TOPICS OF THE DAY.
THE SESSION OF 1858 AND ITS LESSONS.
IT is impossible to deny to the session of 1858, whatever may he its defects, the praise of a strong dramatic interest. Whatever else it may not have done, it has certainly furnished the most striking example yet seen in Parliament, of rapid political justice dealt out to a powerful individual statesman. And by that singular irony with which the events of the world are permitted by the higher powers to be tinged, the effect of this memorable example has been heightened by minute details, which render the lesson more impressive than it would have been had they been wanting. It is a fortunate circumstance for the historians who love antithesis and contrast, that Lord Palmerston, who at the outset of the session appeared to hold the destinies of the Empire in the hollow of his hand, whose tone, demeanour, and tau, were lordly and imperial, at its close was subdued to the small busj.. floss of inquiring about the fate of the iron hurdles in the parks. Four short months ago this might have appeared a winning act of condescension, a charming token of the interest in the recreation and refreshment of the public, felt by the Atlas, who had been good enough to take our English world upon his shoulders. Now alas for the mutability of human fortunes ; the benevolence is all merged in the ridicule of a contrast, which a better taste than that of the ex-dictator would- have known how to avoid.
Still the incident is serviceable in . bringing into prominent relief the fact that, after all, the main thought and purpose which has been in the mind of Parliament during this year of grace has ripened into perfect execution. The House of Commons proposed to itself the task of exorcising Lord Palmerston, and well has it been fulfilled. For not Diocletian among his cabbages more strikingly exemplified discrowned power, shorn of all symbols of authority, than Lord Palmerston 's closing demonstra- tion. against the iron hurdles of the parks of London.
Whatever may. have been sacrificed for the purpose of more effectually immolating this great offender, it is certain that the provocations which, at the commencement of the session' and in its early progress he had offered to Parliament and the country were of no ordinary description. It is not necessary now to dwell upon the succession of blunders on the part of adversa- ries, upon the skilful diplomaticrjournalistic, and electioneering influences, through which Lord Palmerston had placed himself upon a pinnacle of what seemed almost dictatorial power, by the middle of last year. When the full political and party history of these late years comes to be written out and discussed, the success of Lord Palmerston, and the failure of others, will appear equally remarkable for the absence of any apparent clue of me- thod or principle in the actions alike of those statesmen who went up, and those who went down in the political scale. It will ap- pear marvellous that the Peelite section and the leader of the old Whigs so little knew how to preserve their footing or their dig- nity in the midst of the difficulties raised by the war ; marvellous that Lord Palmerston should have evinced so little of political wisdom or tact, to balance the political unscrupulousness by which he managed, for a brief time, to place his heel on the neck of his adversaries. But the fact is not less humiliating to the perception of the British nation, than damnatory of the states- man, of whom the session of 1858 is the protracted hic facet. It was ridiculous and humiliating to country and to Premier alike, that the statesman, who was placed with such frantic andill:consi- dered enthusiasm at the head of affairs in the spring of 1857, should; in the short space of one year, contrive to exhibit in his govern- ment and his actions every conceivable Political defect. -Oligarchic 'exclusiveness, cynical. disregard for repute in public men, a tri- fling with personal honour, rudeness amounting to a political misdemeanour in a free state, disregard of the duties of protection towards imperilled citizens, and a demeanour towards a despotic ally which involved the sacrifice of national honour in its dearest part, all these things stamped the character of Lord Palmerston's Government with an offensiveness, which made it impossible for it to live. But it was not the less discreditable to the country at large, that the thing, which it had so unmistakeably created by the spontaneous burst of its oivn will, should prove so rotten and valueless. •.A public opinion which can be deluded into a choice so soon to be disowned with scorn anddislike, should abate some- what of its pride, and seek for surer helps and better guidance for the future, lest a worse thing befall it. The fall of Lord Palmerston was felt by careful political thinkers to presage a period of extreme danger, or at least of critical transition in the Parliamentary life of England. With the bursting of the bubble majority created by the unfortunate general election of 1857, the disruption of Parliamentary parties it was felt would be shortly completed. Statesmen had lost the habit, almost the power of working together ; followers and leaders no longer occupied any relation of confidence and subordination. Everybody was everybody else's noble or honourable friend. But hostilities of principle, and passionate private animosities, deeper even than existed in the old days of genuine party warfare, were faintly and disagreeably masked by these grimaces of courtesy. The session had been devoted, by a pledge of the Premier, to the consideration of Parliamentary reform. But the Indian mutiny, which brought out with striking