Conservatives

in English politics, a name applied to one of the opposing political parties. It was a new name for an old party. It was applied to the Tories in an article by J.W. Croker in the Quarterly Review for January, 1830. Macaulay, writing for the Edinburgh Review in 1832, calls the name a "new cant word." During the Reform Bill controversies the Tories won the new name of Conservatives fairly by the stubbornness with which they resisted change. Queen Victoria herself was in private a Conservative. The Conservatives made her Empress of India. Among the Conservative leaders were Peel, Derby, Disraeli, Salisbury, and Balfour, each of whom led one or more administrations. Of the Conservative ministries, that led by Disraeli was notable. By carrying out a brilliant foreign policy, he held a Conservative majority together in the House of Commons for six years, 1874-1880.