One hundred years ago
The Honourable W. H. Fitzwilliam is to retire from the representation of the South-West Riding at the next Dissolu- tion; and in a letter to his constituents has explained his dissatisfaction with Mr Gladstone's Government, and his wish to adhere steadily to the principles 'which have always guided the true Liberal Party, and my own family'. That is a delightful political formula, defin- ing, as it does, 'the true Liberal Party' as the party which agrees with the Fitzwilliam family. So far as we can judge by the votes of the Fitzwilliam family, 'the true Liberal Party' must be of a decidedly Laodicean cast – neither hot nor cold – or else sometimes hot and sometimes cold, like a man in an ague- fit. For example, Mr Fitzwilliam is in favour of the franchise, but cannot adequately express his disgust with the Government for the manner in which they are conducting the agitation of the question . . . 'The true Liberal Party,' as Mr Fitzwilliam defines it, holds, we presume, Liberal principles in the abstract, but takes care so to apply them to practice that they shall not get embodied in any actual measure.
Spectator, 9 August 1884
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