force the reckless disregard of ability in -administration which- characterized the Government, had, furnished to Lord-Palmerston the opportunity of falsifying his pledge by raising the cloud of Indian legislation; while the posi- Lion of Mr. Vernon Smith, a frivolous and incapable person at the Board of Control in times of such overwhelming seriousness, almost amounted to the promulgating of the doctrine that intel- lectual power has nothing to do with affairs. Under these cir- cumstances the Government produced an India Bill, which, under the plausible appearance of creating an undivided responsibility, grasped at a power and patronage in a manner which alarmed the already exasperated House and country. When the Government resigned the Opposition had pledged it- self, by its vote, to the proposition that, at that moment, it was not wise to revolutionize the English branch of India Government. But the Cabinet of Lord Derby had a serious question to propose to itself when it took office. Lord Derby might fairly conclude that the censure on Lord Palmerston was so unequivocal, and the impossibility, at the moment, of forming a Government out of the so-called Liberal party so manifest, as to justify him, though in a marked minority in Parliament, in taking the reins of office. But the question immediately arose, on what footing should his Go- vernment stand with the 'House in which he was so deficient in strength. Should he dissolve ? Or should he by skilful pander- ing to the passions, or excitements of Parliament as it stood, by a sacrifice of the independence of the executive, and a trifling with the prejudices or convictions of the great bulk of his supporters, en- deavour, gradually, bit by bit, to establish his Government, not in the possession of a majority, in the old Parliamentary sense, but at least in the position of never being outvoted ? To the lasting discredit of the Government, which had its unwholesome origin in the corruption and decay of Lord. Palmerston's Administration, the latter alternative was chosen. For the first time in Parlia- mentary history, a Government, calling itself Conservative, em- bracing in its supporters the great body of the conventional aristocracy of the country, was formed upon the deliberate prin- ciple of becoming the creature of Parliament. If it be true, as wise men have always said, that there are no institutions so sound, though the creation of long centuries of careful political con- struction, as to be indestructible at the hands of unscrupulous men, it may be said, without much exaggeration, that Lord Derby's Go- vernment has imperilled the ancient constitution of these realms. The health and strength of Parliamentary Government has hitherto lain in the fact, that England has alwaj s till this day, produced public men who were of too dignified and proud a tem- per to be the creatures of a public assembly ; who, in their quality of servants of the Crown, felt that they had to maintain in all their strength and integrity those permanent attributes of Government, which the Crown more especially represents and guards. No example so flagrant of the reckless deter- mination at all hazards of principle to keep power, has ever been afforded as by Lord Derby's Government. Yet the temptations to the course taken were, it must be admitted, many. If the administration showed by its conduct that power was the chief of their thoughts, on the other hand the opposition, or at least that section of it which was headed by Lord Palmer- ston, and has been familiarly known in the talk of politicians, of late, as the Cambridge House clique, has evinced just the same reck- less selfish lust of power in all their Parliamentary proceedings. , Both on the benches of Government and of Opposition the spirit of self-seeking and of party has been uppermost, to the exclusion of every honourable emotion of patriotism, and to the destruction, for the time, of the old gentlemanlike and chivalric bearing, which formerly distinguished the Englishman. This condemnation of both Government and Opposition alike was forced upon men's minds by the great Parliamentary struggle on Mr. Cardwell's mo- tion. The Government championed a despatch, and the Oppo'sition a proclamation which were perhaps two of the most objectionable state papers, diet it ever entered into the minds of statesmen in their respective situations to pen. Ittis not necessnry now to rake up the particulars of .that offm,sive eimtrOversy, in which the rival combatants desired' of Parligasent to Choose between endorsing a policy of destroying the lirestige of English Governinent; in the eyes of India, or of reckless, impolitic, cold-blooded confiscation, destructive of every hope of future good government. Such an issue was never raised by contending politicans in the face of day since human annals began. And every man, whose brain and
heart were free from the ignoble passions of the strife, rejoiced when, in obedience partly to the. instinct of detestation of Lord
