THROUGH THREEFOLD TENSION 183 



tual independence for the colonies. All shades 

 of party opinion contributed to the list. Pro 

 tectionist Tories believed that the burden of 

 sustaining the colonies would be intolerable 

 now that the policy of exploiting them for the 

 benefit of the mother-land was given up. The 

 Peelites and conservative Whigs contended that 

 free trade would prove the economic salvation 

 of both colonies and mother-land, and would 

 thus strengthen the bond uniting them, but ad 

 mitted that if for any reason the interests of 

 either clearly should demand separation, there 

 would be no valid ground for opposing it. Rad 

 icals proclaimed the democratic dogma of the 

 people s will and held that independence was 

 the right of the colonists whenever and for what 

 ever reason they demanded it. Disraeli, Peel, 

 Gladstone, and Lord John Russell all put on 

 record their conviction that British policy must 

 be shaped in contemplation of the gradual dis 

 solution of the empire. Cobden was, of course, 

 the high priest of this creed; but Cobden never 

 held the reins of governmental authority. His 

 luminous expositions of the creed lacked the 

 immediate practical effect of such words as those 

 of Lord John Russell, prime minister, in 1850. 

 Concluding his speech in the Commons in which 



