Litchfield enquirer., 1880-04-08
Progress in England.

stone, the last weeks elections have been a most grateful surprise. Great as has been the dissatisfaction of the better class of English men with Disraei, his eventual success in the miner matters of the Afghan and Zulu wars had seemed to turn the popular current tem- porarily in his favor. Then, too, his bullying policy with Russia, reminding people of the days of undisputed Tory ascendency early in the present century, when Great Britain bullied everybody, found favor with the large class of EngIishmen to whom bullying seems the natural and proper manner of the Briton In his intercourse with foreign nations. The overbearing foreign policy of Palmerston, Whig as he was, had always attracted much of this sort of Jingo support; and it was only when his old fashioned Whiggery had given place to the pure Liberalism of Gladstone that the fact became definitely settled that in Eng land Liberalism means peace abroad as we'll as reform at home Indeed It is to the fact that Beaconsfeld ostentatiously parades himself as the ''strong man" of English politics that he owes the noisy, Jingo support which has of late given his administration its fallacious look of popularity.
 The difference between Gladstone and his great rival is, in truth, a fundamental differ ence of principle. The Liberal chief makes no boast of strong" but of just foreign poli- cy. He paid over to this country what Eng tishmen have always considered the excessive damages awarded at Geneva. He has all along opposed the policy which has made England responsible for the expressions and corruptions of Mahometan rule. He has abol- ished one state church, and he has earnestly sought to remedy the wrongs of Ireland. He is man of kind heart, of sound intellect, of uncommon ability and of high moral pur- pose. striving honestly and earnestly to solve the fearful problems now pressing thick upon the British statesman.
 prince of makeshifts. Avoiding that prime necessity of the England of today. internal re- form, he shuns real issues and diverts mems minds with brilliant foreign policy. At court he plays the courier, makes the Queen an Empress, and fatters her with show of greater power than that whca the strict limits of the British constitution have of recent years allowed. He is the English 'Stalwart," bull lying Russia, as Blaine shakes the "bloody shirt" in the face of the South, with the set purpose of distracting peoples attention from those abuses which all acknowledge, but which politicians hesitate to reform.
 Now, however, that the Liberals have un- occasionally beaten the Conservative-Jingo combination their real work begins In the fsrt place it is not probable that Mir. Glad stone will be the Liberal first summoned by the Queen to form Cabinet. She dislikes him personally; she diskes the principles he rep resents; and if Lord Harrington, or Lord Gran vile, or some other Liberal mediocrity, can be induced to undertake the formation of Min istrY, they will unquestionablY have the chance. If they feel bound to respect the wishes of the great majority of the people whose votes have retired Lord Beaconsteld, they will undoubtedly refuse the leadership themselves and insist that Mr. Gladstone shall take the position which naturally belongs to hlm. If the reports of the World are correct, this is the course they will pursue. We think it equally likely that they will attempt the re- suscitation of sort of Old Whig ministry scarcely more liberal or less Jingo than pure Tory Cabinet.
 That such a Ministry could live long in House of Commons where Radicalsm prevails to such an extent that Charles Bradlaugh has a in hor Whether Gladstone himself can blend Wings, Radicals and Home Rulers into 8 working majority, IS matter of grave doubt the most serious Of the dangers that has been expected from the downfall of Beaconsfeld. Still Gladstones power is go great with English Liberalism of every shade, and he is SO we'll supported by such men as John Bright that he might succeed where Granville or Harting- ton would surely fail
 Much, however, as we admire Mir. Glad stone, and greatly as we wish that American liberalism had so able, so eminent, and so pure leader, we confess that we hardly expect permanent success or fundamental reform un- der his leadership. In the first place, while Liberalism has the apparent majority in the newly elected House of Commons. we imagine that conservatism is still too strong for any root and branch measures in that body. The Old Wings, the Liberal-Jingoes and above all piutocrats of a so.called Liberalism, will re- fuse to take such measures for instance. as ought to be taken for the reform of land ten- ure in Ireland and in fact in Great Britain. But even if conservatism fails in the House. there are the Lords with their heavy Tory majority, ready to stifle every measure of real reform.
 Neither is MT. Gladstone himself Mira beau supposing affairs in Great Britain to have come to such 8 pass that Mirabeau is needed. Originally Tory, and still strong Church of England man, he has never alto- gether rid himself of the Tory and High Church prejudices which encountered his early progress. True, he has learned much, and seems all the while learning, but he is said still to shrink from one of the first and most urgent tasks of the Liberal statesman-the disestablishment of the English Church.
 The result of'the English election, however, is good omen for the future It is a hard hit at the ''strong man" business in Europe where that parsonage has been figuring enormously of late-chiefly in the marvelously successful career of that embodiment of the ''blood and from polcy-Prince Bismsrk. This election is also token that the political current among the civilized nations of the earth is now turning from reaction toward progress. We hope that the tide of American politics is setting in the same direction, and that next falls election will show AS grand a success for the cause of progress, under as worthy a leader, as have these recent parliamentary elections in Great Britain.
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