The Press. — London, England, 1856-08-02 00:00:00

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D..ty*FEbip • i rl +Lir 1 ....,„... t .„. rt , i •., . r ., , s s ,f,:„.,,,Rifi5,,•:,. •,„,1,1 • • • 0,4,0,10,4: A L :ft A i 8 0 SI f-M-0 :1" 1 17; 1 T I I. ;! , .-i'l in I .P . , , ,i ~f i.llill Ir'LONDON, SATUIIDAY, AUGUST 2, 1856 t u 13462 4?flti , 51 4ifyi Iv seems to be thought necessary to the exist ence of Lord PALKERBTON'S Administration to insist that - blued - parti es no lottger . exist. • We are confidently assured that neither the Conservative party nor the Liberal party pos sesses any vitality, and that the names alone linger, like local terms whieh, have . survived the objects they expressed, to indicate dis tinctions which have ceased ..to have reality. Conservative and Liberal are to be henceforth placed in the same category, of obsolete boun daries as Holborn Bars, and the Standard .in Cornhill: If this assumption be correct, it follows, of course, that political principles are abolished with political parties; for a party is organised for no other purpose thaii to represent, to em body, and to give practical effect to principle. of policy. While principles survive, parties must necessarily survive also. It is at all times mole likely that the organisation of a party will outlast the principle it once repre sented, than that the principle, at regards • vitality and positive effect, can 04110 t the existence of the party. • • j • The Ministerialists accept the consequence of the position they have taken up. They say that political principle is dead, and that a Minister of no principle is the legitimate head of the State, and the representative of the public mind, in a period when no principle exists. Lord PALMERSTON is neither Conser vative, nor Liberal, nor Radical. But he kind of sole glacie in which all shades of poli tical opinion are represented. He is just the wizard necessary to amuse a mixed audience by pouring half a dozen different kinds of wine out of lAA same bottle. • _ _ Whether it-be true as regards the Liberal party that political parties are broken up, it is for the Liberals themselves to inquire and determine. Let them decide whether they. have lost their distinctive principles, and whether they count for anything more at the present time than hani:ers-on of the Govern ment. A party which has been long in power may survive long in decay. The hull drives on when sail and roasters gone. Bit with the loss of that guidingßo*e r which is politics principle alone can' Wupply, the wreck is certain, though the date may be delayed. Our concern is with the Conservative party. Is it in any way true that this party during the last session has exhibited signs of disorgani ution? The question is to be decided by facts. And what are the facts? There was but one division during the past session which ,~. . .. partook of a party character, and that was on the fall of Kars. On that occasion some sixty members of the Conservative party, and among them. several of its most stalwart sup porters—" the best of the best "—abstained from voting. They did not approve of the motion. They could not support their party, but they would not vote against it. The political position was this. A year previously Lord PALMERSTON had accepted office under, no doubt, considerable diffi culties, and after the Conservative Leader had found himself unable to respond to the in vitation of the Crown. The war was brought to a close ; a peace was just concluded, and the practical question for the House of Com mons was, Will you, having approved the general policy of the Administration, now pass an adverse vote on its separate acts? The House decided to take the bad with the good —the abandonment of the Caucasians and the surrenders of Lord Clarendon with Also i st4b mission of Russia and the security of the Turkish territory. It was for the Opposition to criticise the conduct and expose the errors of the Ministry, but it was not to be expected that at that molnent the Legislature would expel them from power. The Opposition desired no such result. It never anticipated a majority; it expressly declared that it'had no wish to displace the Government. :. The time for such change was not come. But, the Opposition did insist on its constitutional right to lay bare all the circumstances of a transaction which had nn questiona y gxalted the military fame of . Russia, W Ile it' 10%440 the reputation of Englandthroughout the countries of Western Asia. That right was vindicated. The division was of no importance in comparison with the debate. There was no other motion of a party cha racter during the session ; but there were several occasions when the two principles of Liberal and Conservative policy—which the lfilturialists assert are dead—were brought into, Ahrect collision. It is a Conservative principle that the here ditary peerage should. be preserved its essen tial to the independence of the House of 'Lords, and to the stability of our mixed Con• stitution. It is a Conservative principle that corporate, Property should be maintained, as b ed on the same rights, and supported by ,pisame considerations of expediency , as pate property. 