Great Britain. Parliament; Great Britain. Parliament -- History; Representative government and representation
There have always been, as Macaulay says, under some name or other,
two sets of men, those who are before their age, and those who are
behind it, those who are the wisest among their contemporaries, and
those who glory in being no wiser than their great-grandfathers. But
this definition of the two great political parties of England can no
longer with justice be applied. The Tory of to-day is not at all the
Tory of two hundred years ago: indeed, he rather resembles the Whig of
Queen Anne's time. And though Disraeli continued to use the word
"Tory," and was never ashamed of it, it has now gradually fallen into
disuse, save as a term of reproach on the lips of political opponents.
A change of nomenclature was adopted in 1832. The Tories became
Conservatives, and for the benefit of wavering Whigs it was proposed
that the latter should be known as Liberal-Conservatives, a name
which, as Lord John Russell remarked, expressed in seven syllables
what Whig expressed in one.[30] The term "Radical" did not come into
use until the days of the famous reformer, Francis Place (1771-1854);
his political predecessors contenting themselves with the more modest
name of Patriots. Called by whatever name is popular for the moment,
either party may now claim to come within the scope of Burke's
well-known definition as "a body of men united for promoting, by their
endeavours, the national interest upon some particular principle in
which they are all agreed."
[30] A German writer, Herr Bucher, wrote as follows, in 1855:--"It
would be difficult to give any other definition of the two parties
than that a Whig is a man who is descended from Lord John Russell's
grandmother, a Tory, one who sits behind Disraeli." "Der
Parliamentarismus wie er ist," p. 152.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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