ABSTRACT
The lost election of 1868 dispelled the remaining Tory illusions about the Reform Act of the previous year. Derby had, however, taken note of the warning he had received against letting Salisbury become the focus of Tory unrest. Salisbury summed up their discussion for Carnarvon; joining was in prospect: "The more the author look at it, the less the author like it but every other alternative seems worse". The Church and India between them made a statesman of a talented politician. The Church, as a religious entity, had his absolute loyalty: but at the same time he viewed it as a very human institution. It was not only the ritualists whose activities threatened the continued existence of the Establishment: those respected leaders of the High Church, Pusey and Liddon, came close, in Salisbury's judgement, to precipitating the final crisis he dreaded.
