Note 53 — Chapter XVIII · GOVERNMENT UNDER DIFFICULTIES.

Sir William Stirling Maxwell was a representative of the most popular phase of Toryism, and in a special sense reflected the mind of his party in hankering after Lord Derby as a leader. Writing to Mr. Hayward in September, 1872, he says of Lord Derby:—“I know no man whose daily talk reflects more constantly the good sense and fairness of his speeches. It is some consolation to those who still believe that Conservatism may have some backbone left to have a prospective leader with so much ballast in his character.” The Conservatives did not trust Mr. Disraeli’s Conservatism even in 1873, just because they suspected it lacked backbone and ballast.