pretensions was detected, and there
was no mincing of epithets for the man who had befooled and destroyed a
great party. The Dukes left him to himself, and, according to our
present informant, their flight was the harbinger of reviving fortunes.
The heart of provincial conservatism warmed to its deserted chief. The
patriotic sentiments of the people began to stir. Constitutional
associations sprang up in the large towns. The reaction grew apace when
the party was left face to face with one great man. When in 1874 the
most sanguine prophecies were fulfilled, the Dukes could not have been
more surprised if Moses and the Prophets had dropt from the clouds to
chide their unbelief. They made what amends they could for their former
incivilities. They gathered with prodigious hum about the great man,
overwhelmed him with disinterested plaudits, and settled down
comfortably to the feast which his genius had spread. From that moment,
so we are assured, decay set in. Aristocratic patronage soon paralyzed
the rude energies which had won the victory. The Carlton again began to
pay the bills and pull the strings. Then in due time came the black
night of defeat, when moon and stars disappeared, and Toryism was
plunged into a deeper gulf than ever. The lesson is plain. Roll up your
aristocratic trumpery, and give the party a leader. What it wants is a
man strong enough to pull it out of the slough and set it on its legs
again.

The burden of the manifesto of the Two Conservatives is the want of a
leader, and an exhaustive process of exclusion shows among whom he is
_not_ to be found. The acting chiefs of the party are made to pass in
file before us, as the sons of Jesse passed before the prophet Samuel
when he wished to ascertain which of them was the predestined King of
Israel. Not this man, nor this, nor this, but is there not yet another?
Yes, there was one among the sheepfolds who little wotted of the
greatness in store for him. The David of whom the Conservative Samuels
are in search can pretend perhaps to no such unconsciousness of his
mission. A genius for opposition pushes him to the front and flashes in
speech and print. He is content probably to put up with the leadership
of the Lower House, assured that, with the Conservative commonalty at
his back, his talents will soon win for him a complete ascendancy.
Meanwhile it is proved to demonstration that none of the acting chiefs
are fit for the post. Sir Richard Cross and Mr. W