Page:History of the Radical Party in Parliament.djvu/291

 1837.] First Reformed Parliament to Death of William IV. 277 on, they still condescend to hold the reins of government. Proud men, eminent statesmen, distinguished and high- minded rulers ! " When the new session opened, the Radicals were equally plainspoken. The Houses met on the 3ist of January, and in the debate on the address Roebuck attacked the ministers and their policy. They had deserted, he said, the prin- ciples to which they owed their position, and he thought the Radicals should openly separate from such pretended friends. There was no actual breach, however, but there was no reconciliation. Ministers clung to office, whilst every proposition to which they attached importance was rejected ; and they would not strengthen themselves by closer alliance with the Radicals, although, in order to defeat the resolu r tions of the popular party, they were uniformly indebted to the votes of the Tories who despised them. It is difficult to understand the obstinacy with which the Whigs at this period refused to make any concession, either in the way of personal promotion or of acceptance of principles, to the section of Liberals which was both most numerous in Parliament and most popular in the country. That section contained men of undoubted ability, of irreproachable charac- ter, and of good position, and who were neither extreme in their demands nor violent in their methods. The exclusive class and almost family feeling which limited the area of selection, ought not to have been maintained under such hopeless conditions ; and the theory of the finality of the late Reform Act could not be reasonably sustained, when ministers were unable to carry measures which they believed to be essential to the good government of the country, and on the success of which they had staked their official exist- ence. There was not wanting a ready means by which the union could be effected. In Lord Durham there was a man who was connected with the best Whig circles, whilst he possessed the full confidence of the Radicals throughout the. country. His acceptance of office would have been an assurance that reform principles were to be a reality, essential