WHY THE INDIAN OPPOSITION FAILS.
FEW propositions have been debated to so little purpose as that of the India Government Bill. Not for want of information, or of intelligence, or of honesty in the speakeis ; but for want of a set- tled purpose in the Opposition. It is this which distinguishes the opposition to the India Government Bill from other negative op-
ositions. For this want the speeches failed of practical effect. ether Mr. Cobden establishes the absurdity of ruling India by
" the double Government" in the name of John Doe and Richard Roe, or whether Sir James Hogg proves that the censors have themselves become confused in alleging confusion against the of- ficial accounts, does not matter much ; since there has been throughout a belief that the speakers were only uttering classified sentiments which expressed their own feelings without affecting the result, and that, after all the cross-purposes, Government would 'have a majority and proceed with the only measure in the field. It is true that in previous contests which have been waged in Parliament, it has happened that there has been on the one side
a Ministerial measure, and on the other a negative opposition, limiting -its immediate purpose to resistance against the Govern- ment plan; and those who have the conduct of the present joint opposition might point to such eases as precedents : but we doubt very much whether any precedent can be adduced for a course like the present which will not be a precedent also of error and failure.
There have, no doubt, been successful instances of blank oppo- sition ; but the circumstances have been quite different. It is very. desirable in Parliament to take the issue upon a proposition as simple as it can be made, because it enables the votes to be col- lected upon the broadest form of a question, which might repel some of its natural supporters if it were put in the specific form that might suit it more particularly to any one section of a party ; and for that reason, when circumstances are favourable, it may be desirable to resist a Government measure by a plain negative or by delay : but then, it is always implied that a distinct proposition remains behind, or that some public action is going on. When, for example, the Whigs proposed to suspend the constitution of Jamaica, those who were opposed to the Whig party, as well as those who were in favour of preserving some degree of constitu- tional independence for the colonists, could well unite in a simple resistance to the Government proposition : but then, the Govern- ment proposition being rejected, the result was, not a simple legis- lative vacuity, but the continuance of the state of affairs which both seetions of the Opposition preferred to the Government plan, which the colonists preferred, and which was in fact less of an in- terruption than the Ministerial proposition. The same case was an instance of a simple negative, involving even the retirement of a Ministry : but then, again, even in respect to the Ministerial crisis, we were not left to vacuity as the result. There was another statesman, with his followers on the Opposition bench, to be " sent for." In the present case the circumstances are precisely opposite. Put a simple negative upon the Government plan, and there is no plan to take its place ; turn out the present Ministry, and there is no better Ministry ready to undertake Indian affairs.
There have been eases of a simple negative, where the proposi- tion has not been one of subversion or interruption, and where there is not a routine to fall back upon. The Budget of Mr. Disraeli was met by resistance : but then, there was in the back- ground a Gladstone, to say nothing of many retired Chancellors of hensions. Mr. Bar.k1 found British Guiana engaged in financial the Exchequer, each of whom oould have produced as respectable a budget on demand.
There have been cases of resistance to a Ministry strictly repro- sentinc,6 a continuance ; as at the time of the Reform Bill, when negative coercion was perhaps seen in its nakedest form by the dissolution of Parliament, or by the popular cry to " run for gold" at the Bank of England, and frighten " the Duke" out of office with a panic. But in that case there were both a public and dis- tinct popular conviction waiting, the one to act and the other to be consummated, with a staff of statesmen prepared to take the place of responsible Ministers. The simple negation of the Anti-Re- form Ministry was practically the affirmation of the great popular proposition. Here again the present case is a perfect contrast. Accomplish the negative of the present proposition, and what re- mains ? What public is there ? Nothing but fragmentary germs of a public, scattered over different parts of English society, or over the continent of India. What public opinion is there ? None; but only a public controversy—a scattered conflict of opinions, which have not resolved themselves into any unity.
The Opposition ask for delay ; and we have also seen in Parlia- ment cases of a dilatory action where the opinion was embodied only by a comparatively small minority, and we have seen these minorities succeed. But under what circumstances? Let us take the case of Colonial Reform, the adoption of which has lent dis- tinction to more than one statesman in the present Cabinet. Upon that subject speeches were made, plans expounded, Ministerial motions resisted, inquiries by Committee obtained : but after what labour ! Before that, the authors of the principles now recognized as the guiding principles of Colonial Reform had worked hard,— first of all, with brain to examine and inquire in solitary toil, then with pen and tongue to inform the conviction of others ; then by every species of social industry to collect support; and latterly, after a long preface, enduring through what statistics account a generation, " the cause " of Colonial Reform made its ap- pearance in Parliament. But by this time it ha4 shaped itself into distinct and recognized set opinions, which nad already be- come so far known to the public as to be represented by names like " systematic colonization," or " responsible government,"— terms which represented ideas that required volumes to expound, —ideas, nevertheless, which passed current and were recognized by these names in public discussion. But this party must now look back to a period during which men young at the com- mencement have grown grey ; during which death has removed many from the contest ; during which states have risen and fallen. And at what period of the struggle would a two-years delay have sufficed, or been asked by any one of that party, as a sufficient time to execute its convictions off-hand ? Not one of that party, we believe, would have thought of arresting the whole government of a colony, much less of an empire. Yet the govern- ment of India is not a less matter than the government of a colony ; the future progress of its mixed races is not a more simple question than systematic colonization. Now if we look to the Indian Reform party, we seek in vain for that matured opinion, those distinct principles, which the Colonial Reform party could advance in justification of their steadfast labour. Delay is well when a party, already master of an opinion requires nothing but oppor- tunity to possess the public with its principles; but the party which asks a two-years delay in order that it may find data and get up a policy, makes one of those " prodigious bold requests," to indulge which, states cannot be arrested in their career nor govern- ments turned aside from the duty of the day.
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