ers and talents seem to be
much more appreciated by the press and general public, than the
characters and talents of quieter members of the party. I do not
speak of such men as ----, who leave office or otherwise find
occasion to vindicate their independence, and vote against us on
the questions immediately concerned. These men make very little
noise and get very little applause. But there is another and more
popular class of independent liberals who have been represented by
the _Daily News_, and who have been one main cause of the weakness
of the government, though they (generally) and their organ have
rallied to us too late during the election. We have never
recovered from the blow which they helped to strike on the Irish
Education bill.

But more immediately operative causes have determined the
elections. I have no doubt what is the principal. We have been
borne down in a torrent of gin and beer. Next to this has been the
action of the Education Act of 1870, and the subsequent
controversies. Many of the Roman catholics have voted against us
because we are not denominational; and many of the dissenters have
at least abstained from voting because we are. Doubtless there
have been other minor agencies; but these are the chief ones. The
effect must be our early removal from office. For me that will be
a very great change, for I do not intend to assume the general
functions of leader of the opposition, and my great ambition or
design will be to spend the remainder of my days, if it please
God, in tranquillity, and at any rate in freedom from political
strife.

When a short idle attempt was made in the new parliament to raise a debate
upon the date and circumstances of the dissolution, Disraeli used language
rightly called by Mr. Gladstone "generous." "The right honourable
gentleman's friends," he said, "were silent, and I must confess I admire
their taste and feeling. If I had been a follower of a parliamentary chief
as eminent, even if I thought he had erred, I should have been disposed
rather to exhibit sympathy than to offer criticism. I should remember the
great victories which he had fought and won; I should remember his
illustrious career; its continuous success and splendour, not its
accidental or even disastrous mistakes."(308)

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