ARCADES AMBO. A CTIVE preparations are being made for the groat
match which is to be run at the next General Election on the Bristol course, and last Monday both competitors were taken out for a preliminary canter in the presence of a large number of their backers. Sir Stafford Northcote's Fremantle, three years, makes his first appearance on the political course, and is apparently a docile and good-tempered animal, but he ap- peared scarcely up to his owner's weight, whose style of riding is, moreover, rather old-fashioned. The young one, provided he can last the distance, would probably go better if he were given a little more of his head. Mr. Berkeley's Sir Morton, aged, is, on the other hand, a staunch old horse, with a showy, heavy gallop, which has more than once brought him first to the Parliamentary winning-post. It is in his favour that, on the political turf also, age carries weight—a rule the propiaety of which has of late been much discussed, but to which the public seem inclined to adhere. On the whole, it is probable that Sir Morton will carry the blue and buff of Mr. Berkeley to the front as he passes the judge's stand. We feel that we owe an apology to our sporting contemporaries for this feeble attempt to borrow the language sacred to the noble animals whose contests they chronicle, but in the present state of parties candidates take such excessive pains to repre- sent the difference between them as purely personal, that one is tempted to take them at their word, and jest over the struggle as if it were true that nothing in the shape of prin- ciple is at stake. This sort of language is not now confined to boroughs where parties are equally divided, and each side is bidding for the votes of the trimmers. It is heard on the lips alike of Ministers and would-be Ministers, of veterans as well as aspirants. Sir Stafford Northeote sings the same song as Mr. Fremantle, only a little more heavily, a little more solemnly, with, if possible, rather less originality and fresh- ness. We are Conservatives, say one side, with a smirk,—but true Conservatism means progress. We are Liberals, boast the other,—but we respect "the rights of property," admire "a peerage who devote themselves to the welfare of the people," and "love the Queen." Meanwhile elections seem to be contested with as much spirit as ever, and our old friends Mr. Frail and "the Man in the Moon" are believed to be in no want of employment. Mr. Berkeley's notion of his position at Bristol is that he has "a host of enemies ready to fly at him, ready to cause contention among friends, ready at the time of election to flood the place with beer and corrupt it with money." What, then, are we to suppose—that all these rivals are simply fighting for power and place, which seems to be the logical result of their assertions? Or that the difference between them is really as great as ever it was— that each party wants to go on in the old way, and wants to persuade the constituencies, sick and tired of both parties, that the old way is bran new, passes through an unexplored country, and leads to a fresh goal ?
First, let us hear Mr. Berkeley and Sir Morton Peto. What have they got in their wallet but the same old wares which have been staled before us at every election for the last forty years—the ballot and the 5/. franchise? Nothing what- ever. And then Mr. Berkeley moans that no progress can be made with his pet crotchet, because it meets with no support "out of doors ; " but he never seems to draw the inference that if the public do not support him it is because they do not care about the ballot, because they are sick of the ballot, and do not believe it would do them much good if they had it. One would think that Eng- land was made for the ballot, and not the ballot for England. If people do not care about it why do not politicians let it drop ? Why do not they turn their attention to the ques- tions which people do care about ? Even Sir Morton Peto seems to have considered it as inevitable. Then of course Re- form had to be touched on, and whatever may be said, people do care about that. There is a growing feeling in society that a certain portion of political power must before long be conceded to the labouring classes, and at the same time there is a conviction that to ask the upper and middle classes to hand over all power to them is neither reasonable nor just. We believe that almost any compromise, any plan which should reconcile these two apparently conflicting beliefs, would meet with an amount of support "out of doors" which would astonish these repeaters of the old shibboleth. But Sir Morton Peto has nothing to do with ideas of this sort. They are new, and he can make neither head nor tail of them, but while he repeats the old song he tells the people of Bristol that he has set it to quite a new tune. Mere indefinite lowering of the qualification is not, he says, universal suffrage, and even if it were it would not pro- duce here the same results which it has produced everywhere else, because we have an aristocracy that cares enough for power to take their share of political toil. And then rather unfortunately Sir Morton mentions the case of the Duke of Newcastle, who was "misunderstood." No doubt he was, but by whom ? The impatience which he suffered from was certainly the impatience of the popular element in our consti- tution, and the more the franchise is lowered the more imme- diately and directly will its power tell on the position of states- men. We very much fear that however much people may love the Queen and admire the nobility, the numerical majority will use power as it