Disraeli, with his Household Suffrage; Lord Randolph Churchill,
with his Tory Democracy, have brought this type of politician into
existence, and now he is with us always. This is the answer to those who
contend that because there will be always Tories and Whigs, it makes no
difference what changes we make. The answer is Sir Albert Rollit; he is
a Tory, but the Tory of to-day is pretty much the same as the Radical of
a few years ago.
[Sidenote: The Registration Bill.]
The Government brought forward the first of their Bills, and at once the
Tory Democrat showed what he was. For Mr. Fowler was able to quote
opinions from Tories quite as favourable to reform of registration as
from Radicals, and several Tories stood up to speak in favour of the
measure. Opposition was really left to poor Mr. Webster, of St. Pancras;
but, then, everybody knew what poor Mr. Webster meant, and nothing could
better express the lowliness of the Tory party than that opposition to
anything should be led by the hapless representative of St. Pancras. The
consequence of all this was that the Registration Bill passed in the
course of a few hours--the debate illumined by an excellent maiden
speech from our John Burns--delivered in that fine, manly, deep voice of
his--which always makes me think of a skipper on the hurricane deck in
the midst of rolling seas and a crashing storm.
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