THE TORIES' " SELF-DENYING " PROGRAMME.
THE Quarterly seems, after a long and curious hesitation, to have finally thrown Mr. Disraeli overboard. In a paper, evidently written either by Lord Salisbury or some one whom he inspires, the great Conservative organ develops a new and, we are bound to add, a somewhat noble programme, one, however, which tacitly assumes as the condition of its success that Mr. Disraeli shall be either in Heaven or in the House of Peers. The great Conservative party is to be recon- structed without him. The writer urges all true Conserva- tives to recognize accomplished facts, and to act upon the principles they at heart entertain, to dismiss the delusions by which for two years they have been misled, and, of course, as a, consequence—though this is implied rather than expressed —to cashier the leaders who fostered those delusions. He would have them acknowledge frankly that the Reform Bill of 1867 was a frightful blow, that "the residuum" is unmis- takably Radical, that Mr. Gladstone is followed by a crush- ing though heterogeneous majority, and that the Premier himself is no monster of evil, but a sincere though most dangerous politician. Having cleared their minds of those cobwebs, he would have them pass two self-denying ordinances, —reject finally and for ever the alliance of the ultra-Radicals who will only help them at a price which it is ruinous for Conservatism to pay, at the price, that is, of outbidding Whigs ; and abandon the idea of taking office until time has bsought them a clear and an honest majority, a majority not secured "by perpetual political mendicancy, begging votes from bench to bench." The party, in fact, must revive "the spirit which was matured by the self-denial of the Whigs in the fifty years' exclusion from power which followed 1784." If they can but rise to the height of this resolve, can, that is, but maintain their principles careless of personal consequences, then the writer believes their triumph is ultimately assured, for the nation will sway round to them. The alliance between Dissent and democracy is drawing to a close, and with its ter- mination a most powerful impulse will be withdrawn from the dominant party. The abnegation of office will increase the moral weight of Conservatives, while the party will inter- mediately, though defeated, still be immensely powerful. It will act as the " fulcrum " through which the Whigs and the
• propertied Liberals can bring their weight fully to bear in moderating both the pace and the policy of the apparently ruling Radical party, can insist that their own reluctance to change too much shall be considered, even when they are apparently moving with the stream.
We cannot, as honest politicians, affect to deny that this is a programme deserving of some admiration, if only for its disinterestedness. It is easy to say that those who put it forward have little to gain from office except hard work and responsi- bility, and that rooms in Downing Street are no object of ambition to the owner of Hatfield House ; but strong men desire power, and there can be no function more irritating to men conscious of capacity than a lifelong advocacy of principles which are perpetually voted down. But it is, never- theless, an easier task than the abandonment of those principles; and the policy thus shadowed forth could, in the long ran, scarcely fail to succeed. The Conservative party so led would, for the first time since Sir Robert Peel's death, touch earth, place itself en rapport with the true feeling of the British people. That feeling clearly is that, for the present, Radi- cals must govern, that there is work to be done which none but they can do, that our institutions must be more closely harmonized with the needs and the prin- ciples of our time, and that Mr. Gladstone alone in England is competent to commence the painful and dangerous, but necessary task. It must be remembered, too, that English- men, slow as they are and fond as they appear to be of com- promise, seldom do work imperfectly, and that the completeness and rotundity of Radical principles have a secret charm. But with all this, there lingers not only in this or that section of the people, in squires, or fundholders, or agriculturists, but in, all, a distrust of express speed, a wish that heavy breaks shoukdl be always applicable to the coach, a great hankering for full- ness of discussion, and for a thorough examination of details._ The plan of voting in silence will not do when the votes are ow questions less exhausted and less thoroughly comprehended_ than the abolition of the Irish Church. There is a Conserva- tism, a reluctance to change because it is change, in England. which is not now dominant, which possibly will never be domi- nant again, but which strives and struggles for expression, and would exactly find it in such a party, organized not to intrigue for office, but to express one of the two great and permanent impulses of the nation. That vast mass of resisting power- with which in this country it is so difficult to deal, partly- because it is so incoherent, partly because it is so inarticulate,. would range itself quietly and gradually behind such a party,. and would find in it a truthful as well as an adequate mouthpiece of its wishes and its fears, would, we doubt not,. always be able so far to check movement as to compel the movers to consider whither their motion tended. More- than this just at present would be disastrous, but more. than this is at present impossible, and true Conservatism,. does not at present secure even as much as this. It is. so powerless in the Commons that it is compelled to fall_ back upon the Lords, a process which is just like damming- a stream in order to diminish the volume of its waters. Ultimately, moreover, as the great objects of to-day are. secured, the lassitude, the desire to pause, which is the English substitute for the Continental reactions, is sure to set in, and the party of resistance might for a time claim office without the surrender of any of its principles, and with the
approval of the majority of the electors, that is, with the power as well as the right to think for itself.
