Lord Hartington, in the first speech at Bacup, told the
Con- servatives plainly that they would never come back to power till they had made up their minds whether or not they were going to be Conservatives or Tory Democrats. While they vacillate between the two, they will never win the confidence of a people who see that the two are utterly inconsistent with each other. There is no more identity, says Lord Hartington, between the old Conservatism and the new Imperialist democracy, than there is between Liberalism and Conservatism, and till the Tory leaders determine which doctrine they will preach and which they will assail, they will speak two different voices, and be heard maintaining two quite different creeds. And, of course, a party that is divided against itself will not convert the country.
