Conservative, and to go into the House of Commons under that
denomination. All the men among whom he lived were Conservatives.
It was a matter on which, as he thought, his father could have no
right to command him. Down in Barsetshire, as well as up in
London, there was some little difference of opinion in this
matter. The people of Silverbridge declared that they would prefer
to have a conservative member, as indeed they had had one for the
last session. They had loyally returned the Duke himself while he
was a commoner, but they had returned him as being part and parcel
of the Omnium appendages. That was all over now. As a constituency
they were not endowed with advanced views, and thought that a
Conservative would suit them best. That being so, and as they had
been told that the Duke's son was a Conservative, they fancied
that by electing him they would be pleasing everybody. But, in
truth, by so doing they would by no means please the Duke. He had
told them on previous occasions that they might elect whom they
pleased, and felt no anger because they had elected a
Conservative. They might send up to Parliament the most
antediluvian old Tory they could find in England if they wished,
on not his son, not a Palliser as a Tory or Conservative. And
then, though the little town had gone back in the ways of the
world, the county, or the Duke's division of the county, had made
so much progress, that a Liberal candidate recommended by him
would almost certainly be returned. It was just the occasion on
which a Palliser should show himself ready to serve his country.
There would be an expense, but he would think nothing of expense
in such a matter. Ten thousand pounds spent on such an object
would not vex him. The very contest would have given him new life.
All this Lord Silverbridge understood, but had said to himself and
to all his friends that it was a matter in which he did not intend