One hundred years ago
There is one fact which every Liberal Meinber who votes, or abstains from voting, upon the motion of Censure, ought to bear clearly in mind. There is only one practical alternative to a Glad- stone Government, and that is a Salis- bury Government. No coalition of any kind is possible, and no medium Gov- ernment. The Whigs, whose adhesion Tories always expect, are not going to adhere to Lord Salisbury, and so to destroy their last chance of moderating and directing the advanced Liberal Par- ty which will in the next Parliament be so strong. Mr A. Austin may believe, if he pleases, that Lord Salisbury, Lord Hartington, and Mr Goschen ought all to be in the same Cabinet; but if Lord Hartington made the attempt — and we beg his pardon for the suggestion — he would forfeit all confidence throughout the country. He is a Whig, not a Tory, or he is nothing; and the line of cleavage between a Whig and a Tory, though it may seem to some observers so thin, is in the case of leaders nearly impassable. As to Mr Goschen, he may be Premier some day, if he is able to form a group which shall bear to Liberals the position the early Peelites bore to Tories; but his day has not arrived, and he is obviously not going to be the spokesman of a reinforced Tory party. Lord Salisbury, if he defeats the Government, must take power himself.
Spectator, 21 February, 1885
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