[477:2] Proc. Ann. Meeting, 1888, p. 14.
[478:1] Cf. Ostrogorski, "Democracy," I., Part III., Ch. i., Ser. viii.
[484:1] In Liverpool, for example, a Conservative association originally formed in 1832, was replaced in 1848 by a new Constitutional Association upon a broader foundation. Among the objects the latter aimed "To promote by all legal means the Election of Members of Parliament for the Borough who subscribe to, and uphold the principles of the Association. . . . To promote by all legal means the Election of such Candidates for the Town Council as are Members of this Association." It contained at the outset a couple of hundred members; and it had in part a representative character with the wards as a basis, for its affairs were managed by a general committee, composed of thirty members chosen by the association, together with the chairman and secretary of each ward committee ex officio. (Fiftieth Rep. Liverpool Const. Assoc., 1898.)
[485:1] Speech of Mr. Taylor, in the Report of the Conference of the National Union in 1872.
[485:2] Reports of Council at Conferences of the National Union in 1875 and 1876.
[486:1] In his remarks at the Conference in 1880, the Chairman of the Council of the National Union of Conservative Associations said: "It was not at all satisfactory to find that in a number of constituencies gentlemen who practically knew nothing of election matters undertook the management merely as a professional duty in their capacity as lawyers. . . . The Birmingham Radicals had made a point for many years of training a number of men to election work, and of giving them experience by employing them in municipal contests, and he recommended their example to the attention of the meeting." Report of the Conference of 1880.
