Page:History of the Radical Party in Parliament.djvu/81

Rh regard the position conferred upon him by a constituency as a trust to be exercised for the good of the community, to be held only so long as the conditions can be honourably fulfilled. He cannot hold a commission and refuse to fight. It is always open to a member to decide whether or not he will continue to hold the trust; but so long as he holds it, he must perform the duties. When he can do this no longer, he must give way to one who will—otherwise he deprives his constituents of all representation. And abstention is as much a mistake in policy as it is a violation of principle. The work of the world will go on whether a particular set of men take a share in it or not. Neither the work nor the life of any man is so essential that the business of a nation can stop because he cries Hold! although it may take a somewhat different direction in consequence of his exertion. This was seen plainly enough in the present instance: the minister proposed his measures and his followers voted for them, irrespective of the fact that Fox was not there to criticize, and that the opposition votes numbered nineteen instead of ninety.

A worse time could not have been chosen for such an experiment than that which was actually selected. Not only did the war and the war expenditure go on without sufficient discussion, but a most important piece of internal legislation was commenced and completed during the absence of the Foxites. The union with Ireland was a work of the very greatest consequence to the future government of the country. Every detail of such an arrangement ought to have had the careful consideration of the party in Parliament, which represented the feelings of the popular or democratic section of the constituencies. Perhaps if Pitt had been met by such full discussions, the immediate consequences, as regards his own position, which followed the completion of the union might have been avoided. The great work, however, was accomplished without such criticism, and, it may be said, it was done in the absence of any Radical or Liberal party in the House. The Act of Union received the royal assent on the 2nd of July, 1800; and the Imperial Parliament, including,