"Sir,
"As you have established yourself as the champion of your father, I have the honour to request your notice to a very scurrilous attack which your father has made upon my conduct and character.
"Had Mr. O'Connell, according to the practice observed among gentlemen, appealed to me respecting the accuracy of the reported expressions, before he indulged in offensive comments upon them, he would, if he can be influenced by a sense of justice, have felt that such comments were unnecessary. He has not thought fit to do so, and he leaves me no alternative but to request that you, his son, will resume your vicarious duties of yielding satisfaction for the insults which your father has too long lavished with impunity upon his political opponents.
"I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient servant,
"D'Israeli.
"Morgan O'Connell, Esq., M.P."
To this the younger O'Connell replied—
"9, Clarges Street, Tuesday, May 5.
"Sir,
"I have this day received a letter from you, stating that a scurrilous attack has been made upon you by my father, without giving me any information as to the expressions complained of, or when or where they were used, and which I now hear of for the first time.
"I deny your right to call upon me in the present instance, and I am not answerable for what my father may say. I called on Lord Alvanley for satisfaction, because I conceived he had purposely insulted my father, by calling a meeting at Brookes's for the purpose of expelling him from the club, he being at the time absent in Ireland.