This does not mean that the cause of moderation and
of order, as contrasted' with that of revolution, will go under. That cause, in spite of reactionaries on one side and revolutionaries on the other, will remain the strongest social and political current in every English-speaking community. What it does mean is that the performance of the great function of Conservatism will no belong to the Conservative Party, but will pass to some new party formed ad hoc. But that will mean in many cases an un- necessary break with what we may call the amenities of political life—a break with valuable and sympa- thetic elements in the national life. The people who make up the bulk of the Conservative Party are by nature the people best equipped to withstand reVolu- tionary forces, because they have an instinctive and traditional power of handling the British people, and on the whole do it a good deal better than the hard-and-fast Liberals. Your Socialist will much more easily find a compromise with a Conservative than with a Radical, and vice versa. But this, though a great asset, can be of no use unless the Con- servative Party is able to free itself from the sleeping sickness which now possesses it, and abjures the policy of the "Better Nots." "Boldness, boldness, and again boldness " is as much wanted by those who preserve as by those who destroy.
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