Mr. Darby Griffith elicited an amusing reply from Mr. Disraeli,
by asking him, before the debate yesterday week, whether he in- tended to advise the Crown to confer a title of dignity on one of the Members for Thetford, and whether that honour was due to any arrangement with the Government as to the representation of that borough. Mr. Disraeli replied that Mr. Darby Griffith's' questions were scarcely within the limits of either social or politi- cal etiquette, that he had asked similar questions before, and that hence it had occurred to him (Mr. Disraeli) that some one had been in the habit of practising on " his frank intelligence ;" Mr. Disraeli had next imagined that possibly Mr. Darby Griffith might really be the instrument of bringing before the Govern- ment the claims of some particular friend ; or, finally, he conceived that possibly Mr. Darby Griffith intended to in- dicate by these reiterated questions who would be the most suitable person for a baronetcy if the Government wished to confer one at all. As to the answer :—One of the Members for Thetford is the Lord Advocate very lately returned, and Mr. Disraeli assured Mr. Darby Griffith that he had not induced the Lord Advocate to stand for Thetford by promising him a baronetcy. The other Member for Thetford, Mr. R. J. H. Harvey, had also not applied for a baronetcy (indeed, though a Conservative, he deserted his party, and voted for Lord Russell's Reform Bill in 1866), so that Mr. Disraeli having received no application, direct or indirect, from either Member for Thetford, it had not occurred to him to consider what he ought to advise the Crown in so imagi- nary a case;--and Mr. R. J. H. Harvey will be Sir R. Harvey yet !
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