William Harris

“ There was such fulness and activity of national life, such a wide diffusion of public spirit, such sympathy between the awakening energies of the people and the ablest and best of their leaders, as must have seemed most hopeful to those engaged in the work, and contrasts quite tragically with the gloomy close of the century, brought about by the influence of the French Revolution on English thought and feeling, and by the long and disastrous war to which it led. ”

“ Men began to have some practical conception that the Tories thought it their duty to govern the people (for their good) as a disposable property; that the Whigs thought it their duty to govern as trustees of the nation, according to their own discretion; and that there were persons living, and effectually moving in the world of politics, who thought that the people ought to govern themselves through the House of Commons. ”

“ There is no doubt that Burke's argument in favour of party allegiance under a Parliamentary system is unanswerable. Representative government will be impossible if men who are generally of the same way of thinking will not consent to so far modify their individual views as, whilst preserving their principles, will enable them to agree upon the details in which those principles are to be embodied. But the circumstances of the time were peculiar, and, in Pitt's opinion, the rule of the Whig oligarchy was as much opposed to political freedom as would have been an absolute monarchy itself. ”

“ Philosophers have drawn conflicting pictures of that future; for us it is enough to trust that, if it is the result not of violent artificial change, but of natural growth and development, we may, whilst doing the duty which lies nearest to us, possess our souls in patience. It was different, however, at the time when Burke and Fox were separated. Then efforts were being made in Europe to overthrow established institutions by violence, which, however well deserved, seemed incapable of replacing the forms it destroyed by others suited for the permanent service of society. ”

“ But the party was shattered and rendered useless by the secession, and ministers, no longer opposed even by the eloquence of their old enemies, were entirely unrestrained in their policy.
Secession such as this is a course which admits of no justification, more especially from a Liberal to whom the principles of representative government ought to be dear. It is conceivable that a man who obtains a seat, either by purchase or the exercise of hereditary or social influence, may come to look upon his office as a piece of property to be used or enjoyed for his personal ends only. ”

“ John Wilkes was one of those reckless people who rush with delight into positions from which more delicate natures shrink, and by their very extravagance irritate the powers they attack into violent proceedings that must end in failure in any country where law is more powerful than personal authority. However personally unpleasant such men may be, they often furnish the only possible method of testing the justice of an administration of law which aims merely at preserving the respectabilities of social life. ”

“ It was indeed a fire in which to try the temper of men and nations. The revolutionary clubs and associations of reformers were undistinguished by the opponents of all change, the voluntary suppressors of sedition, the friends of "Church and King," and by every class and grade of the official world. It was at this time—the end of 1792 and the beginning of 1793—that many of the old Whigs followed Burke in his hatred of France, his resistance to reform, and his support of the most coercive measures of the Government. ”

“ The Constitution, the form of government which Burke was willing to accept, was the result of constant and continuous growth and change. But he seemed desirous, and his theory involves the necessity, of arresting this process of development. The wisely expedient thing is to be careful that alteration is not mere arbitrary change, but the consequence of natural growth. But Burke, as we have seen, opposed every suggestion of constitutional reform. The necessity of some reform was accepted by almost every other great practical statesman of his time. ”

“ Freedom and self-government are essential elements in the happiness and nobility of a people, and the supposed interests of the governing class—be that class large or small—will affect the character of its legislation.
If, then, there is any reality or any usefulness in the existence of a Radical party, it will employ its energies in two directions—in the endeavour to extend political rights and duties; and in the effort to promote, as far as law can fairly do so, the diffusion amongst the whole people of the real blessings of civilization, material, intellectual, and moral. ”

“ Forms of government would be, as Pope said, indifferent:
"Whate'er is best administered is best."
The whole case is changed if we take the other view, and regard political institutions as a part of a living social organism. Inorganic machines may remain unchanged, but to a living organism change is a part of the law of its being. Either growth and development or decay and disintegration are, and always must be, going on. It is the test of the wisdom and sagacity of statesmen, that they shall know how little or how much change is desirable or inevitable. ”

“ The time was one, indeed, in which, on both sides, there were manifested the passion which is born of political excitement, and the violence which springs from terror. Timid people might be excused if, in such a mad world, they clung with desperation to existing authority as the only protection to society against revolution and anarchy. ”

“ It is only in the legislature that direct and immediate influence can be exercised over the principles and policy of the government. Until it can find expression there, no cause and no party can be said to be within the range of practical politics. Any change forced upon the nation by powers extraneous to Parliament would, if possible at all, be revolution, and not reform. ”

“ It was soon to be seen how little permanent strength could be possessed by a Ministry supported by a mechanical majority in the Commons, not united by any devotion to common principles, and not in harmony with public feeling in the country which could either impress the court or make effective an appeal to the nation. By these events both the possible arms of an actively Liberal party were disabled: Pitt by his alliance with the court and his obedience to the wishes of the King, and Fox by the alienation from him of popular sympathy and affection. ”

“ He has been accused of having taken up politics only as a resource when his fortunes were ruined and his character lost; but niceness of morality and purity of political motives were not universal in the public men of the time, and Wilkes, at all events, sought to serve not the class who were dispensers of wealth and honours, but that great body of the people who were too frequently regarded by placemen and party managers as machines to be used and property to be disposed of. ”

