Dissensions and schisms are not confined to the Whig and
Libe- ral parties : it is now clear that they rage even more violently among the Tories. According to newspaper report, sentence of excommunication has been pronounced by the Conservative Club against two of their most eminent members, Mr. Bethel and Mr. Acton Tindal, for heresy, or, as the sentence expresses it, for hay- ing ceased to be Conservatives "as the term is understood by the Club." An earnest prayer is breathed by the journalist who re- cords the event, that a similar measure of justice could be enforced against the holders of unsound doctrines who abound in the Carl- ton. This inuendo is understood to be levelled at the Peelites : the rules of the Carlton are assigned as the reason why these goats are not separated from the sheep as summarily as those of the Conservative ; but the true reason is suspected to be, that the here- tics in the Carlton are too numerous to be easily got rid of. The cat-and-dog life which Peelites and Tories of the old school must lead in the club, when affairs have come to such a pass, cannot be pleasant.
There is something very curious in the notion of a political club with one half of its members devoted in a moderate and conserva- tive way to the doctrines of progress while the other is quite as earnest in retrograde propensities. A "disruption" may be im- pending in the Conservative party, analogous to that which has al- ready occurred in the Kirk of Scotland, or that which some people apprehend may be brought about in the Church of England by the Bishop of Exeter. In that case, we may witness the establish- ment of a Peel Club. Assuredly the name of the great practical statesman of our time would be as good a one to rally under as that of the ingenious double of Burke, Mr. Wyndham. The prin- ciples indicated by the name of a Peel Club would be—conserva- tive progress ; careful study of the opinions and sentiments of the people, with a view to give them a useful direction; the cause of the Country, in opposition to the cause of Party.
