The Cosmopolitan 1886-11: Vol 2 Iss 3

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THE COSMOPOLITAN. VoL. II. NOVEMBER, 1886. THE GREAT CONSERVATIVE REACTION. By FRANK WARREN. wl ONSIDERABLE surprise was M) © felt in this country at the de- feat of the Gladstonians in the July elections of this year. The feeling would have been dismay, rather than surprise, had it not been the general opinion that the disaster would soon be retrieved. It is seldom that there can be with us unanimity of senti- ment on political subjects. But all Americans sympathize with the Liberals of England and of the continent. Whatever purpose they an- nounce, whatever adventures befall them, we hear in this country only the same un- varied chorus of praise. But it is well for admiration in regard to any subject to lapse at times into analysis. There are certain reasons why the present should be considered a favorable opportunity for a change of mental attitude toward Lib- erals. It will be restful, if not otherwise useful. Viewed in itself, certainly if interpreted according to their own explanation of its meaning, and their prophesies of a speedy re- verse, the catastrophe that has come upon English Liberals would not seem to be of great significance—only a temporary check in the cause of reform due to hostility toward the Irish race. Some statement of this kind would be accepted generally as an adequate description of the situation. But the fall of him who has been more than once dictator of the British Empire, the only great statesman that the Radical- ism of the whole world has in its ranks, must be considered by the most ardent Gladstonian ‘‘an untoward event.’”’” We must remember that it is after appeals made with all the fervor of his unrivaled eloquence to an electorate created in great part by him- self that Gladstone has been stricken down. It is not, however, as a mere national, that is to say, local, affair that the late elec- toral campaign of Great Britain comes within the scope of this article. But the possibility has occurred to us that the political changes in that country have some connection with a vast} world-movement impressive enough to quell every emotion in the investigation except the love of truth. Establishment of this theory will not les- sen for our British brethren the gravity of the circumstances surrounding them. But it sometimes lulls the pangs of personal vexa- tion to have it shown that one’s misfortunes arose from the operation of laws before which the highest genius and most resolute will must bow. x WE are usually indifferent to the politics of all countries but Great Britain. Perhaps it will be with some astonishment that we shall find, on looking into the condition of other countries possessing, like Great Britain, a constitutional government, that Conservatism of some type predominates at present in nearly all of them; in several of