ill in these matters, and dare not lay an
opinion before your Majesty on the probable general result." He thought
there was little chance, if any, of a tory majority in the new parliament.
Opinion taken as a whole seemed to point to a majority not very large,
whichever way it may be.

No election was ever fought more keenly, and never did so many powerful
men fling themselves with livelier activity into a great struggle. The
heaviest and most telling attack came from Mr. Bright, who had up to now
in public been studiously silent. Every word, as they said of Daniel
Webster, seemed to weigh a pound. His arguments were mainly those of his
letter already given, but they were delivered with a gravity and force
that told powerfully upon the large phalanx of doubters all over the
kingdom. On the other side, Mr. Gladstone's plume waved in every part of
the field. He unhorsed an opponent as he flew past on the road; his voice
rang with calls as thrilling as were ever heard in England; he appealed to
the individual, to his personal responsibility, to the best elements in
him, to the sense of justice, to the powers of hope and of sympathy; he
(M126) displayed to the full that rare combination of qualities that had
always enabled him to view affairs in all their range, at the same time
from the high commanding eminence and on the near and sober level.

He left London on June 17 on his way to Edinburgh, and found "wonderful
demonstrations all along the road; many little speeches; could not be
helped." "The feeling here," he wrote from Edinburgh (June 21), "is truly
wonderful, especially when, the detestable state of the press is
considered." Even Mr. Goschen, whom he described as "supplying in the
main, soul, brains, and movement to the dissentient body," was handsomely
beaten in one of the Edinburgh divisions, so fatal was the proximity of
Achilles. "_June 22._ Off to Glasgow, 12-3/4. Meeting at 3. Spoke an hour
and twenty minutes. Off at 5.50. Reached Hawarden at 12.30 or 40. Some
speeches by the way; others I declined. The whole a scene of triumph. God
help us, His poor creatures." At Hawarden, he found chaos in his room, and
he set to work upon it, but he did not linger. On June 25, "off to
Manchester; great meeting in the Free Trade Hall. Strain excessive. Five
miles through the streets to Mr. Agnew's; a wonderful spectacle half the
way." From Manchester he wrote, "I have found the display of enthusiasm
far beyond all former me