The Press.
London, England, 1858-05-15 00:00:00

Corrtsgontturt.

CONSERVATIVE REACTION.

TO THE EDITOR OF "THE PRESS."

Sir,—The political history of the past thirty years
is in some respects encouraging, especially to those
who are known as " the Conservative party." By
the way, I must own to an affectionate predilection
for the phrase " the Tory party :" it is usually ap-
plied by way of opprobrium ; I accept it as an honour.
An impartial investigation of the history of England,
from the Revolution of 1688 downwards, will demon-
strate that the Tory policy has been on the whole
creditable—that the Tory party is historically repre-
sented by names of the highest standard for patriotism
and capacity—that under its supremacy the interests
of the Crown and the people have been most vigilantly
protected. I repeat, I like the word " Tory," but
accept of " Conservative," as expressing a modifica-
tion understood in the political life of the country.
At the passing of the Reform Act, it was the current
opinion of all parties that a Conservative Government
was, in future, an impossibility. The judgment of
the late Sir Robert Peel on the merits of the bill
was, on its third reading, expressed in most decided
terms :

After the long lapse of time (said the right hon. baronet)
that it has been in progress through the house—after
giving to it all the consideration its importance requires—
alter the various alterations made in it—l should have
felt happy if it were in my power now to say that I saw in
it less that was objectionable than when it was first pro-
paved. I must, however, declare that the reverse is the
case. . . . The more I consider that measure—the
more I reflect on the consequences to which it will lead

•
(consequences embracing everything valuable to the con.
'Mutton and frame of society )--the more I feel anxiety
and apprehension—the more my objections are confirmed
and strengthened. In whatever view I regard it—whether
with reference to its origin, to the period at which it was
brought forward, to the example on which it is founded,
to the means by which it is attempted to be carried, or to
the consequences which may be expected from its adoption
am filled with astonishment, mortification, and dila-
msy."—Speech on Third Reading of the Reform Bill, 1832.
Making due allowance for rhetorical effect, and for
the fact that thought travels in direct lines, without

regard to the many unknown circumstanzes that
intervene to direct and control important organic
changes in the constitution of a country, it must be
owned that the fears of Sir Robert Peel were not
without foundation. Subsequent events corresponded,
in some respects but too faithfully, with the " asto-
nishment, mortification, and dismay" of the Con.
servative leader. In 1835, the late Mr. O'Connell
made a tour throughout the principal towns
of Scotland and the north of England, ex-
pressly to denounce the House of Lords. "We
must put down the House of Lords," was then the
motto of the Agitator.
Mr. Roebuck, in September, 1835, actually gave
notice in the House of Commons of his intention
'to introduce a bill in the following session, to the
effect that any bill which in the same session was
twice approved by the Commons, having been rejected
Ivy the Lords, should, on receiving the Royal signs.
true, become law. The late Mr. Hums gave notice
of a motion to inquire into the number and privileges
of the House of Lords ; and Mr. Rippon, M.P. for
Gateshead, modestly intimated his intention of
bringing into the Commons a bill for the removal
of the bishops and archbishops from the Upper
House! These facts intimate the feeling of the
ultra• Radical members of the House of Commons in
1535. A society was established in London, having
-offices in Tavistock-street, Covent-garden, for the dif-
fusion of what was called " Moral and Political
knowledge among the People." Among the society's
pamphlets, issued under the editorial clue of Mr.
Roebuck, were the following, the mere titles of which
sufficiently indicate their contents :—" Of what use
is the House of Lords ?" " The evils of a House of
Lords." The acceptance of the Reform Act, as a
settlement of the question of the suffrage, by Sir
Robert Peel, ou behalf of the Conservative party—his
kid' Administration in 1834—his appeal to the Con-
servative electors to o register," and their results,
woat be frefik
in the memories of moat ob-