Page:History of the Radical Party in Parliament.djvu/254

 240 History of the Radical Party in Parliament. [1833- principle of advance and change, in the hope of improvement, which must be ever acting with a people who are themselves continually improving ; but this assumption is not justified by experience. The Whigs employ the phrases of liberality upon compulsion. They are liberal because they need some means of exciting the nation. When out of office they are dema- gogues ; in power they become exclusive oligarchs. In the one case and the other, they pursue without scruple what they believe to be their party interest." * This feeling of antagonism between the most active Radicals and the Whigs did not correspond with any sharp line, either in principles or policy, between the two parties. There were many causes which led to union rather than to separation. The difference between the division lists on some of the questions points to the most important of these causes the fact that there was a growing tendency towards Liberalism amongst nearly all classes of politicians. This fact was marked by the change of name which was now adopted by both the old parties. Whigs and Tories became Liberals and Conservatives.! On the part of the Whigs, the change had become desirable on account of the new element which had been introduced into Parliament by the operation of the Reform Act. It would have been impossible for them to carry on the Government if the Radicals had been in permanent opposition. It was necessary, therefore, to recognize the fact that there was a party of progress, of which different sections were anxious to proceed at different rates, but all were pre- pared for advance of some kind. The title of Liberal answered to what the Whigs required ; it could be applied as a descrip- tion of, and used as a rallying cry to, all opponents of Toryism. When there was a division which threatened the existence of the Ministry, it might be represented as a violation of paity loyalty for the extreme section of the Liberals to desert their more moderate colleagues. This instrument, it will be found, f The changes are well described in Spencer Walpole's "History of England from 1815," vol. iii. pp. 135, 136.
 * Roebuck's " History of the Whig Ministry of 1830," vol. ii. pp. 405, 406.