THE NET RESULT OF DERBYISM.
THE gathering of the leaders of the Conservative party round the hospitable table of the Conservatives of Liverpool is certainly one of the most extraordinary incidents in modern political history. First, we have Lord Derby receiving an address, pitched in the highest key of triumph, from 7000 Conservatives. Next, we have the speeches of a whole Cabinet of " late" Ministers. And when we have surveyed the " splendid" scene and read the " elo- quent" speeches we ask in amazement, what is it all for ? Great expectations were excited in vulgar minds by the announcement that there would be a huge Tory demonstration at Liverpool ; a dress parade of the leader and all his host. It was known that what is called the Conservative party had acquired great strength, that its numbers in Parliament were equal if not superior to the numbers of its opponents. It was, therefore, naturally antici- pated that the banquet would not be held in order that certain gentlemen might sing to their own honour and glory, but that a distinct statement of the "platform" on which Conservatism is to stand next year would be uttered, a declaration of the prin- ciples which are to guide it would be set forth, a plan of cam- paign would be sketched out. The Conservative party has been reorganized under the auspices of Mr. Disraeli. They were pre- pared to contest everything everywhere—not only Ayrshire, which they have won, but the Chancellorship of the University of Edinburgh, which they have lost. They were supposed to be in a high state of party activity ; the doctrine of party government, incessantly preached by the Conservative prophet, had not been forgotten ; we all looked for a party plan. Vain are the antici- pations of men ! In the face of the 7000 signatures, in the face of the " splendid assembly," in the teeth of Mr. Disraeli and his theory of party government, in the face of his own united Parlia- mentary majority, in the face of the great " difficulties" of the present Government, Lord Derby gave the order to pile arms, and stand easy. He spoke with "entire and absolute-frankness" in telling his audience what he would do with his Parliamentary majority. "Perhaps," he said, "I shall disappoint the expecta- tions and the desires of some of the more enthusiastic, and pro- bably of most of the ..ounger members of this assembly, when I say that I have no desire for the immediate overthrow of the pre- sent-Administration. I should hold the same language were I to conceive that a momentary party advantage might be so gained." " Begone braves army, and don't kick up a row."
We do not wonder, after reading his speech, that Lord Derby should have given this advice. Complacent when talking of the doings of his late colleagues and himself ; eager in depicting the
difficulties of the present Ministry and their advantages; eloquent in general phrases, wherein the words "Conservative principles," "Conservative strength," "Conservative cause," occupy sub- stantial positions, Lord Derby did not lay down a single Conser- vative principle, point out one element of Conservative strength, or define what, under existing circumstances, is the Conservative cause. The nearest approach to a definition of Conservatism is contained in this blustering sentence— "I mean by this, not that Conservatism, falsely so called, which would obstruct all useful change, but I speak of that Conservatism which is not obstructive, and which is the best promoter of safe and gradual social improve- ments—of that Conservatism which, strenuously adhering to the old ma- chinery of the constitution, adapts from time to time the various parts of its mechanism to the real requirements and the real capacities of the age in which we live—of that Conservatism which should give to all orders and degrees of men within this realm their due weight, authority, and prepon- derance—of that Conservatism which loves the interest of the people at large, but will not be led away by the noisy denunciations of blustering dema- gogues either to shrink at the voice of menace, or timidly to concede rights and positions to large bodies of men for the purpose of obtaining a temporary moment of popularity, when in our hearts we believe the concession of those coveted boons would be the worst injury to the classes to whom we give them."
Might not any leader, of whatever party, have said as much as this, if called upon to say something at the request of 7000 eulo- gists ? It is magniloquent common-place, and not a statesman- like declaration.
We can only deduce from this Liverpool speech that govern- ment by the Conservative party means government by the leaders of the party calling itself Conservative. To obtain pos- session of the Government numbers are necessary, and therefore we find Lord Derby exhorting North Lancashire to oust Mr. Brown, and Liverpool to turn out Mr. Ewart, and elect Conserva- tives, that is followers of Lord Derby. We hear the old cry re- vived of " confidence in Lord Derby ; and the true name of the party after all is still " Derbyite." It has been revealed that the Duke of Wellington nominated Lord Derby to the leadership of the real old Tory party when it " was shattered" by the late Sir Robert Peel. Lord Derby accepted the office without much of a conception of its duties, and not knowing exactly what to do he carried out the policy of the statesman upon whose memory he casts a slur, and converted the old Tory party into a party of Derbyites. Mr. Disraeli on one side, and M.. Bright on the other, have made a great party for him ; but having no more ideas now than he had in 1846, it still remains in his hands what it was, and is only a machine wherewith to carry certain men into once.
But it seems that the Derbyites had a grand policy after all, and, what is more, that they have successfully, nay triumphantly, achieved it. In his somewhat sullen speech, Mr. Disraeli re- vealed the secret principle which has animated the Derbyite or Conservative party for many years. No man could have guessed it ; the idea was far too profound for that. This great object of a party calling itself Conservative, what is it ? " It has been our wish to put an end to that which I may describe as the monopoly of Liberalism." And this, the dearest wish of a party which has opposed all Liberal measures, has, it is triumphantly declared, been fulfilled. This is the secret of those " vicissitudes," those " changes" that looked so " capricious" to the vulgar. This is the secret of the famous India Bill, and the no less fa- mous Reform Bill. Henceforth " measures" not men is the party cry of the nee-Conservatives—measures, not " tradi- tions," which, hear it ye lovers of genuine Toryism, are " generally false." The monopoly of Liberalism " has been " extirpated," at the expense of the extirpation of the Conserva- tive party. How easy it would have been to extirpate the mono- poly of Liberalism in 1846, by not contending for the monopoly of corn, and in 1849 by not contending for the monopoly of navi- gation, never probably occurred to the satirist of Sir Robert Peel, or to the Wellington-appointed leader of the Derbyites. Think of its having taken ten years to destroy the monopoly of Liberal- ism, when the monopoly might have been destroyed any session in a single night by a vote of the Conservative party. If the Conserva- tives have become Liberals, why not say so, and show it to be so ? Because they have not become Liberals, and therefore cannot act as Liberals. Think of one destroyer of the monopoly of Liberalism exhorting his hearers to turn out two Liberals in Lancashire, and casting reflections on the memory of Peel, and another of the extirpators, expounding at once a theory of party government, and of a Government based on the maxim of " measures not men!"
Such, then, is the upshot of the Liverpool demonstration; held to demonstrate that the Conservatives have become Liberals ; to show us that with an immense following nothing is to be done; and to prove that the Derbyites have no policy, and no principles, but what they can filch from their party opponents. Such is the result of chasing from their ranks the most capable men they had —the true, the stanch, and the understanding followers of the late Sir Robert Peel.
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