ABSTRACT
The general election of November/December 1868 returned a large Liberal Commons majority of 110 MPs. In the years that immediately followed, Disraeli’s leadership of the Conservatives was fragile and vulnerable. The responsibility for electoral failure, in the wake of the 1867–1868 Reform Acts, and ineffective opposition to major Liberal reforms was placed at his door, 1871 marking a low point in Conservative morale.
The 1871 pamphlet Shall We Give It Up? was a response to the despondency pervading Conservative circles. Presented as an exchange of letters between a disenchanted Conservative supporter and his long-standing political friend, the Secretary of the ‘Pedlington Constitutional Association’, it discussed the state of Conservative activism. Both correspondents agreed that Disraeli’s leadership was a calamitous failure. Lord Salisbury, Gathorne Hardy, Lord Cairns, and the 15th Earl of Derby were possible replacements. But principles and measures were more important than men. The country could not be consigned to Democracy and the Church robbed of all rights and privileges. Zeal and energy were urgently required.
