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Democracy and the Organization of Political Parties Vol 1

by M. Ostrogorski, Frederick Clarke. 634 pgs.

Contributors:

   M. Ostrogorski, Frederick Clarke

Publisher:

   Macmillan

Place of Publication:

  New York  

Publication Year:

  1922

Subjects:

Political Parties--Great Britain, Political Parties--United States

	CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME
	PREFACE BY JAMES BRYCE, M.P.	xxxix
	AUTHOR'S PREFACE	li
	The problem of Government raised by the advent of democracy in face of the severance of the old social ties and the supremacy accorded to numbers in the State. Attempt at solution offered by extra-constitutional organization of the electoral masses. Scientific and practical importance of the study of this attempt. Why England is the best starting-point for that study. General plan of the work	2
	FIRST PART
	FIRST CHAPTER
	THE OLD UNITY	6
I.	A single ruling class. The sources of its power. The landed property of the squires, the influence which they derive from it, and the public authority which they exercise. United by the feelings summed up in the idea of gentleman, they alone constitute society. Although exclusive, it is not closed to outsiders. Subject to this limitation it holds undivided sway, and meets with no opposition in the middle class, sunk in a dull life and unconscious of its strength; nor among the lawyers, confined to the exercise of their profession, which is kept alive by aristocratic clients; nor in local self-government, which is devoid of vitality; nor among the clergy, who, by their origin, aspirations and tastes constitute only a branch of the ruling class	6
II.	The structure of the body politic exhibits the same unity under another aspect. The whole hierarchy of institutions and functions is built up in such manner that local administration, as well as the central government and even the government of the Church, are exercised by the same men. The spirit and the mode of working of the various public institutions emphasize the character of unity which runs through the political and social sphere. Monarchy, Parliament, supreme government, local administration, and the Church, in the variety of their
	III. The lot of the individual in this State and society. He is invariably only an anonymous fraction of the whole, a humble servant of the community, whether it is a question of civic honours or duties, of the exercise of private or public rights. What has become of the "natural liberties" of primitive humanity saved from the deluge in the ark of England . How the human personality is kept down in the regular manifestations of the individual's existence and crushed in others. The individual is still less able to "be himself" in social life than in the legal sphere	13
	IV. Nevertheless the institutions afford the individual opportunities for displaying his powers, and they develop a social current by means of the civic co-operation which they imply or enforce. Freed from legal restraint, this current permeates the English community, and to a certain extent succeeds, even without a complete moral unity of the various elements of English society, in making them rally round leaders and admit, as a consequence, their authority in the State. Culminating, as they both do, in the leadership, society and the State are once more reunited in it	17
	V. How this situation facilitates the working of parliamentary government. The leadership of the aristocracy is emphasized by the fact that it disposes, in one way or another, of the great majority of the seats in the House of Commons, and that the members belong to the same society of gentlemen , so that social discipline ensures parliamentary discipline. The division into parties only countenances it. Outside influences being still too feeble to upset them, parties remain homogeneous and steadfast, to the greater stability of the government	19
	SECOND CHAPTER
	BREAK-UP OF THE OLD SOCIETY	25
I.	What the solidity of the old political and social régime really was; narrowness of the fabric and want of air; the masses left outside, and man in general repressed. The signal for emancipation given by the religious revival. Wesley 's appeal to the individual conscience, taken up by the Evangelicals and carried by them into practical life, introduces "man" on the political and social scene of England	25
II.	Religious emotion is followed by the sentimentalism of dilettantes, which helps to raise the moral ideal and man who is the possessor of it	29
III.	The criterion of duty transported from private into public life leads the moralizing philosophers to maintain that the duty of the State lies in the direction of utility and of the happiness of its members, of which they are the best judges (Paley , Priestley ). This conclusion supported by the new science of political economy. Adam Smith demands free play for the individual's activity. The foundation of the American Republic and the Declaration of the Rights of Man extend and exalt the idea of the independence of the individual. Paine and Godwin comment on it and popularize it. It escapes and survives the violent reaction against the French Revolution and its principles, which are quietly taken up by the utilitarian philosophy of which Paley and Priestley had laid the foundations	30
IV.	How Bentham gave the finishing touches to the work. After having relentlessly striven to decompose the existing legal order of things with the criterion of utility, he uses this criterion for the construction of a new system. Rejecting the moral conscience of man and natural right as the foundations of morals and politics, he substitutes for them the principle of utility appraised scientifically by a calculation of consequences. As egoism identifies itself with altruism in order to better gratify its desire for happiness, society founded on the individual's own interest is natural and solid. The intervention of the State is consequently useless and even dangerous, except for the protection of the rights of the individual. But as the rulers, following the natural bias towards selfishness, exercise public authority only in their own interest, which is contrary to the general interest, this authority ought to be taken out of the hands of the few and placed...	33
V.	The twofold action which opened the way for the new conception of the supremacy of the individual superseding the community. The creation of a new state of mind favourable to the new ideas; it is due to the ruthless criticism of the existing order of things pursued by Bentham and his disciples, the Philosophical Radicals, to more frequent intercourse with foreign countries, and to new currents in literature	38
VI.	How the revolution in the domain of ideas is reinforced by the effects of the industrial transformation. Mechanical inventions. The outbreak and triumph of the spirit of enterprise
VII.	The individual reaps the benefit of the change. Endowed henceforth with a conscience of his own and with acknowledged interests and rights, he completes his emancipation through the new economical conditions and material progress in general, although, on the other hand, these same conditions occasionally overwhelm and crush him. However, freed from the old restrictions and left to himself or relying on himself, the individual is somewhat isolated. This result is, to a great extent, simply the inevitable intermediary term in the process of emancipation, which begins by untying and separating the repressed individuals; then, isolated and dissolved into general and abstract categories, they tend to become less unlike one another; and the ground being levelled and a common stand provided, they obtain fresh facilities for drawing near each other again in new, generalized, social relations. How this psychological process of abstraction and generalization was wo...	45
VIII.	How the same logical process of decomposition which paved the way for the general was going on in the State. Its separation from the Church and society makes it more personal, but deprives it of some of its cohesion by disconnecting local self-government from parliamentary government, both of them being taken out of their old common groove. How the process of disaggregation continues in the second instance within each separately. The reforms in local administration, inspired by the new ideas or the new requirements, but partial and without system or comprehensive plan, scatter it out among numerous and varied authorities and departments, which bring in officialism and bureaucratic centralization, and keep back the representatives of society who, especially in the middle class, are inclined to shirk their public duties. Disraeli denounces the "new ruling class which does not rule." In consequence of the final collapse of the old society, in 1846 , the...
