TOPICS OF THE DAY.
AFTER EASTER.
THE vague expectation that after Easter home politics may be more lively, is, we conceive, unfounded. Apart from accident, the rise of some wholly unexpected question, the death of some eminent individual, or an unintended defeat of the Ministry on some point which Mr. Walpole had not perceived in time, there is nothing visible which promises gossip-mongers the smallest excitement, or politicians the least satisfaction. There will be more to do, of course, as there always is after Easter, for there will be the Budget to discuss, and Lord Palmerston has promised an explanation about his Polish negotiations and some American questions, in spite of the unreasonable temper of the House, must receive a patient hearing. Sir George Grey, too, may possibly be whipped into a show of activity, and it is not very likely the session will pass without one of those demi-theological debates which the House never can avoid, and for which, from its habitual reticence, it is so unfit an arena. One might almost as well discuss inspiration at a Visitation dinner, and expect the guests to state all that they believed on the point. None of these questions, however, endanger the lull which, however unpleasant to editors and rising politicians, and people who prefer principle to expediency, is, for the moment, clearly in accord with the tone of the public mind.
The country does not want anything, now that Easter has passed, any more than it did when Parliament reassembled, and till it wants something there can be none of that external pressure which stimulates representatives into energy. The middle class would like very much to use Mr. Gladstone's sur- plus in reducing the income-tax to sixpence, but the Whigs are aware that without Mr. Gladstone they would have no hold on the Manchester school, and the Tories are fettered by pledges and Mr. Disraeli's "views." That gentleman, who comprehends everything except the Englishmen he aspires to govern, is always fancying that he may succeed in reconciling the masses to some sort of Tory regime, and is always offering something which his natural supporters view with profound distrust. He fails, of course, except with the few men who will accept political alms as readily as political earnings, and fltiling, loses the chance of employing the strength really at his disposal. He cannot assail the income-tax when he wanted himself to relieve the breakfast-table ; and his second and better weapon. the necessity of defending the Treasmy, is never one which frightens the House of Commons. When a Government proposes reductions, the Opposition may talk for -ever about the danger of depleting the revenue, and their words will at the best be only repaid in those Parliamentary -" greenbacks," the cheers which do not mean votes. Lanca- shire distress, we trust and believe, will not become a party question at all, for even though Liberals should be a little more inclined to delay, and Tories to schemes of immediate emigration, the bulk of our public men are certain on such a point to consider only the permanent welfare of the State' and landowners and millowners are for once united by the bond of a common interest. The Ministerial scheme is sure to be moderate, if not feeble, and it is feeble measures, .e., measures which give the county time, and make no concession to the demand for spasmodic energy, which will best content all but the few on the one side who would sacrifice Lancashire if only they might be rid of Manchester, and the few on -the other who would feed the operatives for ever out of State funds, rather than endanger the faintest chance of a revival in their trade. Lord Palmerston will most certainly not commit himself to any theological question, his friends will contrive to gild the coming educational pill in some endurable manner ; and for the rest, the Tories in England want nothing, and that is precisely what Lord Pahuerston so cheerily professes to give. Out of England everybody wants a great deal, but then no two men are agreed as to the lengths they are willing to go, or to combine in securing some possible instalment of good. A very large party in England would approve the recognition of the South, and another large party desire that the Southern fleet should be seized, but neither are pre- pared, or, indeed, able to carry their desires into action, and the result is a passive approval of all that Ministers do.. If they demand the surrender of the Peterhoff the anti-Yankee feel- ing is gratified; if they seize the gunboat Alexandra, Southern friends mutter discontentedly that after all public decency must be respected. Lord Palmerston is certain in any case to maintain the national honour with even too high a hand, Earl Russell is equally certain on American _claims to
be coldly but clearly just, and, short of a great concession or a great injustice there can occur nothing, in our American re- lations which would consolidate the fractions of jarring opinion into a strong reproof. So, also, with the Polish revolt, which still engrosses Continental attention, and is considered by
diplomatists the vital question of the hour. Those who deny
that England has a strong feeling in favour of the Poles mis- understand the tone of opinion, which is on this case almost as unanimous, though not so deep as it was upon that of Italy. But sympathy for Poland is so checked and counterbalanced by distrust of France, and scorn of the Germans, and hatred of war, and dislike of" ideas," and the impression that English- men situated as the Poles now are would win freedom without worrying all their neighbours, that politicians as yet acquiesce discontentedly in inertia. If the Cabinet finds it possible to let the Emperor loose and set Poland free, the Cabinet will be supported. If, on the contrary, it yields to the permanent dread which old statesmen feel for any course of which they cannot perceive the issues, that hesitation will be accepted as natural and pass, if not without criticism, at least without Parliamentary censure. Generous minds will sigh, and Ultra- montanes will rave, but neither will accept the responsibility of coercing Government into a line of action, of which Lord Palmerston feels afraid, and Earl Russell doubts the advantage to the Liberal cause. There may be, of course, a hundred move- ments on the Continent which may produce a passionate dis- sonance of feeling, but as yet there is nothing abroad on which the Government seems at variance with any great mass of Parliamentary opinion.
Finally, the chance of a purely party contest, of a desperate struggle of Outs and Ins, directed to office and not to e mea- sure, seems as far off as ever. The Liberals, growling audibly, still march under Lord Palmerston's banner, and, at the worst, only tell Mr. Brand not to rely too implicitly on their votes. They command, when the Irish are not in ill humour, and Mr. Cobden not furious with the Premier, a working half of the House ; and when those contingencies occur, which hap- pens at least once a month, there is the reserve guard at hand. There are at least forty Tories who prefer Lord Palmerston for the present to any conceivable Premier, and forty more who will not owe power to men who seek only to guarantee Rome, or men who will be everlastingly urging economic reductions. They have for all practical purposes a leader in Mr. Walpole, and the instant the danger seems near, Mr. Walpole descends like some Homeric deity and bears off the wounded chief amidst a storm of applause. There is no chance that this section will relax its watchful- ness, or consent to allow its favourite to be driven defeated from the field. They honestly think that at home the Premier is as Conservative as they can desire, and abroad, very much more trustworthy than any Conservative they are likely to get, and so thinking, they vote with a steadiness Liberals admire without imitation. They cannot be coaxed, for to coax them Mr. Disraeli must give up the alliances which alone make the reserve guard needful, and they cannot be coerced, for behind them stand half the territorial lords and the incalcul- able clerical strength. The former will not endure to crouch at th feet of Napoleon, the latter will not give up the hope of driving the Pope from Rome. No reconciliation on those points is pos- sible, and Mr. Disraeli, in bribing the Economists and Ultra- montanes, has only sacrificed the affection of his own bravest troops. His blunders in tactique have of late been atrocious— so gross as to raise a doubt whether the man who calls the Church to his side, yet guarantees the Pope ; demands a Con- servative policy, yet promises to obey Napoleon—can be a great party strategist at all. Till he has resumed in action the leadership of which he cannot be deprived in theory, a hearty party conflict, waged with an eye to victory, and not to an orderly retreat, seems to be all but impossible ; and without great questions or party conflicts a Parliamentary session seems to the politician dull. Whether that dullness, the offspring of content, is as injurious to the nation as to newspapers, may be questioned; but the prosperity pro- duced by the steadiness of the current of affairs is, perhaps, not greater than the prosperity which results from the intel- lectual activity stimulated by occasional shocks. Sleep is only invigorating when it is not too long.
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