On Monday another great deputation from Conservative asso- ciations of
working men was received by Mr. Disraeli, at which the proceedings were very enthusiastic, and the Chancellor of the Eschews was stated by the reporters to have " caught some of the enthusiasm." It was at this deputation that he charged Mr. Gladstone so pointedly with having thrown up last year's Bill in pique, "and pique, gentlemen, means self-consciousness of incom- petence." Interpreted in that sense, Mr. Disraeli is certainly not often guilty of "self-consciousness of incompetence." But for his colleagues, there is no defeat he would not accept cheerfully. Again Mr. Disraeli spoke of appeal to the country, and closed with, "Let not the appeal be made to you in vain. If it is suc- cessful, you will do much more than support a Ministry,—you will save a country." That is, no doubt, what the reporter mildly pointed at, in his remark that Mr. Disraeli "occasionally seems to ,catch something of the enthusiasm of his audience." Something? Surely in this case he clean outstripped it. Even the working men did not think Mr. Disraeli's Bill likely to "save the country."
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