	THIRD CHAPTER
	ATTEMPTS AT REACTION	59
I.	The alarm aroused at the new direction given to society by individualist philosophy and the industrial transformation. Attempts to restore the old unity. The Oxford movement tries to bring back the old religious unity by a romantic return to primitive faith, to the Christianity of the early centuries restored on the basis of tradition, and of the sovereign authority of the Catholic and universal Church. How the Oxford leaders fail in their object, forced as they are, both for the propaganda and the defence of their doctrines, to appeal themselves to free opinion and the right of private judgment	59
II.	The romantic school in the Church is followed by the romantic school of country gentlemen who seek to restore the old political creed which united classes and individuals. Disraeli proposes to recast the scattered elements of the nation by the power of sentiment, and not by that of reason, by rekindling the attachment to the Monarchy and the Church, and reviving social sympathy between the people and its natural leaders. The tries the experiment. Its idyllic proceedings are powerless to resuscitate the past, and come to nothing	61
III.	Carlyle 's denunciations of the materialism of a mechanical age and of the anarchy of laissez-faire meet with more success. He opposes to them the sentiment of duty of which you have only to be thoroughly convinced, and calls for a new aristocracy, not of birth but of the heart; for men need to be guided and governed by their superiors, whether they like it or no, in spite of the delusive doctrines of democracy which ends in zero , and is made up only of the shadows of things, of Benthamite formulas barren as the east wind. Why this appeal to the nerves had so much success and produced so little effect	63
IV.	The Christian Socialists alone come forward with a positive solution. They endeavour to cure the morbid individualism in economic life by co-operation inspired by a Christian spirit, by the Christianity of Christ . The noble and courageous practical efforts of Kingsley , Maurice , Ludlow , and their friends meet with varying success. Eventually their dream of making society an organic whole instead of a collection of warring atoms, by means of universal co-operation, is condemned by their own experience. They had over-estimated the efficacy of co-operation and the power of Christianity. How these four movements of reaction against individualism or latitudinarianisin, differing in their origin and conception, but resembling each other in spirit, all lead to the same negative result, owing to disregard of the reality	67
	FOURTH CHAPTER
	DEFINITIVE TRIUMPH OF THE NEW RÉGIME	71
I.	The uneasiness caused by the sentimental attacks on individualism proceeding from different quarters is not lasting. The growing prosperity due to Free Trade confirms the belief in the superiority of a system resting on the unfettered play of interests. The "Manchester School" erects it into a doctrine. The philosophy of Free Trade. Not so narrow as it is now the fashion to believe	71
II.	John Stuart Mill definitively proclaims the idea of the sovereign individual as an eternal verity reposing on reason. He derives it from Bentham 's principle of utility, from the desire of pleasure, estimated, however, not only by quantity but by quality, from egoism identifying itself with altruism through the association of ideas. It is utility which bids society grant the individual liberty in the widest sense of the term, especially in the economic sphere, and which makes a foregone conclusion of the form of government which must be democratic and representative. These conclusions are arrived at, as in Bentham's case, by abstract reasoning and in complete agreement with the French rationalists of the eighteenth century. The modifications made by Mill in Bentham's doctrine in regard to morals, politics, and especially political economy, do not alter it to any great extent. Mill only gives it a loftier aspect both in its essence and by the generous tone...	74
III.	The doctrine of individualism in possession of the field. It monopolizes thought, and is free from counteracting forces in the practical sphere. This is due to the want of political education in the country (neglected by the new ruling class even more than elementary education, which is lamentably inadequate) and also to the languid condition of political life in the concluding years of the Palmerston régime under a successful and self-indulgent middle class	82
IV.	The apathy and stagnation in politics tend rather to favour the rise of rationalist individualism by turning the élite of society, who are precluded from action, toward thought. A rationalist "Young England." The spirit of criticism invades even theology. Rationalist enthusiasm supplemented by fashionable scepticism. The Press, the power of which increases day by day (abolition of the stamp duties), becomes more aggressive and helps to diffuse "contempt for the old institutions and a wish to ape continental democracy." Ideological tone of political talk. The individualist principle of autonomy finds its way into colonial and foreign politics. Individualist radicalism grows enthusiastic while awaiting the realization of its hopes, kept in abeyance by the prestige of Palmerston	86
V.	The action after Palmerston 's death centres in the question of the extension of the suffrage. The enemy's forces weakened beforehand: the Whigs bound by heedless promises, the Tories demoralized by their reverses in politics, and by the accession of the middle classes. Having no deep convictions, they are powerless to resist the zeal of the reformers. The political parties intervene like the third thief in the fable. Mortally wounded since 1846 , living from hand to mouth, at one time on the expedients of parliamentary intrigue, at another on Palmerston 's credit, they both, Whigs first, and Tories afterwards, come to look on the extension of the suffrage as a means of retrieving their position. Their race for power. Nevertheless Disraeli's Reform Bill takes its stand on "national customs and traditions." But all the "checks and balances" devised by him give way one after another, and "abstract principles" triumph along the whole line, with the result t...	92
VI.	The triumph of the Benthamites not without alloy. Grote and especially Mill preoccupied with the dangers of entrusting power to a "numerical majority" in democracies. Prospect of the individual being crushed by individualism. Mill believes that he has found a remedy in "personal representation." The grandeur of the object and the inadequacy of the means presented by the plan. How the original sin of Benthamism left Mill no alternative. He submits the proposal to Parliament, but without success. Unexpected but justifiable support from Viscount Cranborne, who is preoccupied with the fate of the remnant of the old society in danger of being swamped by democracy. Representation of minorities passed by the House of Lords. Their amendment violently opposed in the House of Commons as tending to curb democracy and paralyze party government. Bright stands up for the "ancient ways of the Constitution." This twofold and conflicting anxiety, on the one hand, for th...	102
	SECOND PART
	FIRST CHAPTER
	THE ORIGINS OF POLITICAL ASSOCIATIONS	117
I.	Precedents of extra-constitutional political organization in England under George III . Public opinion rising against the corrupt Parliament tries to organize itself by means of Societies and Committees for the free expression of its grievances and its wishes. The "Society for upholding the Bill of Rights" formed in connection with Wilkes' case. The "Corresponding Committees" called into being by the agitation for economic and parliamentary reforms. The apprehensions which they excite. The American precedent for the Committees and the Caucus. The delegates of the Committees assemble in . Their petition to Parliament. Great debate in the House on the legality of the Associations and of the meetings of the delegates. Speeches of Fox , Burgoyne , and Dunning .	117
II.	The democratic Societies for demanding universal suffrage are due to the impulse given by the . Their noisy theatrical proceedings. The moderate "Society of the Friends of the People." The political associations become discredited and call forth repressive measures on the part of the government. The secret Societies. Their extensive development after 1815 . " ," " ." Fresh measures of repression against the Societies	124
III.	The Reform movement is taken up again by the " ," with the co-operation of the middle class. The . After the passing of the Reform Act the middle classes leave the Unions, but the masses who had not been admitted to the franchise renew the agitation by means of Associations. Chartism. A number of Societies for obtaining Parliamentary Reform spring into life during the subsequent period, and continue to exist until the new Reform deprives them of their object	126