has always used it, as indeed every class has always used power—for its own advantage. But if the Liberals cannot escape from their worn-out party cries, have the Tories anything better to give us ? Mr. Fre- mantle is a young man, and one might have hoped that he would have looked at the political situation with his own eyes. But alas! Mentor was there to tutor Telemachus, and the pupil spoke in the very spirit of Sir Stafford Northeote. Empty plati- tudes were the beginning and the end. Mr. Fremantle is for "progress," but not "needless change." Who ever was in favour of needless change ? He is for peace, but not at any price. He is for reform, but not revolution. He is for re- trenchment, but not "at the cost of efficiency." Sir Stafford sets his sails to the same breeze. He is for " Conservative progress " but not for "destructive reform." And then after i th perfectly unmeaning rubbish Sir Stafford had the audacity to give us yet once more that dreadful old Elizabethan. house. That eternal mansion is a perfect bugbear. It comes down on the imagination like lead, and haunts one's memory for the next twenty-four hours like a nightmare. We know the whole simile by heart, we- know it is in Washington Irving, and should not be sur- prised if some learned person were to show it to be in Homer,. and have been a favourite metaphor with Pericles, or even Solon. "If we had an Elizabethan mansion, and wished to- preserve it, we should be careful to adapt it to the state of the age, and stop every flaw in the walls ; but if we wished "- but nobody does wish anything, except never to hear of that Elizabethan incubus again. Let the reader go as carefully as he will through the Tory speeches, and we defy him to find a sentence with a definite meaning of any sort. Only let us into Downing Street, they say, and then you will see what you will see,—a piece of information which is valuable, no doubt, but just a little shadowy. Both candidates in fact seem to have felt that they had nothing to say upon politics which their audience cared to- hear. The Liberal has a definite policy which cannot be carried into practice, and which he recommends by assuring people that it would effect nothing if it were. The Tory is ardent for progress, but then it is to be progress which leaves you just where you were when you started,—and he describes his policy in very fine words which it is undeniable have served him for many a long year, and so ought to serve him for many a year to come. In short, the differ- ence between the rivals is that the latter wants to do nothing because it is something, and the former to do something which amounts to nothing. But then if they resemble one another so much in principle, consider how wonderfully they differ in everything else. Mr. Fremantle is a man of a county family. Sir Morton is a man of business. Mr. Fre- mantle is young, and Sir Morton—well, he is not young. Mr. Fremantle is prepared to devote himself to politics as a pro- fession, and Sir Morton has seventeen years' experience. Mr. Fremantlehas local connections, and the blood ofsome of the good. oldBristol merchants running in his veins. But then Sir Morton has been the largest employer of labour in this country, and indeed is quite cosmopolitan in his acquaintance with working men. He has employed them in Europe, Asia,. Australia, and "other parts," and must therefore be admitted to be "as capable of judging what they are made of as any man." But then, on the other hand, Mr. Fremantle is a Conservative "of much promise," which is also true, only his promise is so very vague. However, it really is not our province to decide so very delicate a question as these gentle- men have raised at Bristol. If it were a matter of opinion,. our poor thoughts should be at the public service, but these personal comparisons are positively beyond all others odious, and must be left to the constituency which awards the prize. Whenthe rose and the lily contend for the mastery, it is Flora alone who can adjudge the laurel. Only is it necessary for a constituency which confessedly cares little for either party always to select its representatives from thorough-going party men, who address themselves to the politics not of this generation, but the last, and repeat without variation either the impracticable Liberal pledges or the worn-out Tory plati- tudes. Young or old, it does not so much matter, so that they have thought out the questions on which all men are thinking, and are not afraid to tell us in plain words what is the result they have arrived at. For our own part we should rather expect to find such men among the rising generation than that which is passion- away, and think that while elderly men of business, who neither want nor are fitted for office, are a most necessary element in the House of Commons, they are- perhaps already there somewhat in excess. On the other hand, of all members the worst are young men who do not pretend to have definite convictions—who have the rashness and inexperience of youth without originality or vigour of thought. Candidates of the right sort may be found. The Liberals of the commercial City of London found such a man —the Conservatives of the cathedral City of Canterbury found another. We are disposed to recommend the electors of Bristol to look yet a little further. If" the Anchor Society (Liberal)" and "the Dolphin Society (Conservative) " can do no better for them, 'ti 4ht not the " Grateful Society (purely social and compq n Antary)" be set to work ? Any- thing to get the political wheels out of the old ruts.
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