28 MARCH 1868, Page 1

According to the latest reports, should the debate be pressed

to a division, very few Liberals intend to bolt, and most of them will plead their dread of a dissolution. The Government organs have evidently received orders to threaten this step in the most precise terms, but Mr. Disraeli is not as explicit, and we still regard a dissolution before January as a mere menace, which will cost Mr. Disraeli as many votes as it will bring. The constituencies will not have time to forget the gentlemen who rat, and may, we think, be trusted to administer punishment pretty summarily. No Liberal who betrays his party on an occasion like this, who pro- claims aloud that he has been inventing convictions all his life, ought ever again to receive a Liberal vote.