BRITISH CONSERVATISM AND THE PRIMROSE LEAGUE ... - ideals

112
the LGC.
It was a request which presumably was honored since no
further reference was made regarding the matter in either personal
correspondence or the Minutes.
By the following year, there could be little doubt of the
Primrose League's role as messenger for the Conservative party. In
addressing the fourth annual
Grand Habitation in April, 1887, Salisbury
spoke at length regarding what were, for him, the key party issues: the
progress made by the Conservatives, the success of the Unionist
coalition, continued opposition to Home Rule, and the impending Irish
Crimes bill.
He was sufficiently confident concerning the party's
revitalization over the past few years to mock derisively Gladstone's
ill-fated prediction of Liberal victory in the period immediately
preceding the July, 1886 elections and hint of future Conservative
triumphs to come.
He had not forgotten that we were an unorganized body
then. We are an organized body now. (Cheers.) ... We
have now an organization with which no party in any
country would be able to offer any comparison for
refuting the falsehoods and for disseminating the
truth. (Cheers.) I think in his horoscope he counted
without the Primrose League. (Loud cheers.)56
Particularly noteworthy was Salisbury's use of the colloquial
"we."57
it bound him in almost familiar terms with the
extraparliamentary activities of the League.
The speech reflected a
sustained effort on his part to achieve direct contact with
56
The Times, 21 April 1887, p. 8.
57 A mannerism first employed by Salisbury in discussing the
subject of religion at the annual Grand Habitation in May, 1886. The
Morning Post, 20 May 1886, p. 2. The original passage is cited on pp.
122-23 of this chapter.