TOPICS OF THE DAY

PARTY PROSPECTS.

" Torn Corn question may cause a breaking up of parties." Since this vision peered upon our mind in dim vista, a fortnight ago, the great seers and prophets of the Conservative press have thrown some light on the more immediate consequences of the present agitation ; though the remoter issues may he affected by a complex variety of' disturbing and modifying circumstances, not yet as- certainable.

" We have no fear," said the Standard last week, " that the agriculture of the United Kingdom will ever be stripped of the protection necessary to its exittmee, because we cannot believe Parliament inFane ; but we have—and we Will not disguise it—the most serious apprehensions, that the artificially got- up Anti-Corn-law agitation will succeed. to the extent of breaking the C'Int- serratire party, ;tad inflaming, the populace to to dangerous degree."

The Tina's indirectly admits that these apprehensions are to a certain extent well-founded; for it publishes as part of a leading article, with general approbation, a letter, produced by the expres- sion of the ,'N'landard.:4 fears, acknowledging that such a divIilii2o9n. may take place among Conservatives in 1 839, as occurred in on the Catholic question. The writer, however, brings consolation to his party ; thought something akin to the comfort which the friends of Job administered to that afflicted patriarch- " As long as the Corn-question remains unsettled, it is suhstantially a rack ahead, uplri which, with the present views unfortunately Cntertained by moolaers of the Conservative party, any Conservative Garet',i, nt that mild be farmed inn.:t inevitably be irrei.layl. Such a prospective catastrophe cannot be contemplated by any Conservative without tine most painful regrets ; and, therefiare, for this among other r,asons, it is highly desirahle to have the matter prrnw crier ly elisposinl of withiaii farthil. delay."

'Ihe Tories are in a dilemma. If the " matter" be not " dis- posed of" by the Whigs, it will remain a " rock ahead," on which the Tory party will be wrecked. It catmot be disposed of by the Whigs, unless with Tory aid; but it' Tories aid Whigs to defeat Tories, " chaos is come again." In any cearse that ean be taken upon this question, a split seems inevitable : ttnd the Standards anticipations are justified by actual occurrences. In- tensely mortifying must be the disappointment of the Conserva- tives. They vvt re Cose upon the portals of powr.T. By extraordi- nary :ictivity, vast CX,;entliture, a liii iii It tlJs:inence front penult ure

attclop•ts on oiECC, fOrbear;;I:Ce, their numerical strength had been raised to nutrly an equality with that of the Liberals, internal differences accommodated, the buoyant confidence of hope inspired throughout their entire body, and their majority at the next election secured. The Whig Ministers were at their mercy. It WILS a question of how many weeks Lord MELISOCRNE could maintain himself in oflice. Just at the point of triumph they are stopped. This great party is threatened with dissolution. Divi. sions have begun, aad on a question of such immense importance, that no ekill or ::; .aegoment can prevent their growth and conti-

nuance for au in:len:life period. The diAtnien is already pal- pable in the di:spatee. 1..etween the two most influential awl widely- circulated orga:is of 1 iiparty, and iu the ion( thin of 'forio: with Liberals agitiast the Ceva-laws, in varioua 01,ties tl-eamginan the country. Th, of the 7',neo' yorre,penilent that the dlIK'rcnce lw only temporary, mall ttecued,.vith future uvents; ly.t the animo.,i,y en1ender,a1 te•naot be stain allayed, and it were 1.1 1-.) speculate, in thi:: agc ittr,;!isil%m. on the distant robabili- briog t.get!• rtb, uli s nlant el.enents of the present Censervative Clikt a prolonged re.4istauce nor a spci'Lly C•deietvative

leaders, on this qu,:stion, tU InVVciit frOCIL their

camp. The par:y may reco:1 4'.,,!.!)t; hut oi'ditrerent materials, and peedaps by it tv5ii us 'rhis view of the matter is confirmed le: A glance at the state and prospects of the Alinisterialists. The movement, so dis- astrous to the Tories, to s.une extent beoerit -them. Tne benefit. WC U.%1ICCt, will be hut temporary. liiui-eel., will not throw them- selves upon the couotry, aad deserve it ..e.e,1;, ,rt by undertaking a. set tik' that oldie tine...410110n the principloi1aboliAling "rrt,ti et it

(links of nil de,criptions. I th‘sy will t:Iltoe i vantaiT of party

divisions, and e: the now difficulties in the Way their Tm'y oppo- nents, to prolong their own tenure ot' place.

To the old Whig pt,rty, however. the Corn qu e..flon will be dis-

astr.e,:s, perhaps intNt to a iCC ft extent, thotuth they will net entieely. go :thong with OIL. 31;A:1,l'it,1 01.016' OW11 porters, who arc determined. that- the Cora -law. shall not runnt:o.