IV.	The spirit of reaction also lays its hand on the weapon of association. "Society against Republicans and Levellers." "Constitutional Associations." Associations of fanatical Protestants led by Lord George Gordon . Orange Lodges. The ; it forces the English Government to grant Catholic emancipation	129
V.	The and its persuasive agitation . Unlike the and the , it brings about the surrender of the constitutional authorities to an extra-constitutional organization by the sole force of opinion which it enlists in its service	130
VI.	But none of these extra-constitutional organizations aimed at becoming a regular and permanent power in the State; their intervention was looked on as exceptional, and enforced by circumstances; their agitation was directed not so much against the established plan of representative government as against the selfish parties which had monopolized it. Anxiety of the League and of Cobden to lift the struggle for free-trade above parliamentary parties. Cobden 's appeal to Sir Robert Peel to put an end to party government	132
	SECOND CHAPTER
	THE BEGINNINGS OF PARTY ORGANIZATIONS	135
I.	The political parties who were aimed at by the extra-constitutional organizations in pursuit of reforms, have recourse to extra-parliamentary organizations themselves. Before 1832 they had no organization outside Parliament, and had
II.	Study of this organization. The Whips. Electoral operations of the Patronage Secretary and the Opposition Whips in the country	137
III.	Regular party organizations not introduced into the country until after 1832 . The defective provisions in the Reform Act for the preparation of electoral lists leave it to private initiative, and so give rise to the formation of Registration Societies, which cover the country with a network of organization and get hold of the election business	140
IV.	At the same time central party organizations arise in the political clubs. The early history of political clubs in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries . The Carlton and the Reform Club inaugurate the political action of clubs and provide the party Whips with centres for directing electioneering operations in the provinces	143
V.	The Whips are assisted in this task by general agents of the parties and their local correspondents. The Liberal Whip Brand starts a special central organization on more methodical lines, outside the Club. The duties of the central Association as regards registration, outvoters, and recommendation of parliamentary candidates. The Conservatives follow the example of the Liberals. The central Associations drive the clubs into the background in all matters connected with party organization. Their local correspondents the solicitors	146
VI.	The development of the system of Registration. Societies before and after 1846 . Sir Robert Peel 's exhortations: Register, Register, Register! The Conservative Associations in Lancashire. The impulse given by the to the formation of Registration Societies. After 1846 the movement slackens down	149
VII.	Varying importance of the part played by the Registration Societies in electioneering operations. They had not much to do with the selection of candidates. How this was managed. The play of living social forces which marked men out and thrust them on the public. "Hole-and-corner" management	151
VIII.	The action of the Associations was somewhat more important in the canvass. Description of canvassing in the good old days. The Whartons, the Grenvilles, the Duchesses of Devonshire. The extension of the suffrage did not make canvassing fall into disuse; on the contrary, henceforth it required a
	IX. The action of the Associations was most considerable in registration operations, and was conducted in such a way as to impede the legitimate exercise of electoral rights, thanks to the devices of lodging unfounded claims and objections. Severe comments made by parliamentary committees and even by some representatives of the Associations themselves, both of them holding that the party Associations had an unhealthy effect	156
	X. The extension of their sphere of activity and influence viewed with apprehension, as tending to interfere with the natural expression of public opinion. This point of view considered with regard to all the electoral reforms before the public. The action of party organizations, however, was about to assume vast proportions in conseqence of the opposition of the Birmingham Radicals to the representation of minorities	159
	THIRD CHAPTER
	THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CAUCUS	161
I.	The Birmingham Liberals start a plan of electoral organization with the object of nullifying the "minority clause." Vote as you are told	161
II.	Messrs. Schnadhorst and Chamberlain appear on the scene. Sphere of municipal activity offered by the town of Birmingham. Mr. Chamberlain and his friends take in hand the work to be done. The great results of their activity à la Haussmann	163
III.	The support given by the Liberal Association. Its organization. Its real and pretended base of operations	165
IV.	The spirit in which the Association was managed. It becomes a centre of public life. The peculiar industrial character of Birmingham presents special facilities for the development of public life. The brilliant services rendered by Mr. Chamberlain and his friends revive the old social leadership. The Liberal Association reaps the benefit of it. Its partisan character becomes intensified, and it shows a relentless energy in excluding the Conservatives from all share in local public life. Its success in this	167
V.	The propaganda of the "Birmingham plan" in the country. How it found the ground pretty well prepared owing to the introduction of secret voting and the Liberal defeat at the general election of 1874	171
VI.	The appearance of new in national politics on the occasion of the anti-Turkish agitation of the
	VII. The inauguration of the Federation by Mr. Gladstone . The special position held by him at this time in the . Final stage of his evolution as popular leader, and climax of his power over the minds of the masses. The secret of this power. How the Federation, by virtue of the patronage extended to it by Mr. Gladstone , reaps the benefit of his immense prestige with the people, and of his pre-eminence in the as opposed to the official leaders	178
	FOURTH CHAPTER
	THE GROWTH OF THE CAUCUS	183
I.	The Birmingham group continue the propaganda of the caucus system with the aid of Mr. Gladstone . Different reception accorded to the plan in different localities both by the masses and by the old ruling classes. In a good many places the old régime holds its ground. Nevertheless the province of the old is more and more invaded by the Caucus	183
II.	The Caucus takes up and accentuates the traditional antagonism between and . The aspect which the conflict had assumed; two worlds confronting each other	185
III.	The old Liberalism. Its stock of opinions and its temper. How Birmingham Radicalism, which was the absolute negation of it, fastens on the principles, the rules of conduct, and the habits and proprieties of the old Liberals. The arguments by which the justify the attack; the defence made by the old Liberals. How Radicalism aiming at the traditional leaders hit the Moderates as well, how it launched the bolts of the Caucus at both	188
IV.	The temper of the contingents brought into the field by the new Organizations. Their weak and strong points. The necessity for leadership. The materials for leadership among
V.	This spirit displayed in the pretensions of the Caucus with regard to the choice of candidates. Conflict between the caucus and W. E. Forster . Forster 's position and the animosity which he had aroused, owing to his share in the organization of primary instruction, among the Nonconformists who abounded in the Caucus	194
VI.	The caucus calls on Forster to submit to the rule which gives the Association the right of deciding without appeal on the candidates or on Members who seek re-election. Forster disputes the right of the to intervene between the candidate and the constituency, and to usurp the place of the latter. The campaign conducted by the caucus against Forster at . The feeling aroused in the country by the conflict. Mr. Gladstone 's intervention. Lame solution of the affair. The other caucuses adopt a similar line of conduct (Sir John Simon 's case), moderated occasionally by the intervention of the principal leaders of the	197
	FIFTH CHAPTER
	THE CAUCUS IN POWER	204
I.	The Liberal victory at the general election of 1880 . Mr. Chamberlain attributes it to the . His elevation to the Ministry interpreted as an official acknowledgment of the influence of the . What was really the case. The factors of the victory. The nevertheless imposes on the public, and a new conventional force confronting real forces penetrates into English political life	204
