116 The Nineteenth Century (iS/j - 1914)

underlines Peel's negative attitude to party (a phenomenon
sufficiently manifest in his day) and the influence of professional
politicians.718 The echoes of Peel's sudden fall, which long
reverberated through politics, are tracked by Conacher.719 The
structure and tenets of Disraeli's tory party have been analysed
twice: Smith finds no evidence for a serious concern with re-
form, but Feuchtwanger thinks that claims made at elections
had a better foundation.'20 The latter also contributes usefully
to our understanding of the new organization of the party
demanded by the consequences of the second reform act.721
Much of the not-too-much that was done was the work of
Randolph Churchill's dynamism and his belief in democratic
'participation'.722 Comford offers a solid discussion of the im-
portant fact that in the last quarter of the century conservatism
and the conservative party were virtually rebuilt from the
ground up under the pressure of new political circumstances;723
more conventionally, he also shows how the long Cecil ascend-
ancy rested on the fluctuations of management in the house
of commons*724

Liberalism has attracted more historians by its decline (to
be considered in the next section) than its rise; for some reason,
It has always been easier to look at the liberals out of office

718 Norman Gash, 'Peel and the party system*, TRHS (1951), 47-69;
*F. R. Bonham, conservative "political secretary", 1832 - 1847',
EHR 63 (1948), 502-22.

719 James B. Conacher,'Peeland the Peelites', EHR 73 (1958), 431-52.

720 Paul Smith, Disraelian Conservatism and Social Reform* L: Routledge:
1967. Pp. x, 358. Rev: EHR 84, sgSff.; HJ u, 594^; JMH 41,
2458*. - E. J. Feuchtwanger, Disraeli, Democracy and the Tory Party.
O: Clarendon: 1968. Pp. xiv, 268. Rev: HJ 12, 578*".

711 E. J. Feuchtwanger, *J. E. Gorst and the central organization of
the conservative party, 1870- 1882*, BIHR 37 (1959), 192-208;
'The conservative party under the impact of the second reform
act', VS* (1958-9), 289-304.

721 Francis H. Herrick, *Lord Randolph Churchill and the popular
organization of the conservative party', Pacific History Review 15
(1946), 178-91.

723 James P» Comford, 'The transformation of conservatism in the
late nineteenth century*, VS 7 (1963-4), 35-66.

7 ** James P, Comford, 'The parliamentary foundations of the Hotel
CeciF, Ktism Clark Ft (n. 137), 268-311.