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MAY 15, 1858.

A FEW WORDS TO LIBERAL SECEDERS.

As the hundred gentlemen, who have attempted to form what may be called a Protestant sect of the Liberal party, have undertaken a very serious responsibility in face of the country, it cannot be but that every one of them must, at the present moment, be con- sidering, with great anxiety, how the very important step that has been taken may be made practically effective. It is supposed in these remarks, that the gentlemen who have entered the Pro- test, and combined upon the terms of the resolutions, which have been made public, fully understand, that their course is one which really involves the whole question of the Parliamentary distribu- tion of power, and therefore the decision of the actual immediate future of their country's Government. And the whole situation of the country in regard to the central power of its Legislature is so grave, that nobody would for a moment permit himself to doubt that these gentlemen will address their attention, in the most serious manner, to the right administration of the Parlia- mentary power they assume to take out of the hands of the Whig party. It is felt by independent political thinkers that unless the 120 can follow up the blow at the old governing men and methods by really effective organization, their course may prove of more detriment than benefit to the state ; as they will have only helped to prolong the Parliamentary divisions, which are unhappily prevalent. On the other hand it is equally felt, that if the seceding gentlemen bring only sufficient wisdom, firmness, tact, and discretion, to the task, they may advance the good cause of reform in its best sense, and do much to dislocate, for a long time, that system of government by cliques, which is evidently no longer compatible with the present position of the country. It is in the hope of assisting in the task and with great diffidence that the following observations are offered to the attention of the gentlemen in the House who are sharing in the movement.

It is not necessary surely to prove to the 120 gentlemen that unless they follow up the first step they will have done nothing. They cannot be so short-sighted as to imagine, that a simple ex- pression of disapproval of the late leadership of the party will be sufficient to produce any practical result in the " widening of the basis" of the next Liberal Administration, and infusing a heartier liberal energy into its words and deeds. Very little reflection, and consideration of political history, will be enough to prove, that governing cliques are difficult to persuade, and yield only to unavoidable necessity. And it is easy to see, that the step of the seceders has only been followed by a hurried assault upon the posts of Government on the part of the leaders, whose course is censured. Their reply to the gentlemen who are seeking for a redistribution of political power in the sense of modifying the Whig supremacy, is a contemptuous and resolute reassertion of it in a practical form. It will not be necessary therefore to prove at length that if more is not done, nothing is done.

Perhaps the matter of paramount importance is that the gentle- men protesting should realize fully to their minds the difficulties of the cause to which they are pledged, and the obstacles to suc- cess. The task of successfully working a party rebellion is a most critical and delicate one. And it requires for successful prose- cution the exercise of much fortitude, self-denial, and watchful- ness. The policy of rulers who are threatened by a combination of insurgent forces is always to buy off, or threaten off, or tempt off some of the malcontents, and thus by destroying confidence to destroy insurrection. For it can never be sufficiently remembered by those who rise up against " constituted authorities," that among insurgents a few examples of defection, whether from fear or jealousy, may shatter the whole resistance. Mutual confidence, compact organization, and good leadership, are the absolute es- sentials to effective results in work of this description. Now it is not possible for the seceders to shut their eyes to the fact, that there exist some facilities for the threatened leaders to call in play disgusts and jealousies, whieh may go far to weaken, if not paralyze, the present movement. And it is therefore urgently required that all who take part in it should, brace their minds to a

seriousness and determination, which shall render it impossible for any except persons of undeniable personal weight to be promi- nent in its working, and shall also make it feasible to put by with a gentle peremptoriness, and without danger, claims on the part of gentlemen whose zeal is greater than their personal weight in the House or the country. It should be remembered that, in the absence of a strong moral and intellectual leadership of the party in Par- liament of late, it has been possible for gentlemen to achieve a pro- minence in the talking part of the work of the House, who do not command that species of regard which belongs properly to leaders. It is of importance that the right place and right measure of every man should be severely taken at a moment when the characteris- tics of leading men are being brought critically into question.