II.	The twofold mission which the assumes with regard to the Government in pointing out to it the wishes of the constituencies and helping it to get them recognized by Parliament. How the first of these tasks was superfluous, at any rate, and the second contrary to the fundamental ideas of parliamentary government. How the kept the majority in the House in a state of obedience to the Ministry by means of continuous pressure of the Associations on the Members. How the Caucus worked public opinion throughout the country from Birmingham by its machinery	207
III.	The reveals itself most completely in these aspects by intervention in the reform of the Procedure of the House of Commons. It interferes between the majority and the mi­
	IV. How the Caucus, which seeks to thrust itself on the country on the pretext of giving expression to the opinion of the party, does not allow this opinion to display itself when it is unfavourable to the Ministry and its too docile majority, especially in the conjuncture created by the unfortunate foreign policy of the Gladstone Cabinet	216
	V. founded in a different spirit to that of the Caucus. of Manchester. Disturbed by the success of the Caucus it gradually adopts its mode of action. The contrast which at first existed between the conceptions, methods, and procedure of both organizations is obliterated in favour of the Caucus. Another proof of the same kind is supplied, amid different social conditions, by the and Counties Liberal Union . It also considers its duty to be not the manipulation of the electors but the political education of the masses, undertaken in an honest, sincere, and disinterested spirit. Little appreciated and badly supported, it disappears and its place is taken by the Caucus. The noisy activity displayed by the latter finally places it at the head of extra-parliamentary Liberalism	217
	SIXTH CHAPTER
	THE CAUCUS IN POWER ()	227
I.	The local Associations in their own homes. Their relations with the Members of Parliament. The Caucus insists on the subordination of the Member. The Forster conflict renewed on this occasion	227
II.	Is the attack delivered on this ground by the Radical Caucus levelled only against moderatism or against the independence of the Members? Mr. Joseph Cowen 's case supplies an answer to the question. The character and the past of Cowen	230
III.	The struggle of the Newcastle Caucus with Cowen. Triumph of the Caucus	234
IV.	The defeat of Cowen marks the eclipse of classic Radicalism. The "substitution of machinery for individuality." Vain exhortations or protests of the last of the old Radicals	240
V.	Moderate Liberalism, the special object of the attacks of the Caucus, gives way chiefly since the year 1880 . How the unstable equilibrium between the moderate element and the Radical element in the "hundreds" was destroyed, and how
	SEVENTH CHAPTER
	THE CONSERVATIVE ORGANIZATION	250
I.	The outburst of organization in consequence of the Reform . A new representative and elective central authority. The local development of party organization. It is placed under the auspices of popular Toryism	250
II.	The origin of popular Toryism. Disraeli's doctrine and practice. They do not agree. The real foundation of the new Conservatism. In the long run "popular Toryism" is only a name	252
III.	How the party Organizations interpret popular Toryism. The Conservative Working-men's Associations. Disraeli does not recognize them. The victory of 1874 raises the "Conservative working-man" without making the party Associations acquire a truly popular character and real influence. The work assigned to the Organization by the leaders. Exhortation to discipline	255
IV.	Party reorganization engrosses attention after the defeat of 1880 and the death of Lord Beaconsfield. The impatience of the younger men. The "Fourth Party." The resentment of the plebeians. The manifesto against the aristocratic leadership, and its conclusion as regards the organization of the party	260
V.	The need for its reorganization on popular lines is not felt by the plebeians only. In the large towns this work had been already started by the force of circumstances. The vanity of the Tory tiers état is gratified by it. The final result is that the Tories imitate the Caucus. This movement is stimulated by the "Fourth Party"	265
VI.	Part played by Lord Randolph Churchill . His propaganda of Tory democracy. Elijah 's mantle, and the reminiscences of Young England . The Primrose League	268
	EIGHTH CHAPTER
	THE CONSERVATIVE ORGANIZATION (Continued )	273
I.	The "Fourth Party" tries to make the National Union the lever of the Neo-Toryism, and to take it out of the hands of the leaders. Rupture with Lord Salisbury. Intervention of the democratized Associations of the party. Establishment of a modus vivendi between the leaders and the Tory democrats. Counter-movement of the followers of the leaders at the Sheffield Conference. Triumph of the popular principle, at all events in the Organization of the party	273
II.	The popular principle in the politics of the party. The NeoTories of Liverpool come forward as pioneers of the new policy. Their interpretation and practical application of it	278
III.	Conservatism is shaken in its very theory. How Neo-Toryism, built up with the old Tory creed on the democratized Organization of the party, ends in a sort of plebiscitary Cæsarism. How the difficulty of preserving the creed side by side with the new Organization drives the Tories into a policy of opportunism verging on demagogism	281
IV.	Signs of this evolution in the question of electoral reform and in the policy of the first Salisbury Ministry. "The Tories in office, the Radicals in power." The position of the moderate Liberals between the Conservatives and the Radicals of the Caucus	283
	NINTH CHAPTER
	THE CRISIS OF 1886, AND THE FINAL DEVELOPMENT OF PARTY ORGANIZATION	287
I.	The split in the Liberal party breaks out at last in consequence of Mr. Gladstone 's conversion to Home Rule for Ireland . When brought before public opinion, the conflict becomes a source of great perplexity to the would-be mouthpiece of that opinion, the Caucus. Being called on by the Birmingham leaders to make up their minds, the Associations, placed between Mr. Chamberlain , the master of the Caucus, and Mr. Gladstone , the leader of the party, only display their confusion	287
II.	The meeting of the delegates of the Liberal Associations takes Mr. Gladstone 's side. The factors which brought about Mr. Chamberlain 's defeat within the Caucus, and notably the provincial jealousies aroused by Birmingham. Having received their orders, the Associations take a decided line. The pressure exerted by them on the Liberal members who are
	III. The line taken by the Caucus was the best in its own interests. Mr. Chamberlain 's secession hailed as a guarantee of the future of the Organization, and even of democracy in England. The delight of the young Radicals and the adhesion of several Associations which were holding aloof. Revision of the statutes of the Federation in a decentralizing sense to emphasize its return to orthodox democracy. The transfer of its head office to . How the compulsory withdrawal of the Federation from , coming after its separation from Mr. Chamberlain , as well as the resignation of the moderate members of the local Associations, far from weakening the Caucus, added to its strength and its importance	295
	IV. The price which had to be paid for this increase of power. Owing to the close relations of the Caucus with the official leaders of the party, their influence penetrates into the counsels of the popular organization to the detriment of its independence. The Federation is acting rather as their mouthpiece than as a free parliament of public opinion. The meeting of the delegates reduced to registering cut-and- dried resolutions arranged beforehand with the leaders. How the relations between public opinion and the party leaders, of the kind implied by parliamentary government, are warped by this. The proper division of powers is ignored, and responsibility thrown on the wrong shoulders if not destroyed altogether	300
	V. Another effect of the too close connection between the popular Organization of the party and the parliamentary leaders, is to make the former stick to the position of the latter at the risk of impeding the regular evolution of the party. The criterion of Liberalism being reduced to a strict and blind adherence to the policy of the Liberal leaders, intolerance is exalted into a political virtue. The chiefs of the Caucus set the example; Lord Rosebery rebuked. The local Associations get rid of the remaining dissentient elements. Gratifying exceptions presented by some caucuses. All the others,
