Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-04-15 00:00:00

PARTIZAN POLITICS

PARTY politics prevail, more or less, at all times ;
but it is in a General Election that we see them run
high,—it is then, more than at any other time, that
the memorable saying is so forcibly illustrated,—
"Party is the madness of many for the gain of a
A politician has sometimes to make great
sacrifices of his own individual convictions, for the
sake of his party. We believe that several had to
do this, in the vote of the House of Commons which
has produced the General Election that is at hand.
The Liberal party had to act as a compact body on
the occasion, which with some slight exceptions they
did. It was one of those opportunities on which a
combined action is sure of success. Different shades
of the great Liberal party, we all know there are—
very opposite hues in its various sections. But
"unity is strength." And the Liberal party of the
present House of Commons has, on this occasion,
with signal, with most triumphant effect, shown how
strong it is when only it is united. This unity,
however, involves very often, much incongruity and
inconvenience ; and it can seldom be carried out
beyond the particular object that may have called it
forth. A vague proposition, which commits but to
an indefinite purpose, may be made the means of
uniting those in its favour who, immediately that it
is to be realised in detail, will be split up into a
score, perhaps, of different sections. Of course, we
do not mean to confine our remarks upon such an
illustration of the practical working of party policy
to any one political party in particular. The case
is one that has been common to all parties. Party
action, of whatever character, can ',only be directed
successfully to a great purpose, when it is concurred
in, more or less heartily, by all who, in the various
sections of the party, though at variance upon
particular details of policy, can conibine for the party
object.

There is no doubt that, in this way, important
political ends are sometimes brought about. But it
has its inconveniences. It exposes often those who
are drawn into such a course, to imputations of
inconsistency, if not of versatility. There may be
one who makes an effort to act independently of
party : he detaches himself from those with whom
he has been in alliance, because he thinks they are
going too far ; and, after a while, left behind in the
political progress that is going on, he finds himself
overtaken, it may be, even by the backward party to
which hitherto he had stood in opposition. Such
has been the position of one who is now among the
foremost of the more advanced Liberals of the day,—
we mean Sir JAMES GRAHAM,—the ablest, though
perhaps the craftiest of those who are the most
likely to fill the places of her Majesty's present
Ministers. Now, Sir JAMES was originally a
Radical; he then became a Whig; and by and by
he was a Conservative. He left the Liberal party of
1835-6, because he thought they were too danger-
ously liberal : he did so, if we mistake not, in con-
junction.with his, at that time, friend and colleague,
the present Premier, then Lord STANLEY. They.
stood aloof for a while from both the two great
parties ; but at length they cast in their lot with the
Conservatives,—Lord DERBY having continued so to
do to this day ; but Sir JAMES having diverged in the
opposite direction, until now we find him prepared,
apparently, to go the whole length of the more
popular reform party—that is, of reform which will
be acceptable to the multitude.
Now, it is interesting at such a moment as the
present, and not uninstructive either, to look back

upon the career of so eminent, and again so popular
a statesman as Sir JAMES GRAHAM, destined, as he
probably is, ere long to be her Majesty's Prime
Minister. When last the right hon. baronet con-
tested his native county of Cumberland, he was
rejected because he would not adopt the very course
he is now so eagerly pursuing. At a dinner given to
him, after his defeat, he said,—" I ask, what was the
issue tried in this county at the last Election ? I
say it was this :—Are you, or are you not, in favour
of vote by ballot, household suffrage, and short

parliaments ? That was the issue joined." Again,
he declared,—" I never contended that the Reform
Act was to be unalterable, like the laws of the Medes
and. Persians. But I have said, and do say, that let
who will propose the vote by ballot, extension of
the suffrage, and. triennial parliaments, there are
thirteen men in England who are not at liberty to
support those propositions ; and these are the
thirteen men who composed. Lord GREY'S Cabinet,"
—all of whom, however, that yet remain in the land
of the living, Sir JAMES himself of course included,
are evidently beginning to think themselves quite at
liberty to do so, atid perhaps a great deal more. But,
further than this : Sir JAMES, on the occasion we
refer to, proceeds to denounce, with all the eloquent
invective of which he is so able a master, the Liberal
Government of Lord MELBOURNE, on account of its
bearing towards such an extension of reform as he
himself is now demanding. " There may have been
more wicked Governments," he declared—" there
may have been more powerful and dangerous Govern-
ments; but I defy any one to produce, from the
history of our country, a more shabby Government
than the present,"—that was, the Reform Govern-
ment of Lord MELBOURNE. And upon being told
that he was denouncing his old colleagues, he asked
" Where arc they ?"—adding, that although " echo
answered Where ?' " his own answer was, that they
were " sunk in the very dregs of democracy." Yes,
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