BRITISH CONSERVATISM AND THE PRIMROSE LEAGUE ... - ideals

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They were proud of him, and no Radical could be half as
proud as they were of him, because he was not ashamed
of the Conservatives. In his old age he had adopted a
policy which had always been theirs, so that no
Conservative in Birmingham would ever vote against Mr.
Bright for what he did in the great crisis last July.
At that time Mr. Bright stood resolutely to his Queen
and stood steadily by the majority of the Empire, but
if he should cease to represent that division in
Parliament, then would be the time for their Toryism to
become militant and declare itself, and return a Con­
servative to represent the Central Division in the
House of Commons. 22
Despite the misgivings occasionally expressed by Conservatives,
every effort was made to maintain Unionist ties.
In speaking to a
gathering of the Ladywood Habitation held in the summer of 1887 at his
residence, Sawyer stressed the permanency of the union.
The Conservatives and the best of the Liberals had come
together on the Irish question, and he did not believe
they would ever separate again and resume their former
position of antagonism, even when their reason for the
present bond had disappeared. 23
In pointing out that the two parties had successfully cooperated in
office for more than a year, he anticipated the eventual emergence of a
single national party, urging Conservatives to do everything in their
power to promote the union.
Nevertheless, tensions continued.
Thus, when the Midland
Conservative Club endorsed Churchill as a Conservative candidate for
the Central Division following Bright's retirement in 1889, Chamberlain
protested.
Churchill was eventually forced to withdraw, but not before
tempers flared on both sides of the Unionist fence.
22
23
Jbid., July, 1887, p. 44.
Ibid., August, 1887, p. 61.