The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1906-02-13
THE ENGLISH ELECTIONS AND THE NEW PARLl-
AMENT.

The newly lie ted English ParIia-
! meut cravencs this week. It COM
I position marks the greatest change
| ever recorded in English Dar'iamcn-
tary history. Tho Con~erFatiHe-Inton
| party which FOR ter cars has GOV
.rned the emnirc with 4 hEn ana
sometimes hand, has been
! almost auHihIIated. The House OF
! Commons is COMPOSED Of six hundred
and seventy member. IN the asst
Parliament the Conservatives had q
! clear majority over all opposition Of
Ia hundred and thirt- IN the ne"
Parliament ther haze only one hun
| dred and sixty. while their opponents
! have five hundred and gen. Hereto
! fore the record defeat was that suf-
! fered by the Coalition under North
and Fox. at the hands Of i younger
Fit i'm the last quarter e the eigh-
! teenth century. hen about = hun
cred members supporting the coali-
ton were defeated. In the elections
just held two hundred and forty sup
porters Of Lord Balfour were defeat
ed.
Such a tidal wave must nave re-
suited from some profound cause;
and thosc causes are worth studying,
even if we must go far back to ind
them. When found they arc Tecoe-
nized as worldwide in their signifi-
canoe. English political life for near
Il. three hundred years has known
two great PARTIES, each standing for
we'll defined ideas and principles. and
each r~esolutcly standing for is prin-
ciples. English politics Il peculiarly
free from ant and hypocrisy, and a
voter ALWAYS knows what his vote
means. These parties have changed
names often, but zach has a clear line
OF succession back TO the reign Of
Charles /. one of these parties has
always stood for the restriction of
privilege. and Tx enlargement of pop
lar rights. i bore the name OF
Roundhead during the first Charles;
Country Party under his sons; Wing
under the House Of Hanover: until
comparative recent years, and in our
day Liberals. The other is the party
OF high perogative, both in church
ana State, n of popular government,
limited by all practicable restrictions.
Under the first Charles it was Cavalier,
under his sons: 1.-The Court Party
under the H~anoverians, the Tory, until
recent years; and now it goes under
the almost meaningless and much
h~ackneyed name Conservative.
The people understand both parties
and put one OF the other in power for
we'll understood and definite purposes.
The Liberal is the party of change,
agitation, reform. Improvement, prog
ress. When the people are in the hu-
NOR for these things they put the Lib
erals in power, and England moves
toward a higher destiny, a better life.
When the Liberals have gone as far
as the country then wishes to go, they
are turned out, and the Conservatives
are put in power. Their business is
to mark time, while the country rests.
When the resting spell is over. and the
conscience Of the country stirs into
life again, the Conservatives go out
and the Liberals return.
For a hundred years the Liberals
have given most attention TO reforms
at home, the Conservatives to enlarg-
ing the bounds and increasing the
prestige of the empire abroad. Most
of the reforms have been acts OF Lib
eral parliaments, most Of the wars
those of Conservative ministries.
For twenty years. with a short in
terval of d little over two years, be-
tween 1892 and 1895, the Conserva-
tives have controlled Parliament by
heavy majorities. The country was
frightened when Gladstone proposed
home rule for Ireland, and a consid-
cradle portion Of the Liberal party left
him. The Union Conservative party
h result. It was in power until
1892. Then the countrv r~einstated
Gladstone, but by an Inadequate ma
jority. Home Rule for Ireland passed
the House Of Commons, but was ut
terly beaten in the upper house.
Gladstone did not feel that the issue
one On which to resist the upper
House, and it was dropped. With its
loss he felt that his career had ended
and he resigned. He was succeeded
by Lord Roseberry, Il man of charac-
ter and capacity, and of a peculiarly
winning and magnetic personality. He
might have been, and he came very
near To being a great man: but he
missed greatness. His very advant-
ages wrought his undOing. His con-
dition in life was too fortunate to de- |
Velop in the high degree the traits of
character necessary to a Liberal lead
He was an aristoCrat. born TO for |
and he married Hannah Roths-
child, a great heiress. He was a So |
cial leader, a sportsman. winning the
Derby, an author, and a man of high
literary attainments, the personal
friend OF royalty. He was a good
and a particularly likeable man.
but he was not a man of deep con-
Victions. and he was not q man of great !