[70] At that time, under the full spell of the analogy which the age of Walpole presented, he believed that triennial parliaments and the ballot might redress the balance of constitutional power and foil the oligarchs who had baffled the people by espousing a popular cry. In 1852, however, he said, with regard to those proposals brought forward by Mr. Hume: “... He did not object to them, but he saw no necessity to adopt them. His objections to the latter were distinctly founded on the limits of the franchise which the settlement of 1832 had not sufficiently extended, but ... if they had universal suffrage they came to a new constitution--a constitution commonly called the ‘Sovereignty of the People,’ but that is not the Constitution of England; for, wisely modified as that monarchy may be, the Constitution of England is the sovereignty of Queen Victoria.” [71] _Cf._ speech, May 18, 1871. The Whigs, who in 1843 called it “a fungus of monopoly,” worked and upheld it afterwards as “Liberals.” Now that a democracy and an Empire are being “run” at the same time, its permanence, for many years questioned, seems assured. [72] This preluded the “Lodger franchise,” of which, in 1867, Disraeli said he had been “the father” (_cf._ p. 108). [73] _Cf._ p. 109. [74] This once more is emphasised by De Tocqueville as the essence of centralisation. [75] _Cf._ Morley’s “Gladstone,” vol. i. p. 262. [76] _Cf._ the passage from _The Press_, cited _ante_, p. 7 note, and _post_ at opening of Chapter VI. [77] Bishop Latimer--quoted as motto to _Sybil_. [78] Book iv. ch. iv.: “... To be a noble Master among noble Workers will again be the first ambition with some few; to be a rich Master only the second.” [79] “Sidonia” stands for several types in addition to Disraeli’s own. “Oswald Millbank” is in part painted from the young Gladstone. Most of the other characters in _Coningsby_ are familiarly ascribed to their originals. [80] This phrase he twice repeats; the first time in that fine speech at the Manchester Athenæum (1844), on the “Acquirement of Knowledge,” which expressed his undying sympathy with the ideals, perplexities, and possibilities of youth. [81] This was the speech in which he said that Gladstone founded “a great measure on a small precedent. He traces the steam-engine always back to the tea-kettle.”