On Monday, after the conclusion of all the sub-sections of
Clause 8, Mr. Disraeli made a statement in answer to Mr. Forster's repeated remark that the Ballot Bill was a natural corollary of his own (Mr. Disraeli's) Reform Bill, which enfranchised so many voters not above the danger of bribery and intimidation, and that the constituencies had therefore decided in favour of it. Mr. Dis- raeli said he was in possession of an "analyzed list" showing that the majority of the voters at the last election were not in favour of the Ballot ; also he maintained that of the new constituencies formed under his Reform Bill, " at least a moiety voted for Con- servative candidates "; once more, had he, as Prime Minister in 1808, had the "arbitrary disposal" of from 25,000 to 30,000 votes, the Liberals would not have had a majority at all. We have no doubt Mr. Disraeli believes all that implicitly, and that it is very consolatory to him ; but " analyzed lists" and hypothetical cases as to what would have happened if so many votes had been at somebody's disposal, carry no weight with anybody of sense. For anything we know, the scale might have been turned by a single hair's weight ; but then also, for anything we know, all the conceivable hairs'-weights which might have been unfavour- able to Mr. Disraeli, may have been thrown into the scale favour- able to him, and but for that the majority might have been doubled on the Liberal side. We regarded Mr. Disraeli as too much a man of the world to count his chickens after they had distinctly failed to be hatched.
