. GOVERNMENT NO GOVERNMENT. 605 



Commons is concerned ; and as for the Lords, they are placed in the 

 most hostile position with the Commons, by the wilful ness of the latter. 

 Thus the Liberals and the Conservatives divide the Government ; and 

 as every question will assume a party-colouring, nothing will be done. 

 But farther than this, the Liberals are made up of clusters of disso- 

 nant and repulsive materials ; and although they have worked 

 together, hot from elections, and foolish from inexperience and the 

 childish ambition of ousting the ** King's Government," there is no 

 common tie to bind them together, there is no leading mind to 

 control and overawe the separate " cliques.," every man is great in 

 his own way ; and therefore the Commons majority is as loose as a 

 sand-bed, and is ready to fall mto pieces, from its own inherent want 

 of amalgamation. But how stand the Conservatives, consisting of 

 Tories of various shades, of the pure Whigs, and the Liberal men, 

 who are too wise to bind themselves to any extreme party ? These, 

 to a man, are united ; the extreme Ultra-Tories, from an insane fear 

 of all change ; the Whigs, from principle ; and the independent men, 

 from good sense. Here then is a phalanx nearly equal in number to 

 the discordant majority, which agrees in one point only, namely, to 

 go on, pull to pieces, and trust to Providence for the rest. 



Well, but it is urged, this is -the majority ; and what is to be done ? 

 So long as they are opposed en masse to every measure, whether 

 good or bad it signifies nothing, no opponent Government can 

 carry on the business of the state, or, in other words, there is an 

 absolute want of all honourable and honest feeling in the largest 

 section of the house. What signifies it, whether Sir Robert Peel, 

 the Duke of Wellington, Lord John Russell, or Mr. Hume, pro- 

 pounds a measure : is that measure, if good and expedient, to be 

 damned, simply because it emanates from a particular quarter? Yes, 

 says party; No, says common sense. But party has just now the 

 master hand, and common sense is not listened to. And this is the 

 evil of an extreme Government : it is utterly powerless to begin 

 with, and therefore has to live by shifts; now accommodating one 

 party, then another, and taking what it can get for itself. Meanwhile, 

 every branch of state policy is neglected ; the precipice on which 

 Government stands requires every nerve to be strained, to keep its 

 footing; and instead of looking abroad, instead of taking wide 



M.M. No. 6. 4 I 



