Page:History of the Radical Party in Parliament.djvu/328

 History of the Radical Party in Parliament. [1841- till 1852, and during that period his disagreement with the Liberals developed, and when he next contested a seat it was as a Tory. The additions made to the party were at the same time of great consequence, regarded either as furnishing assistance in the struggle then waging in favour of free trade, or as affecting the development of ideas and the course of action in the future. In both these respects the entrance into Parliament of Cobden and Milner Gibson, to be followed in two years by that of Mr. Bright, was important. Roebuck now regained his seat for Bath, but he did not long preserve his usefulness to his party. Able and vigorous he always was, but he manifested eccentricities of conduct, and tendencies to personal motives for .action, which prevented him from giving consistent and valuable aid to the cause with which he had been so long associated. In these respects, no less than in undoubted intellectual power, he resembled to a considerable extent that erratic genius Brougham, for whom, in his history of the Whig Ministry, he expressed so much admira- tion, and with whom he formed for a time a close and congenial friendship. Whilst the personal changes did not, on the whole, detract from the aggregate ability of the party, and rather increased its power to deal with the great subject which was exciting the mind of the nation, an alteration began to take place with regard to the relation of Radicalism to the other branches of Liberalism. The Radical element became more and more merged in the general ranks, and for some time neither thought of itself, nor was regarded by the public, as a distinct political organization which could affect directly the constitution of Ministries or the policy of Governments. The circumstances of the time combined with the disposition of individual members to effect this result. In the first reformed Parliament the Liberal majority was so enormous that internal differences could be developed and exhibited without any risk that a Tory triumph would be the con- sequence. At that time, too, the Radicals formed, if not a