Page:History of the Radical Party in Parliament.djvu/429

 1 859.] Resignation of Aberdeen to Dissohition in 1859. 415 of Whig rule was thus revived, the Ministry being in form willing to adopt administrative and social improvements pro- viding they were to decide, without any more direct appeal to the people, in what direction and to what extent changes were to be made. There was this difference, however, between the position of the present Whigs and that of their pre- decessors in the last century that the House of Lords was under the influence of the Tory party, and no reform could be accomplished except under the fear of that very appeal to the people to which Palmerston openly objected. The confusion was not confined to the Whig and Tory / parties ; the Radicals had not recovered from the divisions occasioned by the outbreak of the war. Yet they had changed their relative positions towards the Ministry. In the debate which followed the statements of Graham and Mr. Gladstone on the 23rd of February, Mr. Layard made a vehement attack upon Palmerston, partly because of the narrow basis -' on which his Ministry was formed, but mainly on account of the absence of any probability that under the new Govern- ment the objects of the war would be widened so as to affect the cause of Liberalism in Europe. Mr. Bright, on the other hand, promised his support to Palmerston, with the under- standing that the basis of the current negotiations should not be altered, and that peace should be obtained as early as possible. There was no opportunity, under such circumstances, for any effective work being done by the Radicals ; yet during the session they made some not unimportant demonstrations of strength. There was at the outset a practical triumph for the party, in the decision of the Government to accept one part at least of the proposals urged by Milner Gibson on behalf of the freedom of the press. The compulsory stamp upon newspapers was abolished, an act which led at once to an increase of the means of thoughtful discussion of public affairs, the value of which soon became manifest. The formal proposition was made on the iQth of March, and the resolu- tion agreed to. On the subject of Parliamentary reform, the only effort