But though we admit that this is a policy which might succeed, and which would certainly restore to the Conservative party much of its coherence and its dignity, is it one that cam by possibility be accepted ? Would not its adoption destroy the party organization altogether? No doubt the rank and file- of the party, consisting as it does mainly of the rich and well- placed, is very indifferent to office ; but it contains quite the regular proportion of professional politicians, and more thaw the fair number of lawyers, who, though sincere in their Con- servatism, want before all things to get on. The "transfer- of their services to some more hopeful banner," which the reviewer avowedly expects, would greatly thin the Conservative- ranks, and probably dishearten the allies they most require, the ambitious young men who at first could join either party- without much discredit to their sincerity or injury to their- consciences, who have only tendencies, and not convictions.. This objection is serious, bat like the Reviewer, we cannot consider it absolutely fatal. It would operate mainly for the first few years during which the party confesses that it has no chance of power, for the place-seekers are quite keen enough to perceive when the reaction is drawing nigh. Any loss. of strength from this cause would be amply compensated by the solidity and prestige which would result from the winnow- ing process, and by the adhesions whieh. would gradually accrue. from among those Liberals whose basis of thought on all but special subjects is Conservative, men, for example, to take the very best case, of the stamp of Sir Bounden Palmer.- Nor is there very much to fear from that "other and nobler class, ardent- aspirants for fame, carried away by the excitement of the. political game," for as the history of the Whigs has shown, if wisely led, they also can be taught to wait. The real defect of the self-denying programme is not there, but lies in the difficulty, not to say the impossibility, of finding leaders. True Conservatism not desirous of office but very desirous of quiet is so apt to be inarticulate. In almost all periods the party has had to engage the services of soldiers of fortune, who want either plunder or pay, and just now it is singularly ill off for chiefs who can debate. There are plenty of Peers more or leas competent, but in the Commons Mr. Gathorne Hardy is almost the only man who could consistently lead a- party with such a programme, and Mr. Gathorne Hardy- would have very ineffective lieutenants. Sir S. Northcote, Mr. Ward Hunt, Mr. Walpole, Mr. Cave, are hardly the mew to fight such a battle as this successfully, a battle in which success will depend not only upon conduct, but upon the
thorough explanation of that conduct to the people at large. The self-denying Whigs were orators. Parliamentary conflict is, after all, a conflict in which inferiority of the tongue on one side is nearly as dangerous as inferiority of weapons in a campaign, and in this particular struggle the Radicals carry the latest and most improved arms of precision. Their fire was scarcely ever so fatal, or so deafening, that of the Tories scarcely ever so weak. And then—for this, after all, is the most real of all obstacles—supposing the programme accepted, and the party reorganized, and Lord Salisbury its avowed head, what is to become of Mr. Disraeli ? Is it possible to obtain his consent to an arrangement the basis of which is the repudiation of his strategy, or how does the Reviewer propose to dispense with it ? If the Member for Buckinghamshire were, as we said, either in Heaven or the Upper House, a Conservative party might be formed with the Volunteer motto on its banner, "For defence, not defiance " ; but self-effacement has never been one of Mr. Disraeli's political designs. If he is included in the programme, every one will know that the policy of self-denial is a policy of pretence ; if he is excluded, God help the Tory standard-bearers, for the breeze from behind will be worse than the enemy in front !
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