The Press.
London, England, 1857-08-29 00:00:00

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No. 226.—V0L.V.

LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 29, 1857. STAMPED . . SIXPENCE.
UNSTAMPE.D...FIVEPENCE.

that he disapproves of ecclesiastical institu-
tions. On the other hand, if we turn to his
foreign policy, we find complete and cordial
alliance with Austria and a sincere alliance
with France, a disposition to renew negotia-
tions with the Court of Naples, a conciliatory
policy towards America, Spain, and the Italian
States, and the utter negation of all those
principles of Liberal propagandism which
promoted revolutionary ideas and kept the
Continent in perpetual disquietude. This
may be a policy somewhat repugnant to cer-
tain uolitical propagandists, but it is extremely
gratifying to find the Liberal party uniting in
the support of such principles.
At the same time we should like some
explanation of the ground upon which the
Liberal party support the Government of Lord.
PALMERSTON. Do they see in the composition
of the Cabinet an assurance of the sound
application of those Liberal principles they so
conscientiously consider essential to the ad-
vancement of their own interests ? Is it
because their eminent leader, Tory by senti-
ment, though Liberal by connection,

above three :uc sufficient to vindicate our
claim for vitality, and something more, for her
Majesty's Opposition. It has not slumbered
at its post, but, vigilant, energetic, and fear-
less, has acted up to its high calling and its
important duties.
But it is said, on the other hand, that
the Conservative party is disorganised
because the individual opinions of its members
are not unanimous upon measures which have
been carried and cannot be reversed, or upon
open questions which in all probability will
never be discussed. Such a charge bears
absurdity upon its face. We are not aware
that the precise extent to which members of
a great political party should act together in
strict concert has ever yet been rigidly
defined ; but we apprehend that it would not
only be impolitic, but impossible, to attempt
to restrain the individual opinions of members
of a party upon the thousand questions which,
in a complicated state of society, must
arise, and to provide for which no settlement
or arrangement on definite principles can by
any possibility be pro posed. The question is
rather, not whether a great party agree upon
every legislative question brought before
Parliament, but whether they differ upon
important practical questions of foreign, finan-
cial, or domestic policy? Whether, in point of
fact, they are unanimous in the defence and
'application of those principles and the prose-
cution of those measures which they hold to
be essential to the well-being of the coun try,
or whether they change their principles with
their position, and frame their policy, not upon
their traditions, but upon the effect of oppor-
tunities or necessities operating under parti
cular circumstances?
In judging of the vitality or conduct of a
political party these are the points we main-
tain which must be kept in view ; and, as the
Liberals are not very sparing of their assertions
to show that the Conservative party is politi-
cally defunct, it may be as well, perhaps, if we
push the investigation a little further, and
endeavour to ascertain what is the position
of the great Liberal party.
By whom are Liberal opinions repre-
sented in the House ? Not by the Govern-
ment. To understand the principles guiding
a Government, we must look to the individual
placed at its head. The policy of Lord PAL-
MERSTON (from the day of his accession to
power), both in its foreign and dome stic
phases, has been eminently Cons ervative.
The principles of domestic policy which the
Noble Lord has generally professed are the
reformation of abuses, and the preservation of
august and venerable institutions. He is not
opposed to the influence of property upon the
exercise of the franchise, nor to the influence
of land u pon the representative system. As
an Englishman, he glori es in the " traditions"
of his country ; and it is not to he supposed

itte brass.

LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 29, 1837.

THE absence of organisation in the Conserva-
tive party is a favourite topic of the Liberal

journals. The assertion in general is too
trifling to be confuted. It is a mere assertion,
for that in truth is felt to be the shortest way
to dispose of a very awkward question A state-
ment of facts might be contradicted, but the
Liberal journals are not given to facts ;
reasons might he refuted, but they do not
reason. They assert, and by the repetition of
such cant as " a disorganised opposition,' " an
ineffective opposition," or " a feeble opposition,
without principle or policy," remind us of the
Marquis in the Critique de r Ecole des Femmes,
who excelled in that species of argumentative
dexterity—"Tarte a la creme—morbleu tarte a
la crème ! " " He Bien que veux to dire, tarts
la creme?" " Parbleu, tarte a la creme,
Chevalier ! " "Mais encore." " Tarte a la
creme." " Dites nous un peu tes raisons."
" Tarte a la creme." " Mais it faut expliquer
to pensee, ce me semble." " Tarte it la creme."
" Que trouvez-vous la a redire ? " " Hien—
torte a la creme! " In a very similar strain do
the professional slanderers of the Conserva-
tive party indulge in their fay° urite phrases.
Occasionally, however, a more able and re-
spectable opponent will endeavour to give a
distinct and substantive shapo to these allega-
tions ; and on Monday last a morning con-
temporary, usually conducted with consi-
derable ability, in summing up the deficien-
cies of Lord PALMERSTON'S Government, attri.
buted the legislative omissions of the session
to the " absence of party cohesion or unity
" in the Opposition."
Well, let us take the three principal measures
of the session—the Divorce Bill, the Ballot, and
the Civil Ser'rice Superannuation. No one,
we presume, will deny that the influence of
the Opposition was such with respect to
the Divorce Bill as to modify, expunge, and
improve several of its most important
clauses. Upon the question of the Bal-
lot the effective control of the Conser-
vative Opposition was surely sufficiently
felt by the democratic section of the
Liberal party; while in the defeat of the Go-
vernment upon Lord NAAS'S Superannuation
Bill the organisation of th at Opposition
which could propose, sustain, and carry
such a measure in the very teeth of the Minis-
ters can neither be doubted nor denied.
We might revert to minor occasions, when
the force of the Opposition has been felt in
the questions before Parliament ; but the

At whose soft notl the streams of honour flow,
Whose smiles all place and patronage bestow,
avows principles and is favourable to measures
utterly dissonant from their own, that their
support is so freely accorded him?
If this fact prove nothing more, it incontesta-
bly shows, not, surely, that the Conservative
parts, or Conservative influence, or Conserva-
tive principle is defunct, but rather that the
traditions of the once great Liberal party are
kept in abe:.:nee, while not a trace of dis-
tinctive principle is to he found among its
supporters. Let our contemporary take heart :
the Conservative Opposition is neither dis-
organised nor extinct; it is in the enjoyment of
a vigorous vitality, and it is because that
vitality is patent that ultra-Liberal measures
are neither initiated nor supported, but always
opposed, by Lord PALMERSTON.
•

- -
It may be the creed of the Liberal party to
regulate their conduct by that of the Cabinet.
If that be so —we envy the plastic and
accommodating nature of that party which
in its unqualified submission to a species
of political slavery acknowledges the in-
fluence, not of conviction, but of example, and,
consenting to divest itself of all recollection of
its principles, has tl e. boldness to believe that
it is acting honestly, that it is pursuing a
course at once manly, creditable, and con-
sistent, a course entitled to the admiration
of its supporters, and to the respect and
praise of the country.
We hold little in common with Liberal
principles, but we confess to a laudable anxiety
to see the character of party-men and of the
great parties in the House worthily upheld.
We frankly confess that we have no wish to
see a Liberal party in power; yet we regret to
see their character as a party lowered and
disgraced, their principles tarnished, and their
conduct so ill-suited to that " round and fair
dealing" and manly spirit in which this
country delights. It is not for us to say
which party is extinct ; we leave that confi-
dently to the country to determine.