Page:History of the Radical Party in Parliament.djvu/466

 452 History of the Radical Party in Parliament. [1859- second reading on the iQth of March. On the 3Oth of May a proposal to abolish purchase in the army was made by Sir De Lacy Evans, and lost by 247 to 62 ; and the Endowed Schools Bill had to be withdrawn. At the close of a session so useless, a formal demon- stration against the miserable policy of the Ministry was made by Cobden, who, although he disclaimed the position of a party leader, was entitled to speak on behalf of the Radicals in and out of Parliament. It was on the 1st of August, after notice given, that he brought forward his im- peachment of the Government. The principles of the Liberal party, he said, were retrenchment, non-intervention, and reform, and the Ministry had violated them all. " If a party," he said, " violates its professed principles, I think that party should be called an imposture." It would be better for the Liberals to be out of power than to be nominally in office without for- warding the objects for which they existed. " I say, therefore, that, facing even that which I may regard as the worst alter- native of this state of things, if there is nobody but the noble lord to mislead us and mock our principles instead of enforcing them, let us go into opposition, and there we shall find leaders who will rally us to some principles." This was a protest which had its effect in the country, but Cobden did not propose to take any vote, and influence in the House of Commons could not be obtained. Palmerston had lost the confidence of all that was active and earnest in his own party, but he could only be displaced by a union between Conservatives and Radicals, and that was an impossible con- juncture; so he relied as much as ever on his policy of inaction, and practically defied public opinion. Parliament was pro- rogued on the /th of August. The royal speech with which the session of 1863 was opened, on February 15, seemed framed to show the most studied contempt for the opinion of the Radicals in Parliament, and for the demands of the people outside. Other speeches have been bare in their references to home affairs, but this one stands alone in the series as having mention of no single