But a great deal of it was carried out by Conservatives who ...

But a great deal of it was carried out by Conservatives who hardly remembered that it had ever been a programme at all. If Lord Salisbury was right, or serious, it would follow that public discussion is of greater consequence than Parliamentary discussion.

In this respect, the England of his prime was better served than it had ever been before.

In arguement, information, and style the higher journalismof the seventies and eighties had reached a remarkable level. First, in order of dignity, were the Liberal Edinburgh and the Conservative Quarterly, and the three new monthlies, the Fortnightly, the Contemporary, and the Nineteenth Century: the squibs and arrows of the Saturday; for Sunday reading the mellow gravity of the Spectator.

In London there were eight dailies of the first political importance, in the provinces perhaps as many more.