But perhaps the point of greatest importance is that the hun- dred should organize themselves. The appointment of whippers- in was useful, but rather an anticipation of results not yet ob- tained, and which require other methods. For this purpose of or- ganization, it is quite indispensable that those gentlemen should in the first instance make up their mind to select the man in the Liberal party, whoever he may be, without fear or favour, who by his previous course and Parliamentary position, and general cha- racter and conduct, may seem fittest, most worthy to be followed, and constitute him leader in the true old Parliamentary sense, so far as such a thing is practicable now. It would be in the high- est degree improper to suggest any person. And it is the object of the present writer to consider principles and means of action exclusively. And the selection to be of weight must be the ex- clusive work of the gentlemen themselves. Without such a se- lection of leader the movement will fail of effect, unless it be to rivet the old fetters of exclusiveness upon the party. For it will not be unnaturally felt by the country, and urged by the old leaders, that unless the gentlemen had some one person at least of such unequivocal merit as to justify their proposing him for a high place in the future councils of the State, their movement is not to be justified ; whereas if they have such a one it is their, business to prove the fact, by elevating him at once to a position of undoubted authority among themselves : not mere shadowy authority, but substantial authority and right of being deferred to. It may be said without exaggeration, that the power of find- ing such a man, and the capacity of listening to and adopting his counsels will be the crucial test of the present movement : proving whether it is a mere passing ebullition of spleen, or the result of a serious resolve to have a change in the" men, and practices of government. Because, indeed, the resolution, which the gentlemen who met in the Committee- room No. 11 came to, that in future Liberal Administrations should be formed upon a "wider basis," will be a mere brutu7n fulmen, unless they themselves virtually point out to the old Liberal leaders who are to be the men that are to represent this greater width. And it appears to the writer, that there is no Par- liamentary method of doing this save by ranging themselves, in the old Parliamentary fashion, under a leader. The present writer is anxious to draw the attention of the seceders to the truth, that perhaps there is no body of persons more helpless without the leadership of a single man than a discontented section of a Parliamentary assembly. For the purpose of making bodies of that kind efficient, the mere general sentiment of sympathy in discontent, or the action of a sort of committee, are alike equally insufficient. The general sentiment, standing alone and not manifesting itself in forms of Parliamentary action, is likely to be viewed with a scorn, not altogether unmerited, by the old leaders of the Liberal party, who have been familiar all their lives with the truth, that without the active working of "whip- ping-in" and a somewhat implicit adherence to party leaders, there is really no continuous constructive power to be wielded in a public deliberative assembly. A. mere committee of negotiators on the part of seceders with the old leaders will be treated by them with just so much of attention as is deserved by gentlemen who engage in a task which they themselves make impracticable. As long as the 4' 120 " have no individual man command- ing their votes, the threatened. Leaders will feel quite safe, because they will know that if the negotiators go away re infeetd,

and with ever so much of discontent in r hearts, they will be able to do nothing skrionsly to impair the osition of the " con- stituted authorities.". But • But if the sec • time* men v4ield 'lo ; adtive tpewer f reorganizing the Li rty without leaders, Ina the other ha U,

if they allow the movement to degenerate into e mere casual and undeveloped protest they will unhappily, as has been said, do much harm to the future healthy working of Parliament. There is no time more dangerous than that when allegiance, whether it te to sovereigns or party leaders, is in a transition state. And every man who has his country's welfare really at heart ought to Melia all prudent haste to put an end to a revolutionary time of that description. Much has been said this session aloont the HeAtS# and Members stultifying themselves ; and plans of legisla- tion, ofererhich many doubt the wisdom, have been adhered to ex- pzessly on t4 ground that the House having begun must perse- vere. The justice of this view it is not proposed here to discuss. But if its force be questionable in regard to legislative schemes, the whole seriousness of which lies in details, and which may well be made to pause for the teachings of time, ihere can be no doubt that the duty of not stultifying themselves is plainly and most Undeniably applicable in the case under consideration. Those gentlemen, who have solemnly recorded their discontent with the late leadership and Government of the Liberal party, have put their hands to a work in which it will be morally discreditable in the highest degree not to persevere. It will be most unfortunate if the party rebellion should prove to be as little the object of public respect and satisfaction as the leaders against whom the rebellion is directed. The country will not know to whom to look among regular public men, and Parliamentary influences, and methods, for the establishment of a strong government, and the carrying on under its guidance of the work of reform. And the gentlemen, who have failed to carry out what they began, will be sully perplexed in their own consciences for future action ; while the plain consequence will be that the subdivision of the House into sectarian bodies will be aggravated, until some calamity come. And the old leaders of the Liberal party, who have already shown themselves singularly unteachable by events, will be more and more unwilling to submit to correction and guidance : and more and more turn a deaf ear to the proposal of admitting the new men, who are needed, into the charmed circle of family government. Already there are sup- pressed murmurs in the country of discontent at the state of things in Parliament. Already a return of the old Chartist agitation is threatened. The signs of the times, if read carefully, will cer- tainly induce the gentlemen, who began the Liberal secession last week, to leave no method untried whereby they may win a real and speedy victory over the governing cliques. For it is not im- probable, unless in the present session of Parliament some hope of a better state of things is aftbrded, that the autumn will not pass away without a dangerous agitation. The Crown is the object at this time of the most devoted and affectionate loyalty of all classes Of Englishmen. The Parliamentary and administrative systems have grown during these later years into serious discredit. Any man who is capable of reflection can see that a violent popular agitation, arising in such a state of public feeling, may prove a more serious danger to the balance of the constitution than any it has yet en- countered. For the demand for strong government will in the end overbear every other, and may prove fatal to all institutions whose working seems finally incompatible with its realization.

