Page:History of the Radical Party in Parliament.djvu/15



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. Such a description can apply only to special combinations for particular purposes. The Anti-Corn Law League and its supporters might have been called the free-trade party; and on the other side we have had what called itself the fair-trade party. Such organizations, however, are not parties in the proper sense of the term; they are not the result of the natural cohesion of men accepting the same general principles and ready to apply them to special cases as they occur, but rather combinations of people who, whatever their general principles, are willing to co-operate for a special purpose. Men holding the most divergent views as to the true laws of government, could, and did, combine to effect the repeal of