Page:History of the Radical Party in Parliament.djvu/65

Rh No improvement in English institutions was to be possible for many a dreary year.

The crisis soon came. Its phases were marked chiefly by the relations between Fox and Burke. In March, 1791, the "Reflections on the French Revolution" were published. On the 15th of April, Fox made a speech, in concluding which he said, with regard to the change of system that had taken place in the French constitution, there were different opinions entertained by different men; he for one admired the new constitution, considered altogether, as the most glorious fabric ever raised by human integrity since the creation of man. He thought it superlatively good, because it aimed at making those who were subject to it happy. Burke at once rose to reply to this challenge; but it was late at night, there were interruptions and confusion, and he sat down. Attempts were made by the Duke of Portland—the acknowledged chief of the Whigs—and others to heal the breach; but as they all involved the relinquishment by Burke of the right of expressing his opinions freely in the House, they came to nothing. On the 6th of May came the celebrated debate in which Burke lamented the loss of friendship made inevitable by his position with regard to the Revolution; and when Fox said that there was, that there could be, no loss of friendship between them, he replied, "Yes, there was. He knew the price of his conduct; he had done his duty at the price of his friend—their friendship was at an end." Burke was right. The friendship between the two statesmen had been one founded on and sustained by agreement in principles and devotion to a common cause. To both of them politics was the very breath of life, the main subject of their thought, the one end of their actions. Private friendship could not survive the severance of the ties that made it valuable, and the severance was complete. It was not merely the cessation of agreement; it was active antagonism. The causes which led to this separation were producing similar results throughout the whole social and political life of England. Sir Erskine May does not exaggerate the case when he says, "Society