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T S h is Scheeie circularclassification ...
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LIBERAL-CONSERVATIVES. "What is a Libera...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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The Scandinavian Idea.. Br The Scandinav...
of Vienna ; but it continued long in a vague , uncertain form , and has only recently received a recognition from one of the reigning sovereigns of the North . The King of Deu :-majbk , through M . Scheei . 1 ! , his Minister for foreign Affairs , has addressed the Governments of France , England , Uussia , and Sweden , in a circular repudiating , reprobating , and even ridiculing the Idea . That is to say , he repudiates it as hostile to Denmark , reprobates it as an attack on . Scandinavian conservatism , and ridicules it as a p oetical
improbability . "We do not find in M . Soheele ' s communication any proof that the JLing o £ Dehtmajik is so sincere in his disavowal of the Idea that he is never likely to countenance it , nor do we believe that , in the event of his conversion , he would meet with a unanimity of opposition from the Governments now addressed by his Minister for ^ Foreign Affairs . Great Britain , for example , has no interest in the disunion of the Scandinavian peoples , nor would a British Cabinet be likely to interpose any obstacle
in the way of a project that would cireumvallate Itussia in the North of Europe . We may mark in tie Danish despatch the evidences of that reserve in which may lurk a secret predilection for the dangerous Idea . It is stated that the'Danish monarchy is threatened by the possible effects of this agitation no less than by the controversy now pending between the Courts of Vienna and Berlin ; but what if a prince should abdicate
a Danish throne to possess himself of all the Scandinavian regalia ? According to 2 Je H 7 brdyM .. Scheele first describes the success of the scheme as impossible , and then as doubtful , the interests of two dynasties existing in opposition to it . Not necessarily of two dynasties , however , there being a chance of the promotion of one at the expense of the other . Is it certain , asks Denmark , that the consolidation of . the three Northern kingdoms would guarantee the future independence of Scandinavia ? National character ^ inconsistencies of constitutional law , personal jealousies , exist in opposition to the Idea ;
but it is undeniable that not only the King of DenmabK j but the King of Sweden also lias hitherto , indirectly or otherwise , fostered and favoured the agitation—taken such advantage of it , explains M . Scheexe , as would tend to promote friendly intimacy between the two nations , the interests of which are in many respects identical . Exactly ; and . why does Denmark , in her own , name and that of Sweden and Norway , now publicly reject the Idea ? Because the agitation has attracted the notice of foreign Cabinets , and may have contributed to shake public confidence in the stability of the established order of things , or even in the intentions of the Governments .
Our Government has no reason to regard the project with disfavour . Its success would deepen the basis of those guarantees establishe d during the late Russian war by the defensive treaty -with Sweden . The apparent difficulty would be to reconcile it with the personal pretensions of the two Mngs , colleagues , and rivals in Scandinavia . But the King of Denma . uk is only a temporary institution ; he has scarcely any interest in the security of his successorsa few links
, connecting his keirloss crown with that of tho reigniug house of Russia . Russia , however , is not tho sole power that overshadows Scandinavia , Denmark especially . Between Denmark and Germany lies Schleawig , politically Danish , territorially German , and in that territory tho sovereign daims of Denmark and tho federal claims of Germany simultaneously act . Now , why ehould Denmark dread au Idea which proposes to ronder her invulnerable ? Dogs tho King really dread
it , however , or is M . Scheeie s circular merely a shield thrown between him and the remonstrances of foreign powers ? It is admitted that the agitation has drawn a dangerous attention upon , itself , and upon certain foreign Cabinets . It would be good policy to explode the danger without injuring the Idea . Great Britain , as a nation , can have no
interest in the diplomatic by-play of the Northern Courts , or in the personal claims of the Swedish and Danish Kings . They are ready enough to encroach upon their subjects , and it is not surprising that Germany and Russia , are eager to encroach upon them . But it may "be that the question of the Danish succession will still involve a . debate
between the leading powers of Europe ; while it is certain that the German monarchies are not disposed to relax their pressure in the affair of the Duchies . Russia , on the one hand , holds to her contingent right of successsion to the Danish throne , in favour of which , many dynastic pretensions have , with the diplomatic assent of Europe , been set aside ; while the Germanic Diet , affecting to treat the matter as one purely German , denies the right of "Russia tointerfere , and
claims virtually to govern Schleswig and Holstein through the Cabinet of Copenhagen . The King , certainly , by "uniting these provinces , and identif y ing them , politicallyj with the rest of his dominions , tears a branch from the federal Council of Germany ; but Germany , by prohibiting him , tears a branch from his prerogative ; and as Sehleswig-Holstein , unlike NeufcMtel , has not been able to resume its dignity a 3 a member of the fraternal Federation , the dispute seems as far from , a settlement as it was in 1849 .
