Produced by Brian Foley, Keith Edkins and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) Transcriber's note: A few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. * * * * * Page numbers enclosed by curly braces (example: {25}) have been incorporated to facilitate the use of the Table of Contents and Index. * * * * * A SHORT HISTORY OF ENGLISH LIBERALISM BY W. LYON BLEASE _No rational man ever did govern himself by abstractions and universals.... A statesman differs from a professor in an university; the latter has only the general view of society.... A statesman, never losing sight of principles, is to be guided by circumstances; and, judging contrary to the exigencies of the moment, he may ruin his country for ever._ BURKE, "On the Petition of the Unitarians." T. FISHER UNWIN LONDON: ADELPHI TERRACE LEIPSIC: INSELSTRASSE 20 * * * * * TO "THE MANCHESTER GUARDIAN" _First Published in 1913_ (_All rights reserved._) * * * * * CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. LIBERALISM AND TORYISM 7 II. POLITICAL CONDITIONS IN THE REIGN OF GEORGE III 42 III. THE FIRST MOVEMENT TOWARDS LIBERALISM 69 IV. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND ENGLISH OPINION 100 V. THE DECLINE OF TORYISM 142 VI. THE MIDDLE-CLASS SUPREMACY 168 VII. THE MANCHESTER SCHOOL AND PALMERSTON 190 VIII. THE BEGINNING OF THE GLADSTONE PERIOD 230 IX. GLADSTONE VERSUS DISRAELI 265 X. THE IMPERIALIST REACTION 294 XI. LIBERALISM SINCE 1906 324 * * * * * {7} A Short History of English Liberalism CHAPTER I LIBERALISM AND TORYISM