His situation was now changed. So far he had remained the Tory Radical which he had first professed himself. He had his own views, and he had freely enunciated them, whether they were practical or only theoretic. No doubt he had thought that use might have been made of the reaction of 1841 to show the working men of England that the Tories were their real friends. He knew that the gulf which was dividing the rich from the poor was a danger to the Constitution. But, instead of far-reaching social legislation, Parliament had decided for the immediate relief of cheap bread. The country was committed to _laissez-faire_ and liberty, and no reversion to earlier principles was now possible until _laissez-faire_ had been tried out and the consequences of it tasted and digested. As an outsider he would have been still free to express his own opinions; as the leader of a party he had now to consider the disposition of his followers and the practical exigencies of the situation. All that was for the present possible was to moderate the pace of what was called Progress, keep the break upon the wheels, and prevent an overturn in the descent of the incline. In the life of nations the periods of change are brief; the normal condition of things is permanence and stability. The bottom would be reached at last, and the appetite for innovation would be satiated. CHAPTER X Disraeli as Leader of the Opposition--Effects of Free Trade--Scientific discoveries--Steam--Railroads--Commercial revolution--Unexampled prosperity--Twenty-five years of Liberal government--Disraeli's opinions and general attitude--Party government and the conditions of it--Power of an Opposition Leader--Never abused by Disraeli for party interests--Special instances--The _coup d'état_--The Crimean War--The Indian Mutiny--The Civil War in America--Remarkable warning against playing with the Constitution. [Sidenote: DISRAELI THE CONSERVATIVE LEADER]