SIR STAFFORD NORTHCOTE AT BALHAM.
Sill STAFFORD NORTHCOTE'S speech at Balham on Wednesday has this feature of interest, that it reads like that of a man who was really bethinking himself of the great difference between the Conservative party and the Con- servative cause, and doubting whether much that is done to serve the Conservative party is not very prejudicial to the Conservative cause :—" You have associated my name with the toast not of the Conservative party, but with something higher and more important,—I mean the Conservative cause. I am a party man, and I dare say most of you are party men. We are always ready to come forward and strike a good blow for our party, and we are always pleased to see any spirit of the party cropping up among our friends. But do not let us allow a mere party struggle to-blind us to the fact that there is something deeper and something more important at stake than the success of a particular collection of men. Every day and every year adds to the importance of the struggle in which those who desire to preserve the institutions of this country are en- gaged. Every year adds to our dangers and responsibilities, and when England begins to recognise the real position of affairs, and the greatness of the dangers to which we are exposed from one cause or another, the effect produced here and elsewhere on the minds of the people will be that which ought to be pro- duced in every Briton's mind, when he finds that he is engaged in an honourable, but a dangerous and difficult service." And after distinguishing in this marked manner between the claims of the Conservative party and the much greater claims of the Conservative cause, Sir Stafford Northcote, in another part of his speech,—doubtless intended to reflect silently on Lord Lytton, Lord Randolph Churchill, Sir H. D. Wolff, Mr. Cavendish Bentiock, and other party gladiators of the same class,—goes on :—" I trust you will do what lies in your power to support respect for the House of Commons, and that you will endeavour to incite men of standing, character, ability, and courage to take their part in the Parliamentary busi- ness of England. It would be a bad time indeed for this country, if it came about that our best men were to say, as they say on the other side of the Atlantic, that politics were odious to them, and that they would not encourage party struggles. Do not let us conduct our party struggles on principles that would disgust those whom we wish to bring forward to fight the fight fairly, boldly, and honourably." All this is very credit- able to Sir Stafford Northcote. He must be, and no doubt is, very well aware that not a few of his own followers have been so conducting themselves as to render the political field more or less odious to men of open and candid mind, and he rebukes them manfully, though not by name, for so doing. But he falls short a little when he comes to the point where many of his hearers must have expected him to make a clean breast of his own shortcomings, as a man who has somewhat forgotten the Conservative cause, in the pettier interests of the Conservative party. He is very solemn, almost as solemn as St. James, on the evils of an unbridled tongue. He comes very near to expressing thankfulness that he is not eloquent, and therefore has no temptations to reckless speech, such as, in his opinion, beset Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Bright, and Mr. Chamberlain. But he forgets that there are temptations which arise from the absence of an eloquent tongue, as well as from its presence. If you have no flowers of speech at your command for the decking out of a political cause, you may too often be tempted to coquette with attractions of another kind, such, for instance, as those involved in the offer of the financial bribe to the farmers, which won North Lincoln- shire and the North Riding of Yorkshire. We think Sir Stafford Northcote must have been thinking of the favourable reception he gave to these very unprincipled proposals, when he dilated so gravely on the sin of saying things which the speakers do not mean, but which, nevertheless, their language leads the people to believe. That language, he says very justly, "must be judged, not by the meaning in the minds of those who spoke it, but by the impression it produces on the minds of those who heard it." It is very true, and we wish Sir Stafford Northcote had had the courage to express his remorse for the encouragement which Lord Salis- bury and he had given to the Protectionist and retaliatory
