Page:History of the Radical Party in Parliament.djvu/28

14 which had made them the strongholds of the old enemies of despotic power. The representatives sent from these places, and the outside leaders of opinion, were sometimes men of more force than delicacy, but they had to do work from which more refined people might shrink. They were persistent alike in outside agitation and in Parliamentary duty, and they furnished a contingent which gave support to whichever section of the old party took the most advanced view on the subject of the day. They were assisted by a few of the representatives of populous counties, and there, if anywhere, could be found the germs in which might be traced the first signs of the life of the future Radical party.

In spite of all contending forces, however, the power of government had not passed, and could not for some time pass out of Whig hands. Macaulay exaggerates the case when he says, "On the day of the accession of George III. the ascendancy of the Whig party terminated, and on that day the purification of the Whig party began." For one thing, all the practical governing ability, all the knowledge of affairs, all the official experience, were in the hands of one section or other of the party. Two years after his accession the King could make Bute Premier and Chancellor of the Exchequer, but he could not give them the ability to direct the affairs of the country or to manage the House of Commons, so that one or other Whig chief had to be called in, either Grenville or Newcastle or Rockingham, for even in its division the party was indispensable. These very divisions, manifested at a time when new political ideas were beginning to be discussed and new influences to be exercised, give to this period its especial value for our particular purpose. It is in the break-up and reconstitution of parties that we are best able to watch the manner in which these principles and influences impressed themselves upon different minds, and how they served to unite in fresh bonds, or finally to sever, men who had hitherto been connected by conditions which were now ceasing to exist.