1 Ifoth these principles were attacked by the action of the Ministry. At a time when we are required to believe that the distinctivell, political principles of Conseriio* and Liberal are dead, those principles were' brought into collision in the most direct and emphatic manner that can be imagined. What would M. de MONTALEMBERT—Who has shown in the most conclusive manner that the destruction of constitutional freedom in France is to be referred to the absence of such an hereoitary aristocracy as England possesses—think of the understanding which would argue • that there was inothing radical ',in an attack on our hereditary peerage, and nothing conservative iu its defence? What would M. de TO:ACE* WILE conceive of the faculty which should - sffge that there is nothing radical in the argu ment that corporate property _ilseft, and milling conservative in the arguwent that coorate property rests on tho same basis l as private property? Why, the most convinc fel r l I ing part Cott,he work, just issued of that inost profound, politiCal philosopher of France is directed t6' Show that the great Revolution became , ar.terrible necessity, through the 44101141€ IdikAts*d u , ..P i egth tion of corporate bodies. In these two instances of contest of prin ciple which party triumphed' How strange that in each case the Conservative principle and Conservative party should have gained the day, though neither, in. the, ; ppinicin of the Mi n isterialists, has any virtus s Tlexistence ! In two acted Motion! the Bal Church. ciplo, Ia the Is the institution? occasions tho Liberal f ated 'against and he ws a defeati,,f from confusion, only trough Conservative parks. I !TT it P inn' fT tr. :.. It is foreign to our purpose to i nquire whether in those motions the Liberal party was sincere, or whether it acted merely to sustain its credit when it shall next have to appear on the hustings. If it were sincere., it surely did not adopt the right course to give effect to its principles. Suppose that the party desired the establishment of these prin ciples more than the retention of office, is it not reasonable that they would have put some gentle compplis)99 on / Premier and the ii: Government ottiboecit!k 'lOllO vote wits him ? Had they said 66 fo r P.4.4lq.sToti, 'We " cannot compel you,to vote 'with us ; but we " warn you that if t iyOtt 4,0 2 not,. we may, not " think it necessary to come. to /our 'rescue " when you.are threatened froM i llitip . ether side " of the house," they would. have shown the sincerity of their convictions, and have com pelled the Government to adopt one. course of policy or the other.r 1 But whether the Liberals we r e or were 103* earnest in their motions, the Conservatives were earnest in resisting them, and In hoili 'easels the Con servative principle won the ietei.y. () .. ~ t , Yet, further, on two occadilleinintie the Go vernment seriously menaced i with defeat and overthrow. Mr. .I„,,ows's Shipping Bill sup plied one occe.iibti;''the dispute with America supplied the other. Previous to the time when a decision intist be taken on each ques tion, the Conservatives declared what their course would be. , They would not consent to the confiscation of 'corporate . property ;ley would not consent to support the Govern nt in a quarrel with the United States, founded on Lord CLARENDON'S assertion that no . pro ceedings had taken place under the Foreign Enlistment Act furnishing just, ground for complaint. The Government in each case wavered to the last. They watched the atti tude of the Conservative party; and when they saw that attitude firm, they in each Cade gave way. e . '4,2, is •beo. 1 _ The Ministerial writers are' 'finet eager to laud the prudence of the Government in not retaliating the dismissal of Mr. Casirrros ' yet up to the day when i cision was announced, fluential organs of the daily press insisted that dismissed. What caused .wo other iustancel. the . Liberal party independently of i We Government. as were made for Oe' 44$01ishtnent of illot and the destruction of th - e Irish h. Was. ttirie, ii i pigti'de po li tical, prin- nothing distinctive' 4 n.paese motions ? ballot a Liberal or Cohiervative theory? Irish Church a Conservative or Liberal ttion? On both occasions the bulk of .beral party voted against theii.RpteMier, e was saved from defeat, and the empire ..nnfusion. only through the votes of the the ,Governme . d Vie' three m+; .- 6 dovernment ji • - Mr. DALLAS u , t '' a '' s • . the change . At ...... •-. N I s .ti 1 6 .4 ••(•> . b j \\........... . so . _ai•