VI.	The expurgation of the Liberal party is hardly completed when it begins to show signs of disunion. Attempt to reunite the different sections under the mended "old umbrella" of . Far from being soothed, advanced Radicalism becomes more and more aggressive and incensed against the Organization of the party. Its outburst of wrath on the formation of a central caucus for the metropolis. The "caucusians" are accused of being opportunists trying to poach on the democratic preserves, and the extension of the caucus to is alleged to be a fresh danger for Radicalism, threatened with the despotism of official Liberalism or even with the process of being "ground to powder" by the "Schnadhorst machine." A group of "new Radicals" asserts itself in the House of Commons	310
VII.	Liberal officialism is confronted with a more formidable foe in the person of the " ," which takes its stand on social reform outside the political parties. The old political Liberalism is arraigned by some representatives of the Liberal middle class as well. Their ideal of New Liberalism . But the supporters of the various political reforms stick to them. The Caucus then starts the Newcastle Programme and its omnibus , which carries off the official leaders ipso facto by compelling them to admit even measures of State socialism. The labour movement, however, does not lay down its arms	312
VIII.	The general election of 1892 results in a victory for the Liberals, but their majority, being split up into groups representing the varied claims embodied in the Newcastle Programme, holds its ground only by means of log-rolling, without succeeding in checkmating the Opposition. To secure a united majority in the country, the Liberal Ministry attempts a diversion against the House of Lords. The Rosebery Government, being manifestly unable to carry on the work of legislation, retires. The Liberal party going to the country with just as little unity in its programme, sustains a formidable defeat. All the devices of organization and wirepulling had been of no avail	318
IX.	The Conservative party was more fortunate. The new impulse given to the Tory party owing to the Irish crisis and the alliance with the Liberal Unionists. The attempt at a pronunciamiento by Lord Randolph Churchill only recoils on its author. The attitude observed by the democratized Associations in this conjuncture. After Lord Randolph Churchill 's eclipse, the prestige of the popular
	THIRD PART
	FIRST CHAPTER
	THE MACHINERY OF THE CAUCUS	329
I.	Study of the working of the Caucus, of the conditions and the methods of its action on the bulk of the electorate. The constituent parts of the machinery of the Caucus and the men who set it in motion. Organization in the ward. How members are recruited. The periodical ward meetings, their object and their utility. The public-house as a rallying centre. The members are not numerous, and the regular attendants at the ward meetings still less so. Everything is managed by a coterie of which the ward secretary is the prompter. The powers of the ward secretary, and the part played by him	329
II.	The next scale in the Organization -- the Council. The co-opted members and the large subscribers. The pecuniary resources of the Association. The great majority of members do not contribute to it at all	334
III.	The executive committee of the "Hundreds." Its rôle and its preponderant influence. The "inner circle" which arises within it. The concentration of power in the hands of a few reaches its climax in the large towns with several electoral Divisions	337
IV.	The secretary of the Association factotum of the Organization. The honorary secretary. The President; "the man who can tell the biggest lies;" his "respectability"	340
V.	The social composition of the Associations. The aristocracy hardly represented. The very slight participation of the upper middle class in the daily life of the Associations. The influence of its leading representatives on the choice of candidates. The indifference of the working classes. The lower middle class alone is left to take an interest in the Caucus. The alacrity with which it does so. Being a victim of social exclusiveness, it finds social and political distinction in the openings afforded by the Caucus. The less prominent part played by the lower middle class in the Tory Caucus	344
VI.	The intellectual standard of the Caucus-men. The narrowness of their political horizon and their ideal of a politician. Their temperament; the restless and the staid members. How in both categories this temperament shows itself in a readiness to submit to the impulse given by leaders, to cultivate an unbending political orthodoxy, and, finally, to exclude spontaneity and independence of action and the spirit of criticism. Disappearance of the deliberative character of the large Caucus meetings. The special style of eloquence which they encourage. The "hundreds" come to be simply registering assemblies in which everything is presented "cut and dried" by a hierarchy of wire-pullers	348
VII.	Analysis of the vital force of the Caucus. The motive power which brings together and sets going the varied elements composing it is supplied by the sense of duty and by amourpropre . How the Organization of the party cultivates and develops them and makes them subserve its ends. Ideal worship of the party. The rites prescribed for the rank and file. The systematic meetings and the "resolutions." The satisfactions of self-esteem which the Caucus provides for its followers in a gradation adapted to their various tastes and requirements. The necessity of flattering vanities and smoothing susceptibilities is counterbalanced by the devotion of the caucus-men to the Organization, by discipline. The limitations to which the latter is subject. The general result is to make the Caucus a body little calculated to attract the best elements of society. The decline in the quality of the Caucus officials	352
VIII.	Organization in the "counties." Distinction between the "borough" and "county" constituencies. Party organization in the counties before . Impulse given by the . The difficulties of organization in the counties specially felt by the Liberal, who are checked by the ascendency of the squire and the parson. But after all, want of public spirit is a greater impediment than social intimidation, which is gradually diminishing. The village correspondent. The weakness of the elective element in the county organizations. Wire-pulling is of a more patriarchal character in them. Levelling effect of the new county organizations. The Tory organizations in the counties. The cathedral towns. Attempts at combining all the county organizations into or Councils	362
	SECOND CHAPTER
	THE ACTION OF THE CAUCUS	371
I.	The means by which the Caucus gets a hold on the electorate. Registration of voters. How the revision of the Register, which is highly complicated owing to the numerous electoral qualifications and the legal controversies to which the law and judicial opinion on the matter give rise, supplies the party organizations with a pretext for exerting themselves on behalf of the voters	371
II.	The registration canvass conducted by the "workers" of the Caucus to find out the qualifications of the inhabitants and their "politics." The duel of the agents of the caucuses in the Registration Court fought with claims and objections; their chicanery; their bargaining (pairing off). How crafty voters parry the attacks of the rival caucus. Passive attitude of the Revising Barrister. How the intervention of the caucuses, while making it easier for the voters to exercise their right, has the effect of putting the interests of the parties before it, of making the suffrage an "artificial franchise" and the Register a "triumph of manœuvres and party trickery." The advantages which the intervention of the Caucus in registration secures to the parties	375
III.	The political education of the electorate. The meetings. Their value as a mode of action under an extended suffrage. The conditions of success. The gift of oratory is now highly appreciated. The craving for political speeches. The orators supplied by the party organizations	382
IV.	The character of their eloquence. Addressed more to the emotions than the judgment. Platform oratory contrasted with the old types of popular political speaking. The changes undergone by political eloquence during the last century from Chatham to Gladstone . How the latter became the classic platform orator, and how his imitators have acclimatized "stump" oratory in England	386
V.	The extent to which platform oratory actually contributes to the political education of the masses. The real object pursued by the organizers of meetings, which is to "raise enthusiasm," is accentuated by a special mise-en-scéne , -- singing, open-air meetings, demonstrations. Meetings in the country districts. Travelling vans	390
VI.	Lectures. Their decline. How much of this is due to the Caucus preferring to "raise enthusiasm," and how much to the indifference of the public. The causes of the latter. The strictly partisan character of the lectures. The absence of intelligent curiosity about political matters among the