'All evils of this kind may be averted if the Liberal seceders have only patriotism, courage and unselfishness enough to select

a leader and follow faithfully until the final reconstruction of the Liberal majority. If some gentleman can be found, who, upon serious consideration and inquiry, shall appear worthy of the post. combining all the essential requisites for a high place in English statesmanship, very important results would follow, and that before long. In the first place, the ranks of the seceders would be immediately swollen by large accessions from the ranks of that class of prudent persons, who pay allegiance to success alone. And in the next, the spectacle of so decided an organiza- tion would bring the older Liberal leaders, who are really Libe- rals' to terms immediately ; and cause those who are but Tories in disguise, to range themselves definitively with that party, thereby simplifying all Parliamentary issues as regards men ; and placing the question of future reforms in a more plain and intel- ligible position. All this would be the inevitable, speedy, and valuable result of a real organization of the seceding gentlemen into a party, with a purpose and a leader. It is difficult to be- lieve that gentlemen who have entered upon a course likely to be so fruitful if this be done, and certain to be so barren if it be not, oan stop short in the way, and be satisfied with an ineffectual, and, therefore, slavish protest, which will cover themselves with ridioule, as well as aggravate the situation in Parliament. When Englishmen take up a work they generally mean it and do it. At least it Was so in former generations. And, until the sad con- trary is proved, the present writer for one will net believe that there has been so pitiable a degeneracy from the old, strong, kpaotical, English character, as would be involved in the utter failure and dissipation of the ,present movement of the Liberal party, answering as it so plainly does, to the plainest and, most unmistakeable necessities of the time. Were this to happen it' would be almost demonstrated that the present governing erd pad away, and that either from above or below, from-Crown or‘ ppdple,,new strength muse be infused, and that right soon, entoi the dried-up veins of the constitution. Awe:ming that thenzeee-; ment will really continue, there are furthereconsiderations, which may not be without some, important bearing upon the question of its success orfailure.

It maylbe urged upon the ientlemen, whatever be their number, or whoever tiny may be, who setiouste cotabineifor the end of re- forming the Liberal party that dining the process of organizing

themselves, during the pendency of the negotiations" this ", public service " does really require that what passes should not be subjected to all the irritations consequent on public criticism. Publicity is a most valuable thing after results are obtained, and for securing responsibility beyond a doubt. But there are oc- casions when the dangers and temptations that attend it more than counterbalance its advantages. At a moment phen the con- science and judgment of members of a party are under all the perplexity and doubt of a change of allegiance, it is no help, but the greatest hindrance to them, to find each step the sullied of vexatious and conflicting criticism in the press. If the Parlia- mentary leaders and opposition of the Long Parliament had hadeto concert their measures in the full glare of unlimited publicity, it may be safely said that the liberties of this country could never have been conquered. Gentlemen, who have undertaken to free their party from the domination which at present oppresses it, cannot do better than consider the moral to be de- rived from this consideration. As men of the world, they must be aware that their every movement is watched, with the most jealous anxiety, by the governing circles, who are threatened by the demonstration. And they can scarcely fail to see whaa, opportunities are afforded in the present state of the public press for bringing to bear upon those who from hesita- tion, from moral or intellectual weakness, fail to see their way in questions upon which hesitation is excusable, influences, para- lyzing action, and turning uncertainty into positive helplessness of mind.

