The Express.
London, England, 1868-03-30 00:00:00

THE LIBERAL " WHIP."

THERE was, it cannot be denied, • felici-
tous opportuneness in the convivial solemnity at
Willis's Rooms on Saturday evening. A testimonial
dinner to commemorate the long services of the
late " Whip " of the Liberal members is a singularly
appropriate
and seasonable entertainment on the
eve of a great party debate. This week is to
decide whether in a parliamentary sense the
Liberal party can be said to exist in the present
House of Commons as an organised force under an
appointed chief, or whether as an Opposition it has
degenerated into a fortuitous concourse of intrigues
and ambitions which a PRIME MINISTER may
manage as an Eastern traveller manages the Arab
tribes of the desert. The institution of " Whip"
is, as Mr. GLADSTONE remarked, peculiarly
British : it is the product of • race of fox-
hunters, and of government by party. In no
other parliamentary country could such an
institution be conceivable. Perhaps, if the
whole truth must be told, it derives whatever
lustre and importance may accompany it here and
now, from the somewhat questionable traditions of a
past age, when political purity was not so much
professed or political corruption was not so well
disguised. The roots of our parliamentary institu-
tions have flourished in a rich but rank soil, and in
the management of parties and the conduct of elec-
tions the purest of principles have not always
trusted for success to the austereet morality. But
we must take human nature, and political human
nature, aa we find it, and not attempt to be righteous
over much. It is to party government and party
organisation that we owe at least our public
liberties. Whatever may be thought of the
functions of a Whip who happens to
be also the Patronage Secretary, there
can be no question of the unimpeachable character
of the intercourse between the Whip of the Oppo-
salon and the party who answer to his call. In-
deed, in these latter days a Whip's office must be
always beyond reproach. As Mr. Busse said on
Saturday evening, " in the relations which exist
" between you and me there ie nothing to reflect
" upon the honour of either." Mr. BRAND has
served his party during many years of varying
fortune, under Lord Panizawrox and Lord
Russel. L's leaderships, and always with a vigilant
activity and unwearied patience, a perfect tact
' and temper, a courtesy and circumspection, which
deserved and won unanimous regard. Even
' political adversaries would gladly acknowledge
that no public man ever deserved better of his
party, and, indeed of the whole House, by his
:character and conduct in a position of great
delicacy, than the right hon. gentleman to whom
• the testimonial was presented on Saturday night.
It must be regretted that Mr. BRAND should have
retired from the office he filled so well at a crisis
in the fortunes of his party. His successor finds
himself beset with difficulties which it was never Mr.
BRAND'S lot to encounter. The good easy times
are past ; the days of trial and conflict are come.
• The Liberal party of the PALMERSTON period has
dissolved into its original elements. The Liberal
partyof the GLADSTONE epoch is not yet represented
in the House of Commons. The new Liberal Whip
will need all the great qualities of his predecessor
and some other qualities of which hie predecessor
had no need. Much, indeed, in the conduct of a
parliamentary party depends not on the " Whip "
but on the huntsman. But what avails even the
best of huntsmen, if there is neither quarry, nor
scent, nor pack, but only a loose and disorderly
" field I"