VII.	"Political literature." Its educational value. The party publications are for the most part simply prospectuses and electioneering claptrap. The success and the usefulness, from the point of view of the parties, of the pamphlets and leaflets distributed. Political iconography. A few reading-rooms here and there attached to the party Organizations. The circulating libraries organized by the central clubs	406
VIII.	The party Press. To what extent it is equal to its duties, especially that of enlightening the voter. The violent tone and the strong bias of most of the party newspapers. How they have perverted the taste of the public. Beginnings of a reaction against the political fanaticism of the Press. The special societies for political propaganda limited to particular questions	409
IX.	The idea of supplying political education independently of all political organization. It takes shape in the . Its success almost nil . The efforts of the Universities are powerless against the competition of the monopolizing parties and the general indifference to disinterested political culture. Attitude of the M. P.'s in particular	411
XI.	Debating Societies. Local Parliaments. Their members taken from all classes of society. The educational value of the parliaments limited by their strictly copying the great Parliament with its parties. It is nevertheless real. But the life of the local parliaments is lacking in steadiness. What has become of the ambitious views cherished for them. The	415
	THIRD CHAPTER
	THE ACTION OF THE CAUCUS ()	420
I.	How the intellectual propaganda carried on by the Organizations of the parties is supplemented by blending the attractions of sociability with politics. The political clubs. Their origin. The part played by the great political clubs as party managers. How it has been taken from them	420
II.	The clubs as places of resort for keeping up and cultivating party sentiments. The success of the Tory clubs. The efforts of the Liberals who had been outstripped by their opponents, since 1874 . The founding of the and its success. How it is that in spite of this the Tory clubs are more effective political instruments	422
III.	The "working-men's clubs." Their origin due to the efforts of philanthropists independent of all party preoccupation. The "great misfortune" apprehended by Lord Carnarvon comes to pass, the working-men's clubs become political party machines	424
IV.	The material importance of the working-men's clubs, the social, moral, and intellectual standard of their members. The clubs in which liquors are sold and the temperance clubs. Drunkenness in the clubs. Their financial dependence on the party organizations and on self-seeking politicians. The slight interest taken in politics by most of the members of the clubs. They shirk "political work," and do not patronize the reading-room and the lectures. Working-men's clubs which are too exclusively political; the , its hostility to the Caucus	427
V.	What is, under these circumstances, the use of working-men's clubs, from the party point of view. They make ignorant and indifferent voters follow in the wake of the parties, they "preserve young people." Why the poor political return yielded by the working-men's clubs does not stop their principals and their financial supporters. In the long run the Conservatives derive more advantage from the workingmen's clubs than their rivals. The federation of Conservative clubs	431
VI.	The value of clubs as a laboratory of political opinion. How their too close connection with the official parties prevents them from becoming one. The intolerance that has made its way into the Liberal clubs in consequence of the Home Rule controversy. The special difficulties in the way of the working-men's clubs becoming a centre of enlightenment; how they are left to shift for themselves by gentlemen politicians	433
	VII. The extraordinary forms assumed by the "mixture of politics and pleasure" which the Organizations provide for the "social tendencies" of the voters. The social meetings. Smoking concerts. Tea meetings, etc. Participation of women. How the proceedings at the "Social meetings" amount to a purchase of votes in advance. The opinion of the judges on these practices and on the dangerous part which the Associations play in them. The success of social meetings in different latitudes and with different parties, especially the Tories. The efforts of the to "socialize politics"	435
	FOURTH CHAPTER
	CANDIDATES AND ELECTIONEERING	442
I.	How the party feelings developed by the Organization assume a concrete form in regard to the person of the parliamentary candidate selected by it, and reveal their final cause in the election of this candidate. The qualities of a good candidate : the profession of the creed of the party in all its fulness and "up to date," as well as that of the special political sects which flourish in the constituency; popularity in the various aspects capable of impressing the English voter. Coalitions of political conventions with living forces. How the relation, varying from one constituency to another, between social forces and political forces, determines the selection of the candidate.	442
II.	The importance of the investiture conferred on the candidate by the Caucus. The "adopted candidate." His monopoly is ensured by the prevailing fear of "dividing the party." The personal interest which the Association often has in adopting a candidate beforehand. How the "adopted candidate" nurses his popularity	448
III.	How at the approach of the election the candidate is advertised to the individual voter by means of the electoral canvass. What makes the operation of the time-honoured canvass more complicated in the present day. How the Caucus meets the difficulty by providing a large body of voluntary canvassers who also form a connecting-link with the various groups of the population. The canvassing visits; the check-canvass and the cross-canvass. The fetching of voters to the poll by the "workers." The real conversions made by the canvass and the professional proselytes. The principal effect of the canvass consists in securing the great body of voters who have no definite political opinions. In what sense "everything depends on organization." How,
IV.	The "stump" conducted on parallel lines with the canvass at election time. The principal object of the speeches is to raise "enthusiasm." The sporting character of the emotions of the election campaign. Political advertising during the campaign, and the posters in particular	464
V.	The share of corruption in electioneering. The long-standing nature of corrupt practices in English political life and the unavailing struggle of the law with them during the last half- century. The appearance of the Caucus on the scene in no way changes the aspect of affairs, many Associations even being compromised in the illicit proceedings at the elections of 1880 . The great reform of the Corrupt Practices Act of 1883 . How this Act has not produced its full effect owing to the interposition of the Associations, whose permanent existence and anonymous and collective character make them a screen for illegal electioneering operations. The absence of any precise definition in the Act of the candidate's responsibility for the doings of the Association, and the practical difficulties of establishing it in law. How the permanent and independent organization of the Associations enables them to paralyze the preventive clause of the Act, which limits elect...	468
VI.	The periodical rehearsals of the operations of the parties at local elections. The introduction of politics into local contests is of old standing. How it was practised by the oligarchical corporations of the era preceding 1835 , and after the great municipal and parliamentary reforms; the purchase of municipal votes in view of the parliamentary elections and the
	VII. The relations of the Association with the member elected by its efforts. The successive stages of the electoral dependence of the M.P., which kept pace with the extension of the suffrage and of means of communication, and with the growing ascendency of free opinion. How the permanent organization of the Caucus gave this dependence a rigid character, by assuming, in pursuance of its representative pretensions, a formal authority and a continuous supervision over the M.P. The abortive attempts at resistance to the Caucus. The various servitudes of the M.P. affecting his person, his influence, and his political conscience. The pressure put on the parliamentary conduct of the M.P. by the Associations makes him a delegate instead of a representative. The obligations of the M.P. are not to the Caucus alone, but the Caucus has the first mortgage over his political conscience	493
	FIFTH CHAPTER
