Captain Hayter was defeated at Bath yesterday week, though by
a much less majority than that which defeated Mr. Murch a few weeks previously. The majority for Lord Grey de Wilton was 51 (Lord Grey de Wilton polling 2,194, Captain Hayter 2,143, and 15 votes being polled for Mr. Cox, in spite of his retirement). None of the candidates polled as many votes by nearly three hundred as Sir William Tite on his last election, and it is possible that Captain Hayter's flirtations with the Liberal Cave in 1866 may have had a pernicious influence on his cause. But on the whole, no doubt, the discontent of the only half-appeased Education Leaguers, the discontent of the teetotallers, and the general momentary discontent of con- stituencies with the Liberal party, were the efficient causes of the defeat. Bath, too, is apt to be fickle in political matters, and to veer with the veering wind.
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