We arahappy to perceive that Mr. John Morley, who has
been accepted as the Liberal candidate for Newcastle, makes it a dis- tinctive note of his addresses that while he will maintain his. independence on all important questions on which he may differ- from the Government, he accords them, in the main, a cordial support. Reform, he says, is always in the air when Mr. Glad- stone is in power, and this Government, though not BO advanced as he would wish, is the most advanced that has ever appeared in England. That is the true tone for all Radicals who. wish to avoid the weak point of modern Parliamentary government. Everybody has such definite opinions, and thinks so much of himself, that parties tend to dissolve- into "groups," each with its crotchet, and steady adminis- tration becomes almost impossible. The French Chamber is ruined by this disintegrating force, and matters are not much better in Germany and Austria. If the evil continues, European- Liberals will be forced to reconsider their preference for the- Parliamentary over the Presidential system. The latter is in. many respects inferior, as Government and people may at any moment be hopelessly out of accord; but it has at least the advantage that it allows of a stable Administration. We have- all of us yet to learn what a Democracy is like, when every separate man is intelligent enough to form an opinion, and opinionated enough to wish before all things to make it prevail. One has heard of a town council with twenty members and twenty-one opinions, the youngest and most infallible member —who must have been an undeveloped Cowen—having two, varying with his chance of standing alone. Whatever colour,. for instance, was proposed for the pump, he voted mauve, unless another member accepted that hue. Then he voted against paint.
Previous page