movement called "Fair-trade," and to retract at once all the expressions of praise which he and his colleagues have bestowed on the fruits of victory so won. But candour going so far as this, it is hardly reasonable to look for from party leaders, however much they may prefer "the cause" to "the party." Sir Stafford Northcote prefers offering to take the mote of supposed sympathy with Home-rule,--which was not sympathy at all,—out of Mr. Gladstone's eye, and to leave the beam of expressed sympathy with those who try to regraft the Protectionist fallacies on our finance, quite unremoved, in his own eye, obliterating by its broad shadow much of the field of politics which he ought to see. Still, we are glad to see Sir Stafford Northcote dwelling on this theme of the duty of keeping the cause above the party, and rejecting, on behalf of the party, instruments which would eventually injure the cause. It is a wholesome and fruitful line of thought. It has not led yet to the rebuke of Mr. Lowther and Mr. Dawnay as dangerous and mischievous allies ; bat let only these principles sink deep into Sir S. Northcote's heart, and 'he may come to that at last. Indeed, we cannot help thinking that while Sir Stafford Northcote was lecturing Mr. Gladstone on the recklessness of his admission that if only the Irish could produce a scheme separating clearly between Irish interests and Imperial interests, there might be something at least for Parliament to consider, he was, in reality, reproach- ing himself for the single finger, and Lord Salisbury for the whole hand, which had been extended by them to the reckless agitators for a renewed Protection. There is something of a distrait air over this part of his speech. He apologises for his oppo- nents with the air of a man who is finding an excuse for himself. "I firmly believe," he says, "that certain words were not intended to produce the effects which they have pro-. duc,ed ;" but, nevertheless, it was very wrong to say them, all the same. Of course ; all ambiguous words which appeal covertly to strong passions and eager interests are a mistake, and we feel confident that in his heart of hearts Sir Stafford Northcote regrets none more deeply than those in which he has appeared to temporise with his own deepest principles the principles of Free-trade.
We cannot quite persuade ourselves that the idea has as yet glanced across Sir Stafford Northcote's mind that if he would but pursue, in relation to the new policy for Ireland, the course which the late Sir Robert Peel pursued with so Much advan- tage to the country at large, and with the approbation of the civilised world, in relation to Free-trade, he might really immensely strengthen the Conservative "cause," though he would break up the Conservative party in this country. But he is clearly more and more alienated from the " gutter-child- ren of politics" who render party strife both violent and vulgar ; and he certainly differs widely from his chief, if Lord Salisbury is to be regarded as his chief. But though Sir Stafford Northcote has probably not as yet taken into consideration how much he might strengthen the true Con- servative cause, as distinguished from the Conservative party, by giving a general support to Mr. Gladstone's government of Ireland, is that result .quite off the cards? Let him cogaider only how much it would strengthen the hands of the Liberal moderates,—how helpless it would leave the furious Tories,— how materially it would control the vagaries of ultra-Radicals,.--- if he brought over the reasonable Conservatives to the support of the Government. We have heard a great deal of the virtual identity of view between the Conservative-Liberals and the Liberal-Conservatives. Does it matter very much which section combines with that nearest to it on the other side of the House Does not Sir Stafford Northcote agree much better in substance with Mr. Gladstone than he does with Lord Randolph Churchill, or Lord Lytton, or even Lord Salisbury ? Would it not be true patriotism for Sir Stafford Northcote to secure those great institutions for the safety of which Mr. Gladstone is devising new buttresses, both in Ireland and England, by "educating his party" to renovate them in a sense something like at least to Mr. Gladstone's ? It would clearly be premature to found any hopes as yet on Sir Stafford Northcote's im- portant distinction between the Conservative party and the Conservative cause ; but is he not, perhaps, already envying Lord Derby the influence he has acquired in the counsels of the Liberals, and disheartened at finding how little of a Liberal- ising influence Lord Zetland and Lord Grey have acquired in the counsels of the Conservatives? For ourselves, we have never much believed in coalitions, but we have always thought it easier for Mahommed to go to the mountain, than for the mountain to go to Mahommed. If Sir Stafford Northeote will but consider deeply his own distinction between the Conservative party and the true Conservative cause, we should not be surprised to hear that his candid mind had come to the conclusion that he would do more to maintain-the great institu- tions of this country by following in the steps of Lord Derby, than he can ever do by trying in vain to curb the Fourth Party, or by explaining away the brilliant campaigns of Mr. Lowther and the damaging victories of Mr. Dawnay.
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