POLITICAL "CONSISTENC Y' CONSISTENCY" is spoken of by some as if
it were to the politician what "virtue" is to the matron—that which satisfies all claims, and may supersede the necessity for every other grace; the impu- tation of its want alone conveying the last degree of infamy. There has been a plentiful use of the imputation this week, on account of Lord ASHLEY'S Ten-hours clause and its deserters. But there is this peculiarity in the political virtue, that those who profit by its abandonment do not acknowledge any vice : Lord ASHLEY'S friends are shocked at the inconsistency of those who voted first for him and then against him ; Lord ASHLEY'S opponents alone are struck with the inconsistency of Lord Jona RUSSELL, who spoke and voted for him, in opposition to his former opinions ; while he again ac- cused Sir ROBERT PEEL of inconsistency with himself in interfering with factory-labour but refusing to interfere more, and glanced at Sir JAMES GRAHAM'S now antique inconsistency. This idle impu- tation, for such it commonly is, may well be relinquished, and poli- ticians be judged alone on the merit of their acts. What does it matter how a man thought ten years ago, when our concern is what he does now ? In most cases it matters very little ; in a few it may matter much. When we see that a man, of strong under- standing, ten years ago arrived at a conclusion to which, with in- creased strength, he still adheres, our confidence in his foresight and in the probable truth of the proposition is fortified. When we see a man sticking to his declared opinion through long adversity, we admire his fortitude. In these cases, however, our admiration is not excited, nor our confidence fortified, by the accident that his reasoning has been stationary : but in the former we assume the integrity and sound reasoning powers of the man, and then take his steadfastness as a test that he arrived at the goal before others, and that one cannot go farther—that the reason is final : in the latter case, the consistency is in itself nothing—it is mere collate- ral proof that the man does not yield—it is the scratch in the sand, of no value in itself, which shows that his foot has not budged back for all the buffets of his foes. In one case, the soundness of the "consistency" is assumed as circumstantial evidence of the value of the proposition ; in the other, it evidences the man's courage and oppugnaacy. But no man whose intellect is worth much can help being guilty of what is commonly called " inconsistency " in the course of his life; for to avoid it implies, either that his mind never grows after he has first formed an opinion, or that he defers forming any opinion at all, till such mature years as to have attained the full growth of wisdom before he commits himself to a judgment. He must either be morally a "General Tom Thumb," whose consis- tency towards his tailor is admirable, or he must be an ultra "Hamlet," letting occasion always come before reflection and re- solve are ripe for action. Such consistency must indicate stolidity or fatuity alone : it was in its prime in the honest opponents of NEWTON and HARVEY—they were men not to be turned from their early-avowed opinions by the fall of an apple or the trickling of a little blood.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL has taken— in his own case, for he does not yet allow it to others—the strong ground, by avowinea change of opinion. His opinion has changed : of course it has, as every man's must do by the time he attains his grand climacteric, if his mind be susceptible of any growth. And if conviction be changed, to shape the act according to discarded opinion, is obstinacy, or cowardice—any thing but consistency. Change of opinion, indeed, may be suspicious when it jumps with interest. In that case, we may suspect that the change is not real but only ostensible, or that the mind has only achieved the operation, of which it was in itself incapable, under the stimulus of a selfish motive. But even in the latter case, we must grant a real consistency, however unworthily originating. Men may settle broad principles in early years—as that it is wise to be honest—that it is best to inquire what is right, and believing it found, to pursue it; but the idea of what is right will vary with the growth of the reasoning faculties, and the whole course of life is likely to be a gradual change of opi- nions as to practice, and he is really consistent who sticks to his conviction whithersoever it may lead. When Lord JOHN RUSSELL was convinced that all restrictions on labour were bad, he was con- sistent to oppose them ; but now, if he thinks some restrictions on labour good, having avowedly changed his opinion be would be incon- sistent to vote against Lord ASHLEY. The imputation, too, is often cast in mere blundering,—as when Mr. Councillor Saddletree charges Reuben Butler with inconsistency because he says " quivis" after having told the burgess to say " cuivis." Thus the apparent incon- sistency may lie in consistency on some point not perceived by the accuser,—as Butler was consistent to rules of grammar which Mr. Saddletree did not understand. Many of the eighty-eight who turned against Lord ASHLEY may have been on the whole in favour of a Ten-hours Bill, but have thought it a trifle in comparison with the choice of a Cabinet to administer the affairs of the empire ; and if so, they were not inconsistent, but consistent. When Sir Ro- BERT PEEL recognizes certain principles of economy, but also con- siders it prudent and judicious to work mainly with such tools as lie to his hand, though none of the best, and to make as little stir by his changes as possible, he is not inconsistent in his principles, but consistent with the whole scheme of his political philosophy. We may question his policy, but the imputation of betraying his own principles in idle. The pet virtue of political prudes, in whom it is often the sole at- traction, is losing its high price. Men are beginning to think less of squaring all they do in the prime of life or in mature wisdom by what they happened to commit themselves to when beardless or new to active politics. They are beginning more to prize con- sistent adherence to diligently-sifted conviction ; and altogether it may be said, that leading politicians are more honestly bent on doing the best they can for all parties. If their attempts are feeble, it is because they cannot cast aside habits of party ; they cannot, perhaps, even form the wish to do so—the very wish to be freed from an antiquated superstition is dreaded as a sin by the bigot who doubts it ; and they dare not as yet trust themselves fairly on first principles. Sir ROBERT PEEL treads upon an axiom as slowly, feeling it as lightly and gingerly with one foot,sas an elephant on a plank-bridge. For want of a clear and firm comprehension of principles now more frequently brought into use—for lack of bold- ness in handling the unaccustomed arms—the honest and most in- telligent legislators are in confusion. They are in the predicament of that well-meaning gentleman who, being asked if he could play a sonata on the fiddle, answered that be did not know, but he would try. Strange and ludicrous dissonances do Honourable Members evoke in their untaught willingness : but we must take the will for the deed while this reform in the way of political life is new. Legislators seem really to have begun to wish to do some- thing for the benefit of their fellow-subjects,—that is a great step ; by and by they will perhaps learn how to do it : but in the mean time, to twit them with inconsistency for shifting their early notions, is about as sensible as to blame the schoolboy for not sticking to his first mistakes and the bottom of the class.
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