The Press.
London, England, 1856-08-16 00:00:00

77. _

No. 172.—V0L.1V.

Et Vrtss.

rate capacity, and to look to public objects
and the public welfare rather than to the
attainment of their own particular ends.

LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 16, 1850.

Unless this spirit largely prevails in a
country there never can be any security for
good government, or even for public freedom.
The divisions of sentiment which shiver a
people into innumerable sects, deprive them of
weapons of defence against either popular
disturbance or corrupt Ministries. For this
reason continental nations have constantly
failed in their efforts to establish a solid sys-
tem of constitutional liberty. The fractions
into which the community is split up are
unable to sink their differences for the attain-
ment of some great common object. Unity
of action is impracticable owing to the perti-
nacity with which they cling to their special
views, and their very earnestness becomes a
snare for their destruction. _ _

A MORNINCi JOURNAL, in allusion to recent
articles in THE PRESS, reiterates the cry of
" Conservative disorganisation," and in sup-
port of its assertion cites some instances
which we are glad of the opportunity thus
afforded us to examine.

Oue evidence of disorganisation is inferred
from our admission that in " every great party
" considerable differences of opinion must
" prevail." It is urged that such differences
ought not to extend to the principles of the
party, and ought not to lead its members to
rebel against their most prominent chief. Let
us see what amount of truth there is in these
assertions, and what amount of force in the
argument drawn from them.
It would have been more satisfactory had
the writer condescended to explain what those
essential principles are concerning which the
Conservative party cannot agree. In politics
it is extremely difficult to determine what
kind and degree of diversity of sentiment
should lead the members of a party to sepa-
rate themselves from it. The minds of men
are constituted as distinctly as their faces—no
two are alike ; and without very great tolera-
tion of diversity of sentiment, and a wide and
enlightened view of the great advantages to
be obtained by 'party association, it would,
apart front all selfish interests which may
bind followers to a Ministry, be impossible to
get any considerable number of politicians to
act together. A party must be more than a
sect. To be really powerful, and to fulfil its
first use, it must absorb sects. It must em-
brace men of very opposite opinions on ques-
tions in themselves of verb great importance.
is:arrow minds are commonly unable to take
this enlarged view of party necessities. They
think some shred or accident of a principle
of more importance than the principle itself,
and they are perpetually seeking occasions of
division by forcing into prominence the in-
significant objects they alone can comprehend,
while more enlightened men are seeking occa-
sions of union by enlarging and strengthening
the foundations on which party should rest.
The point for rational politicians to determine
in choosing a side is—whether subjects of
agreement or disagreement are on the whole
most numerous and important. Some sacri-
fice of individual inclination there must be to
obtain the great advantages of party co-
operation. _ _ _

In England the ties of party are elastic.
They do not repress individual thought. They
allow of considerable freedom of action and
even of eccentricity of movement, without
ceasing to be a bond of union. They do not
compel a minority to be bound by a majority,
nor do they enforce the rank and file of a
party to follow on all occasions the lead of
their officers. It is their peculiar merit that
while they allow full scope to conscientious
conviction, they keep men prepared to act
together when the necessity for action arises.
There must be many open questions in every
party, and weakness, not strength, must result,
from any attempt to lessen their number, or
to make men vote against the opinions they
sincerely entertain. It is not tolerance of
such diversities, but intolerance of them,
which is the peril to party ; and it is only
when such intolerance meets with encourage-
ment, or when attempts are made to give
effect to its spirit, and to produce a union
which is incompatible with the essential diver-
sity and honourable independence of high
minds, that a party is in danger of being dis-
organised and of going to pieces. Nothing
could be more fatal to the influence of any party
than to see the whole of its mu►ubers invari-
ably voting one way.
We must decline to treat with equal serious-
ness the second evidence alleged by our con-
temporary of Conservative disorganisation.
Mr. DISRAELI'S summary of the session
attracted only a scanty House, and therefore
he cannot possess the respect of his party !
We must remind our contemporary that the
attendance in Parliament is not always propor-
tioned to the reputation of the orator, or the
importance of the subjects he discusses. Mr.
BURKE rarely spoke without causing a general
rush of members to escape the sound of his
voice. In very recent times the House was
counted out upon the debate of the present
Premier's motion respecting the Ashburton
Treaty. It would have been wonderful had
the House been otherwise than thin at the
end of July, when all the business of the
session was at an end, and the day had
passed which had positively been assigned
for the prorogation of Parliament. Mr.
DISRAELI'S object was not, we apprehend,
to attract a large audience, or to obtain
the cheers of his party, but to place
before the country a fair statement of the re-
sults of the session, ar►d to cause it to reflect
whether the public business had been con-
ducted in a satisfactory manner. Judged by
the attention his remarkable statement has
excited, and the discussion to which it has

