In the first speech, Lord Randolph insisted that the alliance
with the Liberal Unionists was still as important as ever, and that the Tories ought to work with them not less cordially, or even more cordially, at the next Election than they did at the last. "So long as we continue to receive from the Liberal Unionists that independent, but still at the same time very loyal- support, which they gave us in the last Session of Parliament, so long, I submit to you, they have a right to the same support, and even to more support than that which they obtained from us in the last Election." That is as emphatic as any Unionist could desire, and though Liberal Unionists will sigh as they find them- selves accepting Lord Randolph's pledges with even a reluctant satisfaction, yet the object of the alliance is so paramount, that they have no right to be fastidious or " nice " about any honest means of securing it. Lord Randolph expressly said that this was a subject to which not only he, but his " colleagues " attached a very high importance.
