hopeless had come within the region of possibility. Wauchope's name was on every lip and at the point of every pen. The Midlothian election startled the political world, and sobered the joy of Liberals; for even the return of a majority of members to Parliament, sufficient with the aid of the Irish Nationalists to turn out the Conservative Government of Lord Salisbury and to place Mr. Gladstone in office, was, in the estimation of many of that great statesman's admirers, scarcely compensation enough for such a downcome. [Sidenote: Corn Exchange banquet] Immediately after the election, on the 18th July, Colonel Wauchope was entertained to a house dinner by the Scottish Conservative Club, at which Sir Charles Dalrymple presided. The Unionists of Midlothian also recognised Colonel Wauchope's efforts and the sacrifices he had made in the contest by a grand banquet given {127} in his honour in the Corn Exchange, one of the largest halls in Edinburgh, on the 20th August. Beautifully decorated for the occasion, and filled as it was by over a thousand of the leading men of the party, and a large number of ladies in the galleries, the banquet was a spectacle of remarkable brilliancy and beauty.