	THE SUPREME GOVERNMENT IN THE CAUCUS	502
	The central organizations of the parties. I. The central Liberal Organization; its constituent parts; the Publication Department; the great provincial branches	502
	II. The twofold mission, local and national, of the central Organization. How it intervenes in the work of the Associations and prepares the local forces of the party for the electoral battle. Its rôle in the selection of candidates; to what
III.	How the Organization ensures the unity of movement of all the contingents of the party by means of its federative mechanism. The annual meetings of the delegates. How the resolutions are put into shape and voted; no discussion; no adequate control left for the opinion of the party. The attacks of the advanced Liberals on the Federation due to its fusion with the special Organization of the "official leaders." The discontent invades the precincts even of the Federation, in which demands are put forward that its machinery should be made more representative and more democratic. These demands meet with only slight satisfaction	609
IV.	The limitations imposed on the power of the chiefs of the Federation and of the "official leaders" by the authority of opinion. The nature of opinion and its double part; it is a capricious despot and a docile slave. Analysis of the relations of the leaders with opinion. How the leaders try to follow it and how their conduct is determined by electoral preoccupations. How, in compliance with these preoccupations or out of solicitude for the public interest, they fashion opinion; the education of opinion. How and with what object they keep it on the alert in regard to current politics	514
V.	How the central Organization of the party, in stirring up its adherents, influences, alike the bulk of its own party, the electorate in general, and Parliament. Opinion growing like an avalanche. How this effect is contrived. The part which the local Associations play in it. The conditions under which opinion is turned out at will and under which it takes effect. How the reaction of the factitious demonstrations affects their authors or instigators themselves. The psychological reason, the branching-off of feelings produced by the sole fact of their manifestation. The pressure of the central Organization on the M.P.'s. The real range of influence of the central Organization and its limits	517
VI.	The central Conservative Organization. Its double mechanism produced by the political evolution of Toryism. The federation of the popular Associations. The Central Office of the leaders. Their mutual relations. All the power is in the hands of the Central Office. Its provincial agents and the provincial Federations. How everything converges in the Central Office. The annual meetings of the delegates of the popular Associations; the gentleman element and the plebeian element. Debate is free in these assemblies, but their decisions have no binding force. While lacking initia­
	SIXTH CHAPTER
	AUXILIARY AND RIVAL ORGANIZATIONS	530
I.	Political organizations of women. The antecedents of the intervention of women in politics from the close of the eighteenth century down to the Reform of 1867 . The impetus given since 1868 ; women canvassers and speakers at electoral meetings, especially at the general election of 1880	530
II.	The women politicians fighting at the outset as free lances are regularly enrolled, for the first time, in the , founded by the Tories as a militia of "moral order," appealing to all the living forces of society without distinction of rank. The principles of the League and the unfounded pretensions which it extracts from them to pose as independent of political parties; it is in the service of the	534
III.	The organization of the League. The grades of its knighthood. The badges. The local Habitations and the Grand Habitation with the . The relations of the Habitations with the . How the members of the League, and the women in particular, work up the districts for the good of the "cause"; their co-operation in the Registration canvass; their daily propaganda; the distribution of political publications; the lectures and their general tendency	538
IV.	The real weapon of the League is the social action of its upper-class members. The "social meetings" and the fêtes organized by the League for the benefit of the masses; the "union of classes" completed by the union of sexes. The skilful exploitation of self-love and vanity along the whole line of society on the principle of "Do not argue, but take them in socially." How the permanent supply of social consideration provided by the League replaces the time- honoured practices of electoral corruption hampered by the new law. The controversy on the use of social influence by the League as an offensive weapon against its opponents; boycotting	541
V.	The women who make the League a success are by no means the controllers of it; the real power is wielded by men. In general the government of the League is autoritarian, the
VI.	The gratification of snobbery and the attraction of the festivities offered by the League are not enough to account for its extraordinary success. This is due to other and deeper causes: to the levelling of barriers between class and class, which it has managed to bring about to a certain extent, and to its appearing to meet the want, long felt by society, of a political cement less artificial than that of the machinery of party organization. Do the instruments and the methods employed to produce these effects contribute to a healthy political life? Is it true that the has a beneficial influence on manners, develops public spirit, and prevents the advent of a mechanically wire-pulled democracy?	548
VII.	The Liberals combat the with . The autonomist basis of their organization. The lofty social ideal with which the started. The composition of their contingents. Their meetings. Wherein their modus operandi differs from that of the ; the points of resemblance. What has become of the ideal of action conceived by the Liberal women; the serious efforts made to put it into practice. The relations of the with the . The canvassers and platform speakers supplied by the to the party. Their co-operation, however, is less useful to it than that of the Primrose Dames to the . The difference of opinion among Liberal women on the question of female parliamentary suffrage leads to the establishment of two central organizations, the . The different temperament of the rival sisters. The	552
VIII.	The participation of women in the struggles of parties, sanctioned by the necessities of the war which they wage on each other, does not as yet meet with the unanimous approbation of men. The complaints against "women's electioneering." What the husbands think. The electioneering extravagances in which women indulge; the singing of couplets. The readiness of women to rush into militant politics; it becomes for them a new source of moral emotions, which strike the imagination and give more scope even to their domestic virtues; cabotinage is also satisfied thereby	557
	SEVENTH CHAPTER
	AUXILIARY AND RIVAL ORGANIZATIONS (continued )	561
I.	Special organizations of political speakers. The ; how this association formed for the free propaganda of Liberal principles has become a piece of the machinery of the party. The on the side. These "speaking clubs" are also nurseries of candidates	561
II.	Non-political organizations allied with the party organizations for the defence of special interests. The most important are connected with the Church and the public-house; the and the ; the and the	563
III.	which emulate the official party organizations. Their abortive attempts to obtain a footing. The examples of the and the . The position of the , which tries to provide an organization for advanced and independent Liberals. The proved impossibility of the existence within the limits of the party of rival and independent organizations	567
IV.	An independent organization has lately been created only through a revolt against the historic parties, in the interests of "Labour." Confined at the outset to efforts to bring "Labour Members" into the House, without any idea of class antagonism or hostility towards the orthodox parties, the movement, upheld mainly by Trades Unionists, is monopolized, after 1890 , by the Socialists, who declare war on the regular parties because they are all, without distinction, tools of capitalism. Even the doctrinaire Socialists of the are up in arms against the , which becomes, in a special degree, the target of the " ." Attacks on the "Labour Members" of the and on its Organization, which is accused of making away with labour representation in the distribution of candidatures. The independents engage, without much success, in the electoral contest of 1892 , and set up an organization throughout the country called the . The collectivist programme of the ; its con...
