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    of Vienna ; "but it continued long in a vague , uncertain form , and haa only recently received a recognition from one of the reigning sovereigns of . the North . The King of Denmies , through . M . Scheele , his Minister for IForeign Affairs , has addressed the Governments of ITrance , England , Russia , 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 poetical improbability . " We do not find in 21 Soheele ' s communication any proof that the King of Denil 4 . uk 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 DToreign Affairs . Great Britain , for example , has no interest In . the disunion of the

    it , however , or is M . Scbgeeije'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 theni . 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 to interfere , and claims virtually to govern Schleswig and

    Holstem through the Cabinet of Copenhagen . The King , certainly , by uniting these provinces , and identifying them , politically , 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 Schleswig-Holstein , unlike Neufchatel , has not been able to resume its dignity as 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 Grovernment favourable to the Scandinavian Idea . But we anticipate the prosperity of that Idea , if wisely and vigorousl y developed . As the Globe liints , however , it 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 Cossackisin . 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 .

    Scandinavian peoples , nor would a British Cabinet be likely to interpose any obstacle in ' the way of a project that would circutnvallate Russia in the North of Europe . We may mark in the 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 Le 2 Vbr < # , M . Soheele 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 otter . 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 Denhauk , but the King of Sweden also has hitherto , indirectly or otherwise , fostered and favoured the agitation—taken such advantage of it , explains M . Sohekle ,: 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 inay 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 . l £ s success would deepen the "basis of those guarantees established 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 kings , colleagues and rivals in Scandinavia . JJut the King of Djbnma . uk ia only a temporary institution-, he haa scarcely any interest in the security of his successors , a " few links hia

    connecting heirless crown with that of tho reigning houae of Russia . Russia , however , is not tho Bole power that overshadows Scandinavia , Denmark especially . Between Denmark and Germany lies Schleawig , politically Danish , territoriall y Germ an , and in that territory the sovereign claims of Denmark and tho federal claims * of Germany simultaneously act . Now , why should Denmark dread an Idea which proposes to reader her invulnerable ? Doea tho King really dread

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    classification than the cloudy political termi nology which at the present moment dis " tracts and mystifies every constituency in the kingdom . It is the fashion to pretend tkaf ' party' is dead , that Whig and Tory are alike shadows of the past , and have no real tangible existence in our waking world . ' It is not denied that a few ghostly Whigs and a few Purgatorial Tories , may * seen' ( even after cockcrow ) hovering about dim bovwindows in St . James's-street , and from time to time hear of ¦ ¦

    we Pitt and Tox Club dinners , at which young gentlemen of family and parts from the upper world are indulged with a glimpse at the life and manners of Hades . But your true Whig , we are told belongs to archaeology , and as to your genuine Tory , only a Professor Owen , with alibis palaeontological intuition , can put him on his legs again , as he walked the earth in what Lord Derby would call the prefossilite age . : Your living Tory calls himself a Liberal-Conservative , and your sublunary Whio- meets him just halfway , and exchanges salut ations

    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 permits it , we owe in a great measure the stagnation of opinion , the echoless appeals of earnest Reformers , the feeble and halting legislation , the paralysis of Parliament , and tlie 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 political and social laws are not yet brought so entirely into harmony with the laws of the Creator that ve can afford to bury all antagonisms and forget all anomalies . We have still a work of resistance and of

    reconciliation to accomplish . We cannot shake hands vrith privilege and prejudice , while ignorance and pauperism are stalking through our streets . Let us , therefore , know who are the supporters of privilege and prejudice , and who of political and . social justice . Good men there are , however mistaken , on both sides : but let us know who 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 the old Tory . There was tlie ring of the true metal in his loyalty , and even in his prejudices there lurked a generous instinct .

    LIBERAL-CONSEUVAtrVES . Wur is a Liberal-Conservative ? We all know what a Liberal means , or ought to mean . We 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 the Conservative as the greater includes the less ; a Liberal includes the Radical as the general includes tlie particular . There is the Tory genus and the Conservati ve species ; the Liberal geuus and tlie Radical species . Every one of these has its ossential

    properties and its accidental qualifications ; every one has its contraries , its contradictories , and its opposites . Separating wliat is particular from what is general , what is simple from wha . tis complex , what is accidental froiri what is essential , we arrivo at last at aa accurate division and at a clear definition . Tho process of all science ia simplification , and tho end unity . Apply these tests to the science of political parties , reduce tho Liberal and the Tory into their simple eloments , by a strict analysis put aside nil but the OBSential quality , the properly of each , and tho result will bo , we think , something nearer to a correct

    The old Liberal , too , was a generous hater , and a sincere enthusiast in the cause of freedom . At all events , you knew loliat these politicians were . But your Liberal-Conservative , or Conservative-Liberal , whose creed is made up of the shreds and patches of all parties , who " accoptB all sound Reforms , " provided they are never embodied in bills , what is he but the type and representative of the shalthe

    low cynicism , the puny dilettantism , and nerveless indifference of our day ? An ingenious Frenchwoman classified men as men-doga and men-cats , tho man-dog being tho brave , sturdy , aiTectionate , faithful , but somewhat awkward and obstinate , animal ; tho man-cat , on tho contrary , being the dexterous , ndroit , insinuating , but false and folino nature ; and bIio remarked that the man-cat was tho moro successful of the two .

    Now avo are willing to consider tho Tory aa tho dog-man of tho political world , and tho Liberal as tho man-cat , but what shall vco call tho liberal-Conservative , or tlie Conaorvativo-JLiberal ? There is , to bo sure , a

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    802 . THE LEADER . Wo . 366 , Sattt ^ ^

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), March 28, 1857, page 302, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2186/page/14/