The Press. — London, England, 1856-10-11 00:00:00

t rt,6l _ ..0 LONDON SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1856. STA.MPED SIXPENCE. UNSTAMPED-FIVEPENCE. No. 180.—VoL.IV. Et dress. LONDON, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 185(1. IN all the varied concerns of life, Privileges suppose Duties. The instincts of mankind affirm this principle ; and it is more true of political privileges, which are in the nature of a trust to be used for the benefit of the public, than of privileges of a more private character. If the duty be• forgotten, the privilege itself is commonly lost. It may rot by some slow process of decay, or it may be extinguished by some sudden outburst of violence ; but in either case its vital strength must have been undermined through want of that activity essential to the maintenance of vigour. Ex ercise is a law of healthy life. The limb that reposes on a cushion wastes away ; the water that is unstirred becomes stagnant ; the air too long unvisited by gales becomes loaded with noximis vapouro, and hots its health giving properties changed to agencies of pesti lence and death. There can be no security for good govern ment in a free nation, save in the interest which the people take in their politics. If they neglect their duties, their privileges are not only valueless to themselves, but positively pernicious to the State. In Governments of another form, where power is lodged in few hands, special individuals or classes are in structed in the business of administration, and have a particular interest in seeing that it is efficiently conducted. No such security exists in a free country, where the people themselves—the prime de positaries of power—are indifferent to the conduct of affairs. The complicated machinery of freedom becomes then an instrument for the diffusion of corruption, and that very latitude of speech and action which is allowed, only serves to legitimatise the pur chase of restless spirits and unscrupulous tongues. It was thought a bold thing for the Roman tyrant to make his horse a consul. Had the act been referred to a more remote period of antiquity, we should have supposed it a myth to indicate how a people may be de graded by an imitation of the forms of free dom when the substance has been lost. Of all Governments, those are the least to be desired where " management " is the first con dition of success, and where the interest in politics is kept alive only by the efforts of individuals to turn them to commercial ad vantage. Ireland before the Union showed how essential was noisy patriotism to the full development of Government corruption. Is England in our day to he inoculated with the virus of the old Irish policy? It is to Party, and Party alone, that we must look for the correction of those tendencies which, in highly civilised and commercial communities, make men indifferent to politics, and degrade them into a sordid pursuit. By the generous rivalry of great parties, politics are raised to the honourable position they should fill in a free country, and the most eminent minds of the community are engaged to take part in their discussion. Large social questions, if sometimes treated with party heat, are at least brought down from the region of abstract speculation, and invested with im mediate and vital interest. The worth of principles is acknowledged, and the very source of corruption is stopped, when parties, held together by honourable ties, contend pot for individual objects, but for the triumph of a common cause. If we destroy Party Government, or if we regard it with such indifference as must lead to its dissolution in effect, what have we to substitute in its place? We have shown that independence in politics, even when it is more than a cloak for cupidity, must be totally in effective either to impose a check on the Go vernment of the day, or to maintain the inte grity of principles. It never can make head against that patronage which the Administri tion has at its disposal, and which circum stances are tending continually to increase It never can assure the freedom of [the Sove reign by exhibiting a party sufficiently power ful in numbers and in reilutation to assume the reins of Government, should an attempt be made to hold the Throne in thraldom. It never can form a barrier to democratic en croachment, should the Minister of the time conceive that his easiest way to disarm popu lar clamour is by ronocssion. As little can be hoped from the public opinion represented by the newspaper press. Without Party that press sinks in real influ ence, because it must feel that no opposition to the Government cau be effectual, or that opposition can at best lead only to such paltry shifting of places as we have lately witnessed. When the action of parties is vigorous, the press, by expounding their sentiments, exer cises real political influence over the minds of readers ; but what influence can it have, should its opposition on one side be known to be hopeless, and should its support on the other be notoriously the effect of what is termed " inspiration" front the Government offices? The absence of exciting political questions does not obviate the necessity of Party Organisation. It is at such times that poli tical connection and fidelity to party engage ments must stand in the place of strong poli tical feeling. The allegiance owned by reason to a principle is more permanent than the obedience paid by passion to a sentiment. Party Organisation should be maintained in periods of political quietude for the same reason that armies and fleets are maintained in times of peace. It affords security against sudden attack, and keeps a force in existence to insure the safety of its cause. The political situation at this moment is in some respects peculiar. The Liberal con nection has resigned itself to the direction of a chief who, having little reliance on the fealty of his followers, not unnaturally endeavours to disarm the hostility of his opponents. But meanwhile he is pressed from behind. He uses his Liberal supporters, and is used by them. He keeps himself in power by their aid, but they compel him to exercise the government for their benefit, to strengthen their hands, and, while their principles remain in abey ance, to promote the adherents of their prin ciples to the highest places in the State. They conceive, perhaps, that they can afford to wait for the attainment of ulterior objects while they are establishing a connection too powerful to be resisted hereafter. Hypocrites in what relates to the present, they are seers as regards the future. Our object in these articles is a very humble one. It islto insist on no more than this— that men invested with political privileges, of whatever kind they be, have political duties to fulfil. Those duties can never be waived. They are plain and practical. They demand firmness of purpose, and decision of action. I They are, in realty, abandoned, when not exercised with some clear and definite object. To favour division in Party is to do more than to nullify influence ; it is to throw weight into the opposite scale. It is emphatically true in politics, that he who is not with us is against us. This was shown lately, when the seceders from the Conservative party threw all their weight into the Whig scale, and overthrew the fairest chance which has existed for the last twenty-five years of a truly Conservative Government. Is it possible for the Con servative body not to see how dearly this blunder has been paid for? It is pre cisely by such kinds of division that the strength of that Party on whose unity depends the security of the Constitution and the stability of the State, has been broken up. The unhappy waverera who are too feeble cr too crotchetty to attach themselves to either Party in the State, see the balance which they hoped to preserve torn from their hands, and themselves reduced to political impotence. They begin by assisting to depress the Party which they regard with sympathy, and end by flying from the Party which they regard with fear. They lose by their vacillation all power of saving the one, or controlling the other. The ascendancy of Lord PALMERSTON over the Liberal party is but an accident. In spite of his mock Conservatism, the party has its way, and is collecting itself for the time when it may propound its own policy. Unless the country is prepared to discard politics altoge ther, honest men must frankly make up their minds to which side they will attach themselves. Any third Party at the present time must be contemptible in itself, but may be dangerous in its consequences. Like the " independent" men on the Ministerial benches, it will expose itself for sale to the best, we should say the wealthiest, bidder. Honest men must declare themselves to be Liberals or Conservatives, and must faithfully abide by the fortunes of the Party they choose. THE NEW BISHOP OF LONDON. THERE are two positive qualifications which we think we shall not be considered extrava gant in asserting to be indispensable for the fitting discharge of episcopal duties. They are, considerable experience, and considerable learning. A bishop is the rector of a more ex tensive parish, the shepherd of a more nume rous flock. He has, of course, special attri butes besides, but practically his position de mands the daily exercise of those qualities which constitute the excellence of a parish priest. Enlarged sympathies, knowledge of character, and an ada j aspects under which ' itself, are qualities in cese ought to be di hardly be acquired college, or in the / If it is no longer at): commentary on a Cr stepping-stone to daptability to the varying la human nature presuilbilp a which no head of a dick -• deficient, and which ova;' tzi l within the walls of a . ;, seclusion of a cathedral. - CO bsolutely necessary' , that a ; ;reek play .should for it • • tb" Episcopal:lA*o, ' • •