This , it seems , is to be the fate of all the questions ' settled' in 1815 . "We can only infer the existence of a , secret disposition on the part of the Danish King and the British Government favourable to the Scandinavian Idea . But we anticipate the prosperity of that Idea , if wisely and vigorously developed . As the Glohe hints , however , ifc needs the highest support at
Copenhagen . " When once understood , we are convinced that it will obtain the support of intelligent and liberal politicians in every part of Europe , for it promises a new guarantee against Cossackism . " We see no danger , but , on the contrary , many advantages likely to accrue to liberty and civilization from the hand-in-hand progress of the Northern nations .
T S H Is Scheeie Circularclassification ...
302 ^ THE LEADER . TNo . 366 , S ^ UBJ ) AT
Liberal-Conservatives. "What Is A Libera...
LIBERAL-CONSERVATIVES . "What is a Liberal-Conservative ? "We all know what a Liberal means , or ought to mean . "W © all know what a Conservative means , or ought to mean . A Liberal means a "Whig , and something more ; a Conservative means a Tory , and something less . A Tory includes tho Conservative as the greater iueludes the less ; a Liberal includes the Radical as the general includes the particular . There is the Tory genus and the Conservative species ; the Liberal genus and the Radical species . Every one of these has its essential
properties and its accidental qualifications ; every one lias its contraries , its contradictories , and its opposites . Separating what is particular from what is general , what ia simple from what is complex , what is accidental from what ia essential , wo arrive Jit last at an accurate division and at a clear definition . The process of all science is simplification , and the end unity . Apply these tests to the science of political parties , reduce the Liberal and the Tory into thoir simplo elements , by a strict ; analysis -put aside all Imt the oBBontial quality , the property of each , and tho result will be , we think , something nearer to a correct
classification than the cloudy political termi nology which at the present moment Z * tracts and mystifies every constituent in th * kingdom . It is the fashion to pretend that ' party' is dead , that Whig and Tory arealike shadows of the past , and have no real tan gible existence in our waking world ' It 5 , not denied ^ that a few ghostly Whigs , aild a few . Purgatorial Tories , may be seen ( eve * after cockcrow ) hovering a " bout dim bow . windows in St
. James ' s-street , and from time to time we hear of Pitt and Fox Club dinners , at which young gentlemen of famil v and parts from the upper world are indulged with a glimpse at the life and manners of Hades . But your true Whig , ^ ve are to ld belongs to archaeology , and as to your " genuine Tory , only a Professor Owen , with alibis palseontologieal intuition , can put him on Ms legs again as be walked the earth in what Lord Dekbt would call the prefossilite
age .. Your living Tory calls himself a Liberal-Conservative , and your sublunary Wlii 0 " meets him just "halfway , and exchanges salutations as a Conservative-Liberal . Now we believe that at the bottom of all the mystification there is little better than insincerity and false
pretence . To this wretched sleight of words or rather to the decay of principle that per ' mita it , we owe in a great measure thestao-. nation of opinion , the eeholess appeals o f earnest Heformers , the feeble and haltiu glegislation , the paralysis of Parliament , and the decline of public spirit , -which it is becoming a platitude to pity and condemn .
Assuredly , we have not yet reached that consummate point in the science of government at which all diversities of theory are melted into the unity of practical perfection ; our politi cal and social laws are not yet brought so entirely into harmony with the laws of the Creator that we can afford to bury all antagonisms and forget all anomalies . " We Ziave still a work of resistance and of reconciliation to accomplish . " We cannot shake hands with privilege and prejudice , while iguorance and pauperism are stalking through our streets . Let us , therefore , know who are the
supporters of privilege and prejudice , aud who of political and social justice . Good naen there are , however mistaken , on both sides : "but let us know .. wlio are with us , and who against us ; who are for standing still , and who for moving on . "We respect the good old Tory , and have even a liking for him , as we have for the good old English mastiff , now unhappily so rare . There was much of hearty , sound feeling in tho old Tory , There was the ring of the true metal in . his loyalty , and even in . his prej udices there lurked a generous instinct .
The old Liberal , too , was a generous hater , and a sincere enthusiast ia the cause of freedom . At all events , you knew what these politicians were . But your Liberal-Conservative , or Conservative-Liberal , whose c reed is made up of the shreds and patches of all parties , who accepts all Bound Reforms , " provided they are never embodied in bills , whai is he but tbe type and representative of tho shallow cynicism , the puny dilettantism , aud tho nerveless indifference of our day ? An
ingenious Frenchwoman classified men as men-dogs and men-cats , tho . man-dog being the brave , sturdy , affectionate , faithful , M somewhat awkward and obstinate animal ; tho man-cat , on tho contrary * being tll ( j dexterous , adroit , insinuating , but lklee an * feline nature ; and she remarked that tlio man-cat was tho more successful of tho two . Now wo are willing to couaidev tho Tory aa the dog-man of the political world , and the Liberal as tho man-cat , but what shall wo call tho Liberal-Conservative , or tho Consorviitivc-Liboral ? There is , to be > auro , a
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 28, 1857, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28031857/page/14/
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