NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE country has no respite from political agitation. The scene of party warfare is merely transferred from the capital to the pro- vinces. Public dinners, and meetings of Members with their constituents, in Lancashire, Yorkshire, Warwickshire, Gloucester- shire, Cornwall, Somersetshire, Hampshire, and elsewhere, keep alive the discussion of important questions. The vigour and ac- tivity of the Tories were never more conspicuous than at the present time. The provincial branches of the Carlton Club are constantly employed in organizing the party. Every post brings a report of some dinner or meeting, at which the electors in their interest are stimulated to exertion by the assurance of victory. Confidence arising from union—for the Tories move as one man towards one object, the recovery of power and office—marks the speeches and the proceedings of our opponents. The Reformers have their dinners and meetings too; but they give fair occasion for the Tory sneer that they cannot even dine together without quarrelling. Every gathering of the Liberals multiplies the evidence of Whig-Radical disunion. It is impossible to restrain dissatisfaction at the Whig opposition to Peerage Reform : it will break out from the earnest Re- formers. Upon the restoration of the Whig-Radical union all hope of successful opposition to the Tories must depend. The way to restore the union, we discuss in subsequent pages, in papers on "The State and Prospects of Parties," and "What is to be done ?" in reference to Mr. H. Bur.wza's pamphlet on " The Present State of Affairs." Unless a distinct plan of ac- tion, and efficient means for restoring the Whig-Radical union, shall be speedily adopted and unequivocally proclaimed, we expect to see the Tories in office at next Easter ; and the de- pression induced by the causes which will have opened the door of the Cabinet to them—namely, the Whig-Toryism of the present Ministers— will be such as to render the election of a Tory House of Commons, however lamentable, little less than certain !
