Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable/Side of the Angels
Side of the Angels. Punch, Dec. 10, 1864, contains a cartoon of Disraeli, dressing for an Oxford bal masqué, as an angel, and underneath the cartoon are these words— 1
"The question is, is man an ape or an angel? I am on the side of the angels."—Disraeli's Oxford Speech, Friday, Nov. 25 (1864).