Palmerston's ejected Government, partly in confused perception of higher and better things, the House fled, as it were, shrieking from the consideration of the question. Every one rejoiced that no vote of the House pledged it even to the appearance of sanc- tioning either of the .evil. contending principles, although the ab- stention protracted the official existence of a Cabinet which had proved itself unfit, in discretion, as well as in the morals of Parlia- mentary statesmanship for wielding the Government of the country.. • Concurrently almost with this great and abortive faction fight on the Cardwell motion, efforts had been made, in the party of the nominal majority, to construct an independent organization, which should have the effect of obliging the Liberal leaders to come to some understanding with their party, and reestablish the old action of the Parliamentary machine. To that movement, though without the expectation of any seriously important , results, this journal gladly gave the support, at least, of anxiously . considered counsel. But it soon became evident to the pain, but not to the disappointment of observers, that the just elements of dissatisfaction with Whig statesmen which formed the nucleus of , the proposed organization, had in them no principles of political life and growth, to lift them out of the rude chaos of discon- tent, into the harmonious, and steady action of a political power. It became painfully evident that the disintegration of Parliament was complete ; that for all purposes of new party combination, of a new basis of cooperation between leaders and followers, the class of Cabinet Ministers, and those of dis- contented followers were alike valueless and effete. Rumours were heard, once and again, of new efforts to construct a party of opposition. But nothing in the shape of a real combination on principles under statesmen came to break the sullen cynical in- difference of the leaders, and the helpless, and almost ludicrous discontent of followers in the Liberal majority. And as the session grew on, men's minds reluctantly came to the conclusion that the Parliamentary field was open for this new regime of truck- ling statesmanship which the Cabinet of Lord Derby were so ready to commence. • For questions could not displace a Ministry which was either ready to make or withdraw propositions at every breath of Parliamentary desire, an operation in which they were assisted by the jealousies of the divided Opposition ; and a vote of censure was impossible, where there was literally no Go- vernment by which, had it been carried, Lord Derby's Adminis- tration could have been replaced.
The actual work of the session has borne the stamp of the pecu- liar circumstances under which it was produced, but it is suffi- ciently remarkable. Some domestic questions have been settled, owing to the attitude of concession adopted by Lord Derby, which remained too long on hand, and the removal of which from the field of controversy clears the ground for future action. The ad- mission of the Jews, and the abolition of the property ilualification were among arrears of unsettled settled questions, which bad. be- come obstructions to the course of business and political growth. The India legislation of the session is its most remarkable feature. Taken up by both Governments, that of Lord Palmerston and Lord Derby alike, in the merest epirit of self-seeking, with as little thought as might be for the need of India, or the nature of the crisis, and carried forward throughout its principal stages by Lord Derby's Government with a mixture of helplessness, and of contemptible deference to Parliamentary ignorance or passion, it received at its close something bearing a remote resemblance to dignity of procedure, and value in result. This was duo to the Parliamentary bearing of the young statesman, who went to the India board. after the disastrous expulsion of Lord Ellenborough. Although every provision of importance in the measure had been made the sport of circumstances, trimmed, retrimmed, inserted, taken out to suit the Ministerial exigencies of the evening, or the peculiarity of feeling in Commons or Lords, yet the strong effect of moral power in an individual public man has asserted itself in this case as it always has done, and will. And the public feel greater confidence in the future of Indian administration by rea- son of the presence of Lord Stanley, as the new Secretary of State, believing that a man of mark and of sincerity, though unripe, will do better with the somewhat inferior legislative materials with which he is to work, than would one of the worn out class of formal routine statesmen, with the most admirable possible act for the government of India. It is scarcely possible to refrain from putting the question, though it seems of but little use to do so what is to be the history of next session in regard to the inter-action of parties and states- men ? Is her Majesty to have an Opposition or not ? And by what possible combinations is the old balance to be again struck between two contending parties, by which alone the Ministerial responsibility, about which so much has been talked this session, can ever really be secured ? At present, the Government of Lord Derby are irresponsible, because irreplaceable. It seems scarcely possible to frame beforehand any conception of the Parliamentary arrangement which shall supersede the difficulties thrown in the • way of creating an opposition so organized in leading and follow-
• ing, as to give a choice to the House between the present Ministry- . and possible successors. If it were not that Lord Derby's Go- vernment had, in their short period of office, alienated from them the approval and sympathies of all those politicians who recognize character as an element in political power, the country would acquiesce in the continuance of the present state of things, hoping that, with the practice and responsibilities of office, weight of pur- pose and earnestness of action might be acquired by the Govern- ment. But the peculiar course, which it has taken, altogether for- bids the supposition of its continued and stable existence. It has already suffered some things, and pledged. itself for next session to others, which will have the effect of breaking up the ranks of its own supporters, who have already given signs of a marked