THE COUNTY CONTEST. 23 



cote at a later date. The late Mr. J. W. Henley, the 

 member for Oxfordshire, may fairly be considered the 

 reviver, if not the author, of household suffrage. In 

 allusion to lowering the household franchise to an eight- 

 pound or six pound rental, he said, " You had better 

 give household suffrage at once, or some day there will 

 be an ugly rusk to get over the boundary." 



With far-seeing policy, Mr. Disraeli followed Mr. 

 Henley's advice ; and, although Lord Derby said it 

 was a ** leap in the dark," the result has proved what 

 Mr. Disraeli has often said to me, that there is an under- 

 current of thorouG^h conservatism amon^fst the lower 

 strata of the nation, and that " Tory principles are 

 nothing unless popular." 



The County contest was between the Marquis of 

 Chandos, only son of the Duke of Buckingham, who 

 was known throughout England as " the Farmers' 

 Friend," on the Tory side ; and John Smith, the uncle of 

 the late Lord Carrington, who was then the Hon. Robert 

 Smith, and had resigned his seat for the county to 

 represent his pocket-borough of High Wycombe, on the 

 Reform side, with Pascce Grcnfell as his partner. The 

 Marquis was returned at the head of the poll, polling 

 more plumpers than Smith did votes ; if another Tory 

 had been started, the Smith family would have lost the 

 county seat. The bands of music playing all day and a 

 great part of the night ; the blaze of many huge flags 

 and banners ; the rosettes of the supporters of the 

 various candidates — the green of Lord Chandos, the 

 orange and blue of Smith, the crimson of Mr. Grcnfell, 

 with the Borough colours (purple and white) of Rickford, 