On religious subjects men naturally feel
more strongly than on any other. We are
familiar with the heats which have arisen be.
tween High Churchmen and Low Churchmen.
But is it to be supposed that both classes,
with all classes of intermediate opinion that
mingle with them, may not act together in a
party which has for one of its principal objects
the maintenance of that Church to which
they all belong 9 To urge inconsistency in
such cases, is only to urge that men have the
good sense to prefer great objects to little
objects, and that they are animated by that
true principle of patriotism which enables
them to merge their individual in their corpo-

LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 16, 1856. UNSTAMPESTAMPED .-. SIXPENCE.
D-FIVEPENCE.

given rise, no motion was ever more suc-
cessful. _ _

It is a curious argument to use, that the
Opposition is entitled to little credit for de-
feating many measures of the Government,
because those measures were bad in principle,
or imperfect in detail Surely it is the part of
an Opposition to defeat, not good measures,
but bad ones. Nor is the argument more suc-
cessful that when a Government fails to fulfil
its legislative duties, the Opposition should
supply Ministerial deficiencies. The Opposi-
tion cannot do so. It is rarely in a position to
pass measures. It must content itself with ex-
pounding principles.
On principles the Right Honourable Member
for Bucks certainly cannot be charged with
reserve. When the adherents of the Govern-
ment were declaring that a war of extremity
must be waged against Russia, Mr. DISRAELI
stood forth to explain the principles on which
the war might be satisfactorily concluded ;
and those principles, though with less com-
pleteness than Mr. DISRAELI proposed, were
substantially embodied in the Treaty of Peace.
When the Tripartite Treaty of the 15th April
was published, Mr. DISRAELI called attention
to the peculiar and embarrassing position in
which it placed our ally the King of SARDINIA.
At that time it was asserted that the Austrian
alliance was intended for no other purpose
than to secure the integrity of the Turkish
empire ; but now it is not denied that the
Cabinets of St. James and Vienna have been
in confidential correspondence on the affairs
of Italy. The leading journal, so constant for
a time in its denunciations 'of Austrian per-
fidy, now congratulates its readers that Austria
has not evacuated the Principalities, as eight
unarmed Russians have landed on Fidonisi.
When unprincipled attempts were mado
to excite insurrection in Italy, and hints were
thrown out that the assistance of this country
would not be wanting, Mr. DIShAELL showed
that no interference of the kind was practi-
cable ; and did the best service that could be
rendered to the Italian people by revealing
the true state of their political situation.
When the differences with the United States
assumed a threatening aspect, Mr. DISRAELI
penetrated beyond the surface, inquired into
their cause, and indicated the policy by which
they might be effectually removed. It is not
surprising that the opponents of the Right
Honourable Member for Bucks should endea-
vour to depreciate his public services, but on a
fair review of his conduct during the past
session, it is impossible to deny that he has
displayed in a marked manner two of the
highest qualities of statesmanship—sagacity
and moral courage.

FALLACIES OF " HERO-WORSHIP."
SOMETHING still remains to be said on the
singular state of feeling in which the country
embarked in the late war. At. the outset, and
before hostilities in the field actually com-
menced, there was a universal confidence (ex-
cept in a few quarters) in the extraordinary
superiority of our military and n rvices
The confidence was carries the exi.e:bt of
presumption, for the yids:Au/ha and ni)411,!::
tainty always attendant as. NtELKS might have.-
taught a lesson of catitioie; Atm} it vi-Juld:ba,
well to pay attention to cr ,110Fr40 of
that presumptuous state Elf • -
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