Morning journal and courier., 1880-08-16
Tories, Wings and Radicals.
PrOteSt Against Extravagant Talk
 The Radicals Of To-day not Revolutions

PrOteSt Against Extravagant Talk
 The Radicals Of To-day not Revolution-
 ists.
 lFrom the London Ttmes.l
 To us it appears that there never was a time in the present century when Radicalism was less socially or politically dangerous than it is at present. In the time of Louis Phil ippe Socialism was a real force in France, ,and was not without it's counterpart in the politi- cal movement of this country it is now ob- solete and exploded. The Radicals of the present day seek political ends by purely po- litical means :; 1t is not necessary to approve or svmpatize with all or any of their aims in order to acknowledge the absurdity of repre- senting them as menacing the whole fabric of society There was, of course, time in the last century, there have indeed been moments in this, when the revolutionary impulse was really formidable and subversive. Radicals nowadays are for the most part no mere speculative reformers they are at least prac- tical politicians, who represent the aspirations ot those classes whom Wings and Tories have in turn enfranchised, and whose aim is no theoretical equality or impossible social per lection, but simply the redress of grievances, the removal of inequalities and the progress siye adaptation of the Constitution to the conditions of modern society. They may wish sometimes to move too fast, sometimes to move in wrong direction; but when they do the common sense of the country Is
 
 assistance either from abstract Whig princi- ples or from Tory predictions of revolution and ruin The fact is that the distrust of the Wings and the hatred of the Tories for the snectre they call Radicalism is but 8 speci- men of an abstract mode of looking at poi- tics. If the Radicals propose good measures. there is no reason why they should not be adopted if they propose bad ones, they can be and ought to be rejected simply because they are bad ones For our part, we are con- tent to judge measures and governments on their merits, to oppose what seems to us to be mischievous, and to support what seems to be beneficial or necessary but we can see no reason whatever for talking with bated breath of Radical ascendency, or for declaring with frantic emphasis that society is in danger simply because the whole political field of battle is now good deal different from what it was when Whigs and Tories were first ar rayed against each other.
 In truth. there is nothing more remarkable about what it is the fashion to dread as Dem ocratic RadicaIism than the fact that it has ceased to be either Democratic or Radical ID the old sense of the words. There IS hardly any social envy in the so-called Democratic classes of this country, there is no desire to attack the rich because they are rich, no sense of exclusion, and no keen political jealousy. Nor, again, are the desires of the commonafty directed to any great and radical measures, either of social or political change. One class desires the redress of one grievance, another of another, but none are united in any fierce or irreconcilabIe demand for revolutionary change. All that Radicals can be accused of, therefore, is disposition to move little faster in the direction of such reforms as are desired by the popular voice than suits the taste of timid Wings or frightened Tories.