The Portland daily press., 1883-05-02
The English Conservatives.

The Earl of Dunraven in the April num-
Der of the Nineteenth Century reads The
Conservative party of England lesson. he
himself Is not a member of the party, but he
holds that the good of the nation renders 1t
desirable that the opposition SHOULD be
strong, united aud capable of vigorous ac-
tion; strong enough to check the tendency
of men in power TO abuse that power, and to
keep the Government in state of watehful-
ness over itself" The present Conservative
partNdoes not come up to the requistlon at
all. 1t is in dependent and unhealthy
condition." and not prepared to successfully
oppose anything. 1t behooyes 1t, in the
Ear's opinion, to bestir itself, find out the
causes Of its weakness and provide against
them. 1t has been guilty of serious mis-
takes, and labors under marked disadvantage
es. There is a reasonable ground for it to
occupy, and a fair prospect of its gaining
power if it is equal to the emergency of reg
ulating itself.
The three causes which Lord Dunraven
sees standing in the way of the healthy life
of the Conservative party are the peculiar
position of the House of Lords, the lmper-
feet condition of the party machine" and
the want of a positive policy. The majority
of the House of Lords is so decidedly Con-
sentative that the Conservative party is held
responsible for whatever the body does.
This would not matter if the House Of Lords
followed its own Judgment. But it does not.
1t passes measures, under pressure, which
1t does not approve of, and ii any of these
measures turn out to be mistakes it is held
responsible for them in theory equally with
the House of Commons. 1t would be better
for the Conservative party if the House of
Lords did not exist at all as at present con-
stituted. 1t should be made more represen-
tative in its character: and the responsibility
of relieving it from its embarrassment of ap-
pearing in wrong light before the people,
and of regaining its dignity through putting
an end to it as an hereditary body, rests
with the Conservatives, as the Radicals take
no interest in the mere alteration of an insti-
tuition which they claim should be abolished
altogether
The fault in the party machinery is that
It is not practically applied 10 the masses
from whence the votes come. The reviewer
instances the establishment of a new Con-
servatlve magazine and big political club.
Both of these institutions refer to those who
are already as conservative as they can be.
They shoot over the heads of the people. A
popularized newspaper would be worth a
dozen magazines, and a series of organiza-
lions among the masses fifty aristocratic
clubs. At present, says Dunraven, ''all the
blood is in the head and the extremities are
very cold. A species of political apoplexy is
the cause of paralysis in the party The
want of policy is, however, the most press
ing want There should be an intelligent
concentration of force against the vulnerable
points presented by the Radicals. Many OF
the Liberals wonld be ready to join them on
certain things. For instance, the House of
Lords should have strenuously held out
against the land act on the ground that it
involved false position in political econo-
my, in that it destroyed the freedom of con-
tract in a business transaction. By holding
out, dissolution of Parliament would have
ensued which would have brought the issue
before the people. If the people had decid-
ed against them, the Lords might have then
yielded without losing credit for not stand
Ing up to their principles. The writer says:
ssThat disastrous consequences viii result
from that act TO Ireland Is as certain as thai
the sun is in heaven" The moral of the
lesson is that it is within the power of the
Conservative party to place itself in shape to
be useful to the country if it will. Probably
this is true, but ii is the misfortune of Con-
servative parties usually that they rarely re-
form anything, least of all themselves.