It is deeply important that the art of government and states- manship should be, in some degree, reflected on by Liberal dis- contents. For, though the mere craft of statemanship is justly exploded by improved public opinion, and the influences of publicity, yet there is still a certain art of government, one of the highest departments of practical wisdom' which has its laws and conditions, its proportion and its perspective, and without which all attempts to organize parties, and to turn the stream of public events through Parliamentary methods will result in a mere aimless beating of the air. Now the press of England though a powerful and most useful servant of the country, though a most valuable agent in the prosecution of the general work of reform, and absolutely invaluable as the general exponent of public opinion, is, it 'cannot be denied, an actual embarrass- ment in that critically delicate region of affairs, where matters apparently publici juris require almost the privacy of the house- hold and the confidence of private life. Moreover, on the forma- tion of a party, it is essentially necessary that men should be looking exclusively to chosen leaders and themselves. But the force, the overbearing forge of the eye of public opinion, looking through the press, is such, that unless deliberations are made matters of strict degree of privacy, those who are engaged will certainly be looking to the public, what it thinks and says, rather than to the very work in hand. Public opinion is a worthy object of allegiance, but Bunkum is a pestilence ; and the very Legisla- ture itself is now only too much infected by the side glance in that direction which men in the highest places do not disdain to bestow.

A movement of secession in the Liberal is only too likely at this

moment to content itself with merely- popular cries, as though in the presence of vast multitudes, instead of engaging in the wise and well-matured practical courses, which can alone produce Parliaments'', results, but which peremptorily require the cool de- liberation of the conclave, end can never flow from the tumultuous passions of a public assembly. But every assembly, though it be a compound of but ten men, will certainly partake of the charac- ter of a public assembly, if it reports its proceedings through the press to the public. Perhaps there is nothing more absolutely necessary to be realized than the force of these considerations by all who engage in such a task, at the present moment, as the for- mation of a Parliamentary party. Again, one great reason for

i privacy in cases of party insurrection, is plainly this, that the numerous persons who would gladly take a part in die stage of discussion, but who wisely determine not to identify themselves with abortive movements, are debarred from that freedom of ac- tion and speech, which belongs to private society as distinguished from public action. It requires some little strength of will and purpose for public men to escape from the absorbing demand for publicity, which the press in this age makes ; a demand which it is no doubt justified in making in its own interests; but which at some times, and in some affairs, may well be resisted, in the pa- ramount interests of the public. The two are not always, though it must be Confessed, very nearly always identical.

These remarks are 'offered with unfeigned diffidence to 'the gen- tlemen, who are engaged in the truly patriotic course of endea- vouring to restore order into the disorganized Liberal party, and in the fear that with all their good intent, they may fail., or prove only a premonitory symptom of the future, from not observing those conditions, which appear to the writer essential to success. They are written, hewever becauie they seem applicable to all !future efforts in ihe same direction, and are net ' bound up with Ithe.succeas or failure of the present attempt.. It is scarcely ree- 1 s4ble that such an element, .as 19011141 be 1,41'14 .Government -act sincere a.e,00eclance with the 00*-

to make the next

try's desires, will be introduced into it, without a com- pact Parliamentary pressure ulion the Liberal 4ehders. They are persuaded that they are the true exponents of the only practicable and rational Liberalism, and no dohbt regard the present attempt as mere fantastic absurdity and captious discontent. In the first opinion, though it is excusable from their long oonnexion with and services to the Liberal party, they are undoubtedly wrong, though it would not be easy to persuade them, or indeed any man, that they have fallen a little behind the time and the rest of the world. They boast a perpetual youth ; but the wrinkles of political senility are painfully obvious even to their best Mends and warmest admirers. It is the business of those who have undertaken the task of dis- proving this notion to take care lest the second is justified by a fiasco in the movement of insurrection. It will scarcely be avoided without great care, wisdom, and patience. But the country will require that some such movement should succeed, and will reserve the future prizes of government, as well as its hearty devotion and respect, for those who can evince sufficient patience, discretion, and wisdom, at once to separate themselves from systems of government that have broken down, and to keep themselves free from unfruitful movements or demonstrations, which shall have in them nothing that is constructive, none of the elements of that success, which, in the practical affairs of life , justifies every- thing save a departure from moral principle. It is the business of those who engage in public things not to fail, not to make mis- takes. In the old Parliamentary system of England men anxiously tried to avoid discrediting themselves in the eyes of the public by rashness, or a falling short of their aims. It is to be hoped that those who are desirous of restoring vigour to the nation's arm will not benumb it by an ill-considered Parlia- mentary agitation, capable of being quelled by the laughter of the unshaken veterans of office. It is to be hoped that in asserting the truth of a new government and a new policy, they will set the example of a recurrence to the old English virtues of steadi- ness of will, of discreet adjustment of means to ends, which should be the distinguishing characteristic of those who are re- puted the most practical people in the world.

A BARRISTER NOT AN M.P.