[B] The Tory Party had by this time adopted the title of Conservatives, a term first applied to them by Wilson Croker in the Quarterly Review for January 1830, wherein he mentions his attachment to “what is called the Tory, but which might, with more propriety, be called the Conservative Party.” The Charter of Conservatism was never more clearly defined than by Sir Robert Peel, who, speaking at Merchant Taylors’ Hall in 1838, said: “My object for some years past has been to lay the foundations of a great party which, existing in the House of Commons, and deriving its strength from the popular will, should diminish the risk and deaden the shock of collisions between the two branches of the legislature.”
[C] During eight months of 1839 wheat was upwards of 70s. a quarter. Last year (1896) it was 24s.
[D] Daniel O’Connell’s parody referring to Colonel Sibthorp, who was Member for Lincoln, and two other Colonels in Parliament, is too witty to be forgotten:—
“Three Colonels in three distant counties born,
Sligo, Armagh, and Lincoln did adorn,
The first in matchless impudence surpassed
The next in bigotry—in both, the last.
The force of nature could no further go:
To beard the third, she shaved the other two.”
Colonel Sibthorp was distinguished, in days when shaven chins were all but universal, by an immense beard and moustache.