	EIGHTH CHAPTER
	SUMMARY	580
I.	General view of the rôle of the Caucus. Its design tending to make party government more democratic obtained but a very limited success, which lies more in form than in essence. How the application, essayed by the Caucus, of the democratic principle in all its strictness, even to extra- constitutional political relations, has but accentuated the inevitable divergence between institutions and manners produced by the electoral reform of 1867 , and has offered only the mechanical contrivance of organization for reconciling them. Deposed in theory, the middle class recovers power by surreptitious devices, in spite of the democratized organization of the party. However, from other points of view, this organization has really enhanced the importance of small folk in the party counsels, and has contributed especially to their rise in the social scale	580
II.	But the Caucus has done nothing to raise the public spirit of the masses. Its radical inability to serve as an instrument of political education. Far from stimulating the exercise of political judgment, it tended to stereotype opinion, though in this it was co-operating with a general movement, the effect of which was to obliterate individuality; "we now think in battalions." How the Caucus, by making the unity of the party an object of pious devotion dispensing with the necessity of professing reasoned principles, developed impatience of discussion, fanaticism, and intolerance, while inclining men's minds towards moral and intellectual opportunism, towards a policy of "quarterly dividends." How these properties of the Caucus made it an admirable vehicle for the new political tendencies, for Radicalism, started after 1868 , which brought with it formal and sentimental democracy.	584
III.	How this democracy was also furthered by the modus operandi of the Caucus, which appealed by preference to the emotions and which employed wholesale, rigidly acting processes, regulated beforehand by cut-and-dried methods. How these methods worked on behalf of an external orthodoxy had the effect of settling all the political relations aimed at by
	IV. How the dwindling of individuality and the development of formalism in political relations culminated in the sphere of the leadership; how the too rigid application of the principle of autonomy in the organization of the party has parcelled out the leadership for the benefit of local mediocrity, and how unqualified adhesion to the party creed, converted into the supreme political virtue and ascertained by the machinery of the Organization, has given importance especially to conventional and external qualities in public men. Far from having eliminated the plutocratic element and the influence of social rank, the Caucus makes use of them itself. The monopoly of leadership has only changed its aspect; being more manufactured , it is more divided and less responsible. The growing influence of the "worker." "Electioneering is now quite a business." To what exten the Caucus favours the rise of the professional politician. How it comes about, in the long run...	590
	V. The rôle of the Caucus in the proper sphere of parties. To what extent it ensured, by means of its organization, a real representation to the various elements of the party and proved itself able to serve as a faithful and independent mouthpiece of opinion. How the Caucus sometimes hurried the party and at others prevented it from moving on freely. How it maintained cohesion in the ranks of the party, not so much by its intrinsic force as by the office of standard- bearer of the party which it assumed. Yet it swelled the contingents of the party by attracting into it the "blanks" through its Organization, which popularized the style and title, the abstract notion of the party, so slow to lay hold of the popular mind. But eventually the Caucus proved powerless to stop party divisions, they being an inevitable effect of the growing complexity of social relations, which has long since smitten and doomed the classic dualism of parties with their old c...
VI.	The Caucus has not improved the working of parliamentary government either; on the contrary, it has helped to warp its representative principle, to disturb the equilibrium in the relations between the parliamentary leaders with the Members and in those between Parliament and public opinion. It has diminished the element of personal confidence in the relations of the electors with the candidates, and especially with the Members, and has appropriated the obligations of the M.P. to his constituents. The Member having been transformed by the Caucus into a delegate with diminished responsibility and independence, the great parliamentary leaders leaning directly on the electoral body have only become more powerful and more autocratic, to the detriment of the equilibrium which Cabinet government presupposes as between Members and party leaders; more than this, the leaders can make use of the Caucus to force the hand of the Members in the House without compromis...	605
VII.	How the dissolvent action of the forces represented by the Caucus has been attenuated in practice by opposing influences of a sentimental kind, -- such as the traditional authority of the landlords, of the Church; the fascination which rank still exercises, even over the Radical masses; the exceptional prestige of illustrious leaders; the personal ascendency of character and knowledge, -- as well as by local considerations and prosaic anxieties about material interests. The Caucus has not made sufficient allowance for the living forces of society. Again, the progress of the Caucus has been hampered by the slenderness of its material resources and by the shortcomings, as well as the merits, of its own
	VIII. Still, the living forces which hold the Caucus in check tend to decline. The personal influences of rank, as well as of character and knowledge, have more and more difficulty in coming forward, owing to the excessive extension of the towns and the growing urban absenteeism which estranges men from each other, especially the rich and the poor, not to mention the obstacles raised by the Caucus, which invariably insists on the shibboleth of the party and by its organization rather favours the rise of local mediocrity. "Deference" is declining and will continue to decline, the Caucus contributing thereto, even on the side. With the solidarity of the great religious bodies, which is growing weaker by the help of liberty, another old living force is passing away. At the same time political apathy is infecting society, and is tending to drive away the cultivated classes from public life without bringing the new strata into it. This dawn of a separation betwe...	618

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