Few documents more remarkable have ever been
presented to Parliament than the petition from the
former or present Heads of Houses, Professors,
Examiners, , and Fellows of Colleges in the
University of Cambridge, in favour of Mr.
Coutitinoe's, University Teats Abolition Bill.
Within a week, more than two hundred names
have been affixed to it. They represent
almost every element that constitutes Cam-
bridge a seat of learning and a centre of
mental activity. The thought and scholarship
and spirit of research which animate the Univer-
sity are here brought into a focus ; and as
the highest intellectual endowments and richest
cultivation are seldom divorced from the noblest
moral endowments, we are not surprised to find
eminent men who differ in everything else, united
in a plea for equal justice, and ins protest against
sectarian privilege. The petitioners pray that the
restrictions and disabilities which debar many
of her MAJESTY'S subjects from the full
enjoyment of the benefits offered by the Uni-
versity may be removed ; and that the Oxford and
Cambridge Universities Tests Bill may become a
law. While the mind of the University declares itself
in favour of Mr. COLARIIX3I.B Bill, the men who are
nominally its representatives, but who really repre-
sent nothing but a predominant political party
within it, and clerical influences outside it, will cer-
tainly be found voting against the measure. It is well
that it should be known how little Mr. SPENCER
WALPOLR and MT. BRIJ/AVOID Hors are really en-
titled to speak for any more than the academic and
clerical rabble of the University Senate. The
elite are on the other side. The names which are
appended to the petition do not belong to any
generation, school, or party at Cambridge. The old
Toryism of the late Lord Chief Baron Sir PRIDE-
RICK POLLOCK, the Solicitor and Attorney-General
of successive Conservative administrations, and
the youthful Radicalism of the Professor of
Political Economy, are found on the same
side. One college contributes the two alts THE four "smooth-faced young-looking lade"
tinguished names of the Rev. F. D. MAURICI
who were convicted at Liverpool on Saturday of
and Professor TYNDALL—equaI in eminence, diver- I
attempting to rob Mr. ADOLPH' Kuser, have fur-
gent in all else, one embodying the theological,
nished considerable gossip and speculation to the
the other the scientific spirit of the age ;th -e on
northern public. That two lads of 18, hitherto
at home in the schools of Alexandria and e
the
of good repute, should suddenly emulate the asses-
speculations of the casuists, the other versed sin mAnins, and under pretence of shopping
in the principles of Bacon, and Coins, and
attempt to murder a tradesman in his own
MILL. The mathematical and physical
counting-horse ; and that two other lads in his
which are the special distinction of Cam. co
employ should act as accomplices in a crime which bridge, are represented amongst others by li
was called a frolic, and which included the ale-
AIRY and ThLemoz—the Astronomer-Royal ments of a masquerade, coupled with other circus-
and the late Lucasian Professor ; while the steams, made the case savour of the fantastic and
fair and venerable name of ADA/ SRDOWICK, unreel. But it, termination hes been es reeved
the associate of WaxwaLL, and the fellow-labourer as the meat meek could deism leaot
With BIICKLAND at the other University, remit, the' yet passed, but the jury were iprompt and uucui..
time when the natural sciences were militant, and, mous in their decision, and all four prisoners
instead of aspiring to intellectual dictatorship, are found guilty of the assault with
had to plead for toleration, and were thank- intent to rob. The charge of intent
ful to be admitted to the lowest place at the board. to inflict grievous bodily harm was originally
Theology eaters a not low worthy appear included in the indictment, and was withdrawn
ance than Science, as the names of Maumee, only for the sake of convicting all four prisoners
KINGSLEY, la,switu.ric DAVILA, ALFORD (Dean simultaneously, and not from any doubt as to the
of Canterbury) and VAUGHAN testify. Nor is object of at least two out of their number. At
the lighter literature which belongs rather to the half-past eleven in the morning of the 24th of last
world than to the schools, the literature of month, Hamm disguised with " false beard and
criticism, fiction, poetry, and the drama, without ‘' moustache, and WILSON dressed as a woman
its representative in Kitromm, whossyversatility " with hat, fall, and chignon," presented them-
enables him to act many parts, and wen especially selves at Mr. Kusai'a oonnting-house, and asked
in Mr. Tom TAxtoe. Among the men engaged for samples of a wine the advertisement of which
now in the active life of the University who they produced. The merchankturned to enter an
have signed the petition, besides Fellows Inner room when Haws jumped on his beck and
and Tutors innumerable, are the President of endeavoured to choke him, while Wn.sox produced
Penikehe, the Mager of Christ's, the Master a heavy instrument hem under his female sloth's
•