It was in this debate, and immediately after Peel had spoken, that
Benjamin Disraeli made his first great impression on Parliament. He had
been in the House for many years, and had made many attempts, had
sometimes been laughed at, had sometimes been disliked, and occasionally
for a moment admired. But it was when he rose immediately after Sir
Robert Peel, and denounced Peel as one who had betrayed his party and
his principles, that he made the first deep impression on the House of
Commons, and came to be considered as a serious and influential
Parliamentary personage. "I am not one of the converts," Disraeli said,
"I am perhaps a member of a fallen party." A new Protection party was
formed almost immediately under the leadership of George Lord Bentinck,
a man of great energy and tenacity of purpose, who had hitherto spent
his life almost altogether on the turf, who had had almost no previous
preparation for leadership or even for debate, but who certainly, when
he did accept the responsible position offered to him, showed a
considerable capacity for leadership and an unwearying attention to his
duties.
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