TOPICS OF THE DAY.
RESUSCITATION OF THE LIBERAL PARTY.
FOR some weeks past, we have noticed symptoms of an inclination existing in different parts of the country, to greet Lord DUR- HAM, on his return to England, as a Leader of the Liberal party. There has not been any thing approaching to a general manifesta- tion of such a desire; but it has been expressed simultaneously in respectable newspapers in the North, Middle, South, and West of England. This week, the subject has been taken up by the London press. An article in the forthcoming number of the London and Westminster Review, written by the eloquent pen that defended the Ordinance in the August number, but with a more temperate enthusiasm and measured judgment, opens the discussion. The paralyzed condition of the Liberal party, for want of a common banner, a bond of union, and leaders, is forcibly painted ; and then the Reviewer points to the man who could reunite the scattered band- " Lord Durham was this man. Of no other man was there the same reason to hope, both that he might be willing to put himself at the head of the Liberals, and that he would be able by doing so to render them the predominant party. And he alone was so marked out for the position, by every consideration of cha- racter, station, and past services, that if he chose to assume it, he could do so without rivalry or dispute; that all the best heads and hands which the party could produce would flock round him with their services and their counsels ; and the whole of its effective strength would come forth at his voice, and give him that decisive majority in the House of Commons, with which he might again break the power of the aristocratic faction, and this time provide more effectually that the dead might not be able to revive."
The qualities required in a leader of the Liberal party are thus described- " Nations ass not governed nor saved by fine sentiments, or clever person- alities, or dialensical acuteness, or book knowledge, or general theories. If they could, the Liberal party would not now be in search of a leader. A true poll. tician knows how to put all these things to their proper use. But the man we want, is the man who can recommend himself not solely by the ability to talk, nor even merely to think, but by the ability to do. We want a man who can wrestle with actual difficulties and subdue them ; who can read the aim of selfish natures bard to be spelled,' can bend men's stubborn minds to things against which their passions rise in arms; who needs not sacrifice justice to policy, or policy to justice, but knows bow to do justice, and attain the ends of policy by it. We want a man who can sustain himself where the consequences of every error he commits, instead of being left to accumulate for posterity, come back to him the next week or the next month, and throw themselves in his path; where no voting of bystanders can make that success, which is, in truth, failure ; where there is a real thing to be done, a positive result to be brought about, to have accomplished which is success—not to have accomplished it, defeat."
It The capabilities of the Popular party for conducting the govern- ment are insisted upon-
" The Popular party will soon be either the ascendant power in this country, or a thin, feeble, and divided opposition to the Tury ascendancy, according as they are or are net supposed to possess, or to be capable of producing, such men. It is what the world, at present, by no means gives them credit for. The world sever gives credit to anybody for good qualities till it is compelled to do so. It denied them honesty, it denied them learning, literary accomplishments, philosophy, oratory, while it could ; it now denies them capacity for action. They are considered essentially unpractical. Can they wonder at it? In the first place, this is a charge always made in politics against honest men. Next, it is a charge always made against men who stand up for general principles, or distant objects. But, above all, it is always made against men who are un- tried, and who there is no desire should be tried. They are untried. They have to prove that they can be men of action. They have their spurs yet to win."
There will be much of acquiescence in the last remark. No- body denies that the Popular party labour under the di-advantage of being considered "unpractical"—that they have yet to prove their capacity for " action "—that they " have their spurs yet to win." But the present nightmare of a Government once shaken off, and a new rally, with large but defined objects, commenced,— and to which movement the first requisite is a leader of' principle, talent, energy, and in fluence,—victory were yet possible—the power to stop any Government in a vicious course, certain. The Times, therefore, as an organ of the Conservatives, fell foul of the Reviewer's recommendation, and treated it with fierce derision. The Ministerial journals felt uneasy ; not being sure of the atti- tude which Lord DURHAM would assume Toad their patrons in Downing Street ; fearful of treating him with impolitic disrespect, and yet unwilling to give in to the notion of his becoming formi- dable in opposition. A leader is nothing without followers ; and where are they to be found, especially since "the Masses" have split-off from the " Moderate Radicals ?"
" The Masses " would not be so serviceable to feeble Whigs or ambitious Tories, in this review of forces, positive and negative, as the Downing Street people pretend, if the said masses saw reason to believe, that the men requiring their support, though not going the full length of their demands for organife changes, would use the power with which they might be invested, for the practical welfare of the bulk of the people. At present, " the Masses" have scarcely a solitary representative—they have no party—in the Legislature. Neither have they out of Parliament leaders who entirely command their respect and confidence. Offer them such, before taking it for granted that they would not be followed. Convince them that exclusive legislation for "class interests" would be superseded by measures for the gene- ral benefit of the community ; and then —but not till then—might they be expected to postpone the demand for universal suffrage, till to concede it would not alarm even the timid.
It is certain that the only chance for reorganizing the Liberals, so as even to form a usefully strong Opposition, is to proclaim a policy of decided and well-defined progression. The middle classes now stick to, while they despise, the Whigs, because they dread the backward movement, which, they assume, would ensue on the return of the Tories to power. But show them the cer- tainty, or even the fair prospect, of advancing without going the length of universal suffrage, and gladly would they discard the sickening policy and disappointing men of the Juste-milieu. That the progressive policy is necessary to the reconstruction of the Liberal party, and to the success of any statesman who aspires to lead it, is fully recognized by the only great politician on the Liberal side now prominent in the public eye—of course, we can but mean Lord BROUGHAM, who when in office was supposed to be more inclined towards Conservatism than most of his Whig colleagues : and, unless Earl SPENCER has recently changed his opinions on the subject, we understand that he also is convinced that it was a fatal error in the Whig Ministry to withhold from the millions the expected fruits of the Reform Act.
Suppose, then, that the Liberals might be again brought to move with effect under a trustworthy and capable leadership, pledged to use the power given by the People for the benefit of the People, is Lord DURHAM to be our roan? This is a question which we cannot answer so readily as the sanguine author of the article in the London Review. We wait to see what Lord DURHAM will do himself. Flattery never yet made a statesman, though it may have spoiled many. If Lord DURHAM is fit for the post, the pre- sent state of the Liberal party will enable him to assume it. There is no election in these matters. A really great public cha- racter creates his position. A leader of the people does not wait to be wooed, as if he were a beauty in her first season, and John Bull a lover " sighing like a furnace" at the idol's feet. So, if Lord DURHAM is destined for this great work, he will manfully take up his own ground, and call upon the People to rally round his standard of Practical Reform. Every thing depends upon himself; and much upon his first steps. It is not going too far to say, that he has the game in his own hand, if he has courage and skill to play it out. This is a point on which his past career does not entitle anybody to speak with certainty, though, when not unkindly reviewed, it encourages hope.
Previous page
