Mr. Disraeli made a speech at a dinner given to
the Bucking- hamshire members at Newport Pagnell on Wednesday, in which he strove arduously to represent the general election as involving no real loss to the Tory party. He granted the Government a gain of twenty members, but suggested that perhaps ten seats might be recovered by the Conservatives on petition, as they were in the last Parliament, and ten more by isolated contests during the Parlia- ment, as was also the case, says Mr. Disraeli, in the last Parlia- ment. No doubt this is quite possible, and it is also quite possible that the Conservatives may lose ten seats on petition and ten more by isolated contests. Mr. Disraeli's task of proving that a gain of twenty is of no account, by suggesting that in the vague future the winner may lose his gain, is rather like counting his chickens not only before they are hatched, but before any of the eggs are laid. On the whole the speech means a confession of defeat.
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