discontent, that cannot fail to have before long a great effect upon the progress of events. • In fact, the only body in Parlia- ment which still retains something of the signs of coherence is rapidly breaking up under the pressure of the times, and the future relations between Ministers and majorities are clouded with the deepest and most unfathomable uncertainty. The moral weight, the clear decision, the statesmanlike voice and presence, the bold initiative of strong yet prudent minds, which might furnish new rallying points for the scattered forces of Parliament, are entirely wanting. The sheep have no shepherd ; those who have most insight into the working of existing evils preserve an im- penetrable silence. In a word, the whole type of Government at the present moment is transitional and avowedly provisional. Two sources only are there now from which men will have to look for the restoration to our Parliamentary life if it is ever to take place, of its old tone of vigour, and the introduction of stronger characters and more massive intellects. In the first place, it seems likely that both Parliament and country will have to take lessons in the great school of events. The vessel of the state which now drifts, may drift on to rocks, and the stern wrestling with shipwreck will cause people to understand the perils of weakness, and produce a demand for strong men, which cannot but be satisfied, in a nation where there abounds so much of all the raw materials of greatness. The atmosphere of Europe is surcharged with political electricity ; questions abound which can scarcely be solved without convulsions. Diplomatists are assuming, and Queen's Speeches, perhaps, must echo the as- sumption, that clever manipulations at council-tables can elimi- nate the dangerous parts from these questions, and find some terms of compromise for them. But such problems as are ;raised by falling Turkey and rising Italy cannot be solved by any formule. Diplomatists cannot galvanize Turkey into a life that will fulfil the ordinary duties of national existence ; nor mesmerize Sar- dinia into a surrender of the principle which strikes at the very life of Austria. Important events must arise out of the effort to reconcile the irreconcileable, which will demand a different type of statesmanship in England. In this direction men who can distinguish between the settlement and the abeyance of moral questions, look with expectation not unmixed with deep and almost devout seriousness for the rising of the clouds, from which will pour down rains to remove the drought, and make the green grass grow again on the sandy arid political desert of England. But there is another, more direct, less speculative field of expectation to which men must also now turn their attention and their actions. It is abundantly clear by this time that the political energies and capacities of the higher and middle classes of the country, of those who, by the possession of the suffrage, tell upon the action of Parliament, are no longer sufficient of them- selves to give due direction, in principles, and in leading men, to the politics of England. It is, indeed, now a serious question whether the social and commercial ease, which is so largely and happily enjoyed by those classes, does not operate as a disqualifi- cation for that strong, steady interest in national affairs, which, except in the first flush of national purity, in what may be called the holy infancy of states, is felt only by the few wise or the many suffering. It is thought by many, that there exists in the artisan class of this country more of that serious, steady., though it be comparatively uncultured thought and, desire, which gives tone and determination to the action of states, and preserves them from the decay that follows close on such frivolity as marks the whole length and breadth of the existing political scene. In that opinion we are being driven, by the stress of events, by the breakdown of the foremost men, and the silence of supposed coming men, to share. But if it be true, a large and liberal mea- sure of suffrage extension may yet prove the most conservative of measures ; and if the argument be of any use to Lord Derby in dealing with refractory country gentlemen and Peers who may not like the Reform Bill of next session, should he introduce a real one, we make his lordship a present of it with all our hearts. At least it is the only one by which he can justify his hand in being the agent for carrying such a measure. If he succeed in persuading the classes who at present monopolize the political power of the state that its honour and safety require that their privileges should be shared by those who
"Grind among the iron facts of life, And have no time for unrealities,"
he will do good service ; for assuredly the thing seems true. To our minds it is now a question whether of those two influences to which we look for the corrective of the present negative politics of England, the storm of great European events, or the redistribution of political power at home, the one will move faster than the other. That the country is advancing to new and untried forms of political being and fields of political action is clear. There is a vast mass of social and moral power which is not represented in the action of the state. England bears none of the signs of a de- caying nation. The times are quiet, and the sense of her respon- sibility is for the moment weak. But she has the noblest race in the world to draw upon ; and the foremost position in the world to retain. And be it sooner or later, she will find better men and a healthier political life, through which to work out her des- tinies.
Previous page
