ABSTRACT
Elected Lord Rector of Glasgow University two years earlier, in November 1873 Disraeli visited Glasgow. On 19 November, he attended his installation as Lord Rector, held at the Kibble Crystal Palace in the Botanical Gardens, a large circular glass building capable of holding an audience of 4,000. Before the ceremony, the large number of students attending sang snatches of patriotic songs, indulging in repeated rounds of applause for their favourites. Disraeli’s entrance was hailed with loud and enthusiastic applause. Throughout his Address and at its close Disraeli was keenly cheered. At a Banquet given to him by the City that evening in City-hall, the Lord Provost introduced Disraeli as a man of genius and brilliant talents. The next day Disraeli, again at the City-hall, received the Freedom of the City. On 22 November, he spoke to a meeting of the Conservative Association of Glasgow and at 5 o’clock the next afternoon he received at Maclean’s Hotel a deputation of operatives, the Short Time Committee, campaigning for the Nine Hours’ Factory bill. Prior to leaving Glasgow on 24 November, Disraeli launched a new steamship, the Beta, for service with the Cunard Company carrying the Royal Mail from Britain to Halifax, Bermuda and St Thomas. It was reported that an immense crowd of workers in the shipyard enthusiastically cheered him.
The most politically partisan speech Disraeli gave at Glasgow was to the Conservative Association. He asked why, in their own estimation, the Liberal government, distinguished by its self-proclaimed talent and success in passing measures of immense magnitude, was, by their own admission, unpopular? The reason, Disraeli answered, was that the Liberal ministry had harassed trades and worried professions, attacked every class and institution, introduced legislation for Ireland that had caused veiled rebellion, pursued an urge for yet further parliamentary Reform, and allowed relations between capital and labour to sour. This relentless and restless Liberal exertion, moreover, have been pursued against the background across Europe of a fundamental contest between spiritual truths, moral certainties, and temporal power. The anxiety, uncertainty, and agitation created by Liberal restlessness denying that deeper yearning for stability and calm desired by the British people.