“ Even the last bulwark, that created by Fox's Libel Act, was respected, although by increasing the powers of juries it preserved the liberties, if not the lives, of many men obnoxious to the Government. The protection afforded by the Habeas Corpus Act was suspended more than once, and the country prisons were filled with suspects; but the suspension was effected by the constitutional power of Parliament, and freedom of debate in the House of Commons itself was never denied. The old struggle on behalf of liberty against authority was indeed continued, but it was carried on under new forms. ”

“ Grey, on the 26th of May, moved for a sweeping reform in Parliament. The time was not wisely chosen, the long existing fear of change was increased and rendered more acute by the mutiny, and yet he obtained ninety-three votes for his resolution, which was more than double the number he could rally six years before in the last Parliament. Yet in spite of this increase the outlook seemed so dark, the battle so hopeless, that Fox and many of his followers resolved to give up the struggle, and to cease to attend in the House. ”

“ He cannot hold a commission and refuse to fight. It is always open to a member to decide whether or not he will continue to hold the trust; but so long as he holds it, he must perform the duties. When he can do this no longer, he must give way to one who will—otherwise he deprives his constituents of all representation. And abstention is as much a mistake in policy as it is a violation of principle. ”

“ It is a striking illustration of the continuity of history, a proof that the events of the life of a nation are not mere isolated incidents, but are links in the long chain of growth and evolution, that even in these evil times there was no positive reaction so far as the forms and institutions of government were concerned. ”

“ A motion made by ministers for adjournment was defeated by a majority of nineteen, and General Conway's resolution was carried without a division. So the long-lived and disastrous administration of Lord North received its fatal wound; but yet it could not for some weeks be got decently buried out of sight. Confusion, irritation, and passion were displayed, not only in Parliament, but in all political quarters, and it was not until the 20th of March that North formally announced his resignation. In the mean time, our Westminster committee had shared the common anxiety and activity. ”

“ If by democracy is. meant a desire to suddenly alter the form and substance of government; to abolish in politics the influence of social and intellectual gradations; to ignore the result of national character and traditions, and begin with an old race in an old land an entirely new system, as the French were doing when Burke was so angry with them—then there has never been in the English Parliament a democratic party. But if by a democrat we mean a person who wishes to extend the principle of self-government among the people ”

“ If this theory of the development of the party is sound, we must not expect to be able to fix any precise and definite date for its birth. We may, however, trace, either in the ranks of the Liberals in Parliament or among the people outside, the action of causes which would lead to new combinations. We may also watch the introduction of ideas and principles likely to attract one section of the Whigs and repel another, or calculated to attract the attention and incite the interest of persons and classes who had hitherto held aloof from political work. ”

“ In the struggle between the Royalists and the Parliamentarians in the seventeenth century, the two most elementary parties into which a nation can be divided, and which in every community exist in a more or less developed state, came into inevitable contest. The principles of authority on the one side and of liberty on the other were opposed in the most direct manner. These two ideas are both essential to the existence of society and to the exercise of the functions of government ”

“ What has often occurred is, that certain questions have been debated and agitated for by people outside before they have found organized support inside Parliament. But the history of the formation and discussion of social and political ideas in the community at large, would be at once too extensive and too indefinite for our present purpose, which is to ascertain not how ideas originate, but how certain classes of them obtain expression in policy and law. ”

“ It was not enough that every man who ventured to profess them should be debarred from ambition in public and professional life. He was also frowned upon and shunned in the social circle. It was whispered that he was not only a malcontent in politics, but a free-thinker or infidel in religion. ”

“ Pitt's position, holding office with a majority in the House of Commons constantly opposed to him and calling by actual vote for his resignation, was clearly contrary not only to Parliamentary precedent, but to the plainest principles of the Constitution. Yet he held on without either speakers to help him or votes to support him, against the attacks of the ablest orators who have ever moved Parliament and the constant majorities which were behind them. ”

“ The Whig theory was the government of the people, for the people by existing privileged classes, that was practically, by the aristocracy. We now have evidence of the more definite formation, within the bounds of what we call Liberalism, of a party the individual members of which would have called themselves Whigs, and are some of them still regarded as characteristic leaders of that body, but who aimed at objects and would have adopted means which were distinctly beyond the Whig programme. ”

“ After the formation of the Coalition Ministry, which was on the 2nd of April, a meeting took place on the 30th. Sir Cecil Wray, afterwards Fox's opponent in Westminster, was in the chair, but no notice was formally taken of the late ministerial crisis or its result. It was resolved that "this committee will continue to exert themselves to obtain a more equal representation of the people and a shorter duration of Parliament," and "that no minister will deserve the confidence and support of the people who will not sincerely promote a more equal Parliamentary representation." ”

“ Wilkes took his seat, and the debates were reported, not because the opposition obtained a majority, but because neither ministers nor Parliament could resist the outside opinion which found expression in the House of Commons, through the small group of men who worked in the city with Wilkes, and in the Lords through Chatham and his immediate friends, who would own no allegiance to the Whigs. It was the early working of a spirit of devotion to the popular cause, and of independence of old Parliamentary traditions, which ultimately developed itself into the form of a new party. ”

“ The growth and development of political parties follow the same general laws as those which affect and govern other social organisms. A party is sometimes spoken of as a piece of mechanism which can be formed at will, which is absolutely distinct from other associations of the same kind, and the outlines of which can be definitely and sharply drawn. ”

“ If their belief in the leaders of the French Revolution, and their trust in Napoleon, were shattered by the mad violence of the terror and the heartless ambition of the Emperor, they were at least inspired by sympathy with the aspirations of nations, and not by devotion to the power of monarchs and the interests of privileged classes. ”