its hands, the temptation to what is (facetiously, I suppose) called
practical politics, will be too much for many, even of those who
gravitate towards Socialism; a quasi-Democratic parliamentary party,
therefore, would probably be merely a recruiting ground, a nursery
for the left wing of the Whigs; though it would indeed leave behind
some small nucleus of opposition, the principles of which, however,
would be vague and floating, so that it would be but a powerless
group after all.

The future of the constitutional Parliament, therefore, it seems to
me, is a perpetual Whig Rump, which will yield to pressure when mere
political reforms are attempted to be got out of it, but will be
quite immovable towards any real change in social and economical
matters; that is to say, so far as it may be conscious of the attack;
for I grant that it may be BETRAYED into passing semi-State-
Socialistic measures, which will do this amount of good, that they
will help to entangle commerce in difficulties, and so add to
discontent by creating suffering; suffering of which the people will
not understand the causes definitely, but which their instinct will
tell them truly is brought about by GOVERNMENT, and that, too, the
only kind of government which they can have so long as the
constitutional Parliament lasts.

Now, if you think I have exaggerated the power of the Whigs, that is,
of solid, dead, unmoving resistance to progress, I must call your
attention to the events of the last few weeks. Here has been a
measure of pacification proposed; at the least and worst an attempt
to enter upon a pacification of a weary and miserable quarrel many
centuries old. The British people, in spite of their hereditary
prejudice against the Irish, were not averse to the measure; the