8 STATE OF PARTIES. 



evidently results much more from necessity than from inclination. 

 The neutral position which the Whigs have chosen cannot last ; it 

 has led to a melancholy compromise of principle ; but it proceeds 

 farther it prepares the way for that dissolution, which is always the 

 ultimate fate of a middle party in times of great political excitement. 

 It is moreover a manifest misfortune to the Whigs, that there 

 should be a vagueness and uncertainty in their political creed, which 

 though it escaped observation, or at least censure during their strug- 

 gle with a dominant party, is now fully seen into and as fully de- 

 spised. It is this capital deficiency in their politics as a party, that 

 imparts so lamentable a character of feebleness and indecision to their 

 government, and explains why they are no longer supported by many 

 deserving public men who were formerly their friends and allies. 

 It is evident that upon those great questions of domestic policy, to 

 which public attention is now so much directed, the Whigs hold no 

 very distinct or decided opinions. Even common observers have 

 remarked that their general measures are often loose and inconsistent, 

 and thus a cold and almost reluctant support is yielded to them even 

 by those who are friendly to the cause they are intended to promote. 

 Such a party, at a conjuncture like the present, is compelled to resort 

 to temporary expedients, and by thus unsettling the public mind, 

 necessarily prepares it still more for the reception of opinions the 

 most extreme and contradictory. It is, we suspect, scarcely possible 

 that the Whigs can ever get rid of the great evil, which thus at- 

 taches to their party : they are we fear destined to be remembered as 

 statesmen who, with the best intentions, were destitute of those high 

 qualities, without which it is impossible to direct the councils of a 

 great nation wisely and safely in periods of peculiar difficulty. 



Political history affords few, if any examples, of so sudden and 

 complete a fall, as that which the Tories, as a political party, expe- 

 rienced within the course of a single year. They now feel and they 

 confess that the power which they formerly possessed, is not to be 

 regained : nevertheless they hold and exercise a very considerable, 

 and we might perhaps almost add, an increasing influence amongst 

 the higher classes of society. Their views and opinions, unlike those 

 of the Whigs, are clear, distinct, and unequivocal ; they have been 

 and still are supported by men of exalted intellect and extensive 

 knowledge ; in every prosperous country a party professing such 

 opinions, is always sure to exist ; and perhaps no question more in- 

 teresting and important could be proposed for solution than to decide 

 how far the members of that party will, in this country increase or 

 diminish, or how soon many who now rank as Whigs will become 

 zealous conservatives. Perhaps the clearest proof that the position 

 which the Tories occupy as a party is not only critical, but almost 

 desperate, lies in the fact that Sir Robert Peel, undoubtedly a man of 

 real ability, and still greater tact, cannot, with all his ability and all 

 his tact, maintain his ground as a leader of the Tories, and at the 

 same time retain any influence in the House of Commons. The 

 honorable Baronet certainly enjoys a considerable share of popularity 

 in the House of which he was the ministerial leader, but there are no 

 members on whose habitual support he can rely. Compelled con- 



