Lord George Bentinck has abdicated the leadership of the "Country
party," or has been deposed from it, and the Marquis of Granby has been elected in his stead. The fact is not more important than a change in the Mastership of the Odd Fellows or the Colonelcy of the Lumber Troop ; but it derives some slight interest from the historical curiosity of the party as the residuum of the once powerful Tory faction—sufficient interest to suggest the question, why the Marquis has been chosen? Who is he ? He is best known, perhaps, as the elder brother of Lord John Man- ners. What does the choice mean? It means that the Country party only require a leader pro forma; that they have nothing particular to do—have no vocation. They abandon the hope of being one of the active parties in the state, and, like the guild of an extinct trade, only keep up the forms of incorporation in memory of the past.
This confession of extinction is the last vital act of the banded Opposition that once existed on the left hand of Mr. Speaker: "her Majesty's Opposition "is a defunct institution. There is no longer a standing apparatus for keeping the strength of the Go- vernment constantly on trial by voting. Favoured by the absence of opponents, and further by the forbearance shown to its inhe- rent feebleness, the Ministry may become over-confident, tyran- nical, and even corrupt. For the sake of the Government itself, it is to be hoped that all the functions of an Opposition will not continue in abeyance. Without any return to old party opposi- tion for the sake of opposition, or for baser motives, it would be desirable to subject the measures and conduct of Ministers to a more vigilant exercise of critical judgment. There is a vacant office for rising independent statesmen.