They will be oppo:.ed by many t. ,-en of the Whig an who on this ti t..e,t ion range themselves on the Tory si■le. Will those seceders cver return There will be a break up of Whigs as well as Tories ; and at no great distance, dissoltiCoo, or absorption by the tv,•,, great parties I.:to ‘,..hich the coune.y will be divitled—tIte Co.eaaa at lye' iota Ch.'

Reverting to mar prospe.As, vs il!ay 'Members uf the House of ('..anztons who pre !',-e, to le 1. (/.1, ad.,llf, and re- present popular and natiimal in tit: piv,;ent cir- cumstances? .1,.1,1::.1;2; :1%;111 experi,:.iee of th,.1 1. we should con-

clude that they will ;.ermit the OP Irehy, Whi.r, and Tory, to play

to put on record their dissent from the principles and policy which they cOndetnned. CHARLES Fox at the head of thirty or forty Members, shrank •not from this duty. In later times, Poxsosurir, WHITBREAD TIERNEY, BROUGHAM, and LAMBTON, supported by fewer votes ;hum the self-styled Independent Reformers now could muster, never held their small number an excuse for suffering the Ministerial Address to pass without a serious debate on the state of the country, in which theirprinciples were enforced and deve- loped, and contrasted with the policy and practice of the Govern- ment of the day. True, those men had an eye to office : they were the regular Opposition, and their main object perhaps was to turn out the Ministry and take their places. The Parliamentary Radicals profess to be actuated by for higher considerations. Practically, however, they are more timeserving, more v to compromise principle, than the old Whig Opposition. The speeches which Wittmann, HORNER, TIERNEY, Lord ALTHORP, Lord ARCHIBALD HAMILTON, PONSONDY, BROUGHAM, LAMB.. TON, and BURDETT, were wont to deliver in the Parliament of Boroughmongers, would be deemed indelicate, offensive, vio- lent, and "Ultra-Radical," in these days of silken subserviency. The fact is, that popular interests and popular principles are not represented in the House of Commons. Members who profess "independence" par excellence, are the veriest slaves of Ministers. Their moral incapacity to discharge functions which they ought never to have assumed, is manisfested by their shrinking and truck- ling on every occasion when courage end patriotism are needed. It would become them to resign a position which they OCCUPY only to

i delude the ignorant into a notion that the Popular cause s really maintained in Parliament.

• Agitation against the Corn-laws will not materially affect the position of the Parliamentary Radicals. No doubt, many will rejoice in the apology it offers for a continued support of the Whigs. The impolicv of dwelling on points of difference, and the wisdom of allowing Ministers to take their own course, rather than disturb the progress of the Corn question, will be urged as an ex- cuse for not pressing an amendment on the Address.* To ab- stain from aggression on the Government—to come to a sort of compromise, and agree to an armistice on the condition that Minis- ters repeal the Corn-laws—would not be a bad bargain ; there would be a Quid pro gm. But our expectation is, that, without ob- taining that substantial return, the Radicals will continue to aid the Government in all things essential to placemen, and will cite sham professions, and a few uninfluential votes on the Corn ques- tion, as proofs that Ministers deserve the support of "Reformers."

The Corn-law movement has left the Chartists in the background. But, though no longer prominent, they still exist; and nothing that has occurred, or is likely to occur, in connexion with the Middle- class agitation, can put them permanently out of the field. They have, however, damaged their cause materially, for the present, by failing to join their employers and the constituencies in the national effort to obtain removal of restrictions on commerce. In an early stage of the Chartist agitation, we had occasion to remark that its success would mainly depend upon the manner in which it was conducted—that the unenfranchised classes were on their trial—that their fitness to exercise the privileges they claimed for the good of society was under probation. Their recent behaviour at Birmingham, Leeds, and other places has revolted the common sense of the jury ; the verdict will be unktvourable ; and—it is not justice, but it is human nature—the whole working classes will long suffer in the estimation of those above them in the social scale, for the folly of a part,—who have, after all, only imitated their superiors, in too blindly following the misleading of false guides and self-seekers.

" Since the above was written, we have found a promise of Amendment, in yesterday's Morning Chronicle. " We understand," SITS the Chronicle, "that Mr. Buncombe, the Member for Finsbury, has promised to several of his con-

stituents that he will move an amendment on the Address in the following terms; and that he has pledged himself to divide the House on it. "That the amendment, in 1832, of the representative system, has disappointed the people ; that if is not, and cannot be, a final pleasure ; and that the constitution of the Commons House of Parliament requires further and immediate re- formation.' "

If Mr. DCNCOMBE has " promised" this, we have not a doubt of his per- formance. But how many a the trembling cowards and mean jobbers on the Radical benches will support him ?