Two difficulties indeed there were. One was the House of Lords and ...

Two difficulties indeed there were.

One was the House of Lords and its incurable Conservatism, which sooner or later, and some-times very soon indeed, assimilated even the Liberals who entered it.

The other was the absence of any clear and definite object on which opinion could be excited.

Between the Repeal of the Corn Laws and Home Rule, no domestic issue came before the public on which a powerful agitation could be founded and sustained: and the aspiring agitator was baffled not by any apathy of the public so much as by the distraction of its interests.