Lord Salisbury in his answer to the same deputation made
one memorable comment on party discipline. Lord Melbourne, he said, "used to define a supporter as a man who would support him when he was wrong." He did not ask for so stringent a definition. But he did ask his party supporters to trust its leaders when they did not understand them, and to believe that the event would justify their confidence. And no doubt that is just the sort of supporters the Conservative leaders just now need most. In fact, Lord Salisbury might have recommended to the local agents of these Conservative Associations Mrs. Gamp's great motto, "I gives no trust myself, but puts a great deal elsewhere," as an excellent one for the guidance, respectively, of their local concerns, and their general attitude of political feeling.
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