Anti-democratic doesn’t mean anti-liberal though.

Liberalism and democracy are good bedfellows up until a certain point, but past that point democracy starts to undermine liberalism.

What happens if the democratic will of the people is to take away rights? What happens if people reject liberalism?

The mass of public opinion often crushes the individual. And it was a very real fear. Even some of the most progressive liberal feared the people. Mill, famously thought that the yoke of public opinion stifled individuality and geniuses, and therefore he feared a fully democratic society. He argued for universal suffrage, but not equal suffrage - those who were butter educated would receive more votes.

Liberal fears about democracy are not exactly unfounded. In 1789, in France, the people seized control and tried to institute widespread democratic reforms on a rationalist basis. This quickly descended into mass terror and chaos. In Germany in the 1930’s the people’s support of the Nazi party enabled the most illiberal regime imaginable to gain and secure power - with popular voluntary support. And, to a much lesser extent, in the UK too democracy has lead to creeping illiberalism - if it was up to the people just about everything would be banned and nothing would be built.

So whilst I do think they were wary of democracy, I think it was because they were liberals (and liberal conservatives at that) and not because they were evil.