Conservative—Liberal—Socialist

CONSERVATIVE-LIBERAL-SOCIALIST SIR ANDREW MACPHAIL W ORDS remain long after they are empty of meaning and their virtue gone out from them. The present writing is an essay in ancient history to .inquire into the pristine meaning of the terms Conservative and Liberal; and more strictly what the growing vitality of Socialism may in the future mean. I There is a sound basis in human nature for the Conservative and Liberal ideas. There are men who by temperament and training will hold fast to that which has been tried, who will rather endure present ills than fly to others that they know not of. These are the Conservatives . There are also men more adventurous, who have little dread of change, who have so clear a perception of present ills, they think they cannot be made worse, and a pathetic hope that they can be improved by some common action. These are the Liberals. When sensible people holding these opposing opinions unite to make them to prevail, then two parties are formed. A contest compels both sides to approach a middle ground, since neither the one nor the other can prevail extremely. A compromise between extremes is the result. That is the essence of political wisdom, since neither can be precisely right or precisely wrong; and the modified folly of the two is likely to be of more value than the wisdom of the one. For good or ill, that is the system which the genius of our inherited British institutions has foreordained. As the two parties approach, they become confused; they lose their principles and 263 THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO QUARTERLY their identity. A new man with a new principle comes upon the scene. That is the genesis of the Socialist. The Conservatives as a party are quite modern. Lord Hugh Cecil assigns the origin to May 6, 1790, when the House of Commons went into committee upon the Quebec Bill, establishing a constitution for Canada. Burke arose to speak, when a violent scene occurred. He broke off his political alliance with Fox; and this involved a rupture of the intimate and affectionate personal relations that existed between them. The subject was the French Revolution, the first sign of a great movement that is yet in progress. Men, he declared, must stand for, or against it; and with the cry that he had sacrificed private friendship for the safety of his country, modern political history began, and the Conservative party was born, although it did not receive a name until forty years later. There were, of course, liberals and conservatives before Burke's time. In early life he himself behaved as a Whig, opposed to the growing power of the Crown and to war against the colonies in revolt; but he was driven by force of inherent conservative conviction to the Tory side. Pitt in his imperialism was really a dissentient Whig, and Fox, who was Tory enough for George III and North, was henceforth a confessed Whig, in favour of the French Revolution. England has always been conservative. As Cecil says, the best way to recommend ~ novelty to the people is to make them believe that it is merely a revival. The barons resisted John on the ground that he was a liberal striving for change. Magna Charta merely formulated and reaffi.rmed the ancient laws and customs of the realm. Great events and powerful emotions are required to compel men to define themselves. The Reformation Q64 CONSERVATIVE-LIBERAL-SOCIAL-IST aligned More and Norfolk on one side, Cromwell and Cranmer on the other. The Stuarts widened the breach. Royalists and Catholics were firmly arrayed against Puritans and Republicans. But above all these conflicting loyalties, loyalty to England always arose triumphant . Patriotism was deeper than religion, as Pope and Spaniard were slow to discover. Marlborough deserted the king rather than imperil the safety of his country. It is only in times of great human activity that· all phases of the political spirit are observed, when men for the occasion form themselves into par~!es, when parties combine and dissolve-in England with some kind of order as a result, in France ·as the chaos of the revolution. At...