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 THE 
 
 Conserktism 0f i\t iukxt : 
 
 BEINa 
 
 A LETTEE 
 
 ADDRESSED TO 
 
 LORD RANDOLPH CHURCHILL, M.R. 
 
 BY 
 
 J. J. COXHEAD, M.A., 
 
 OF 
 
 C. C. C, Oxford; 
 
 ■ ■I' 
 Vicar of St. John's, Charlotte Street, 
 
 Fitzroy Square.
 
 Please, I pray you, remember this, that politicians will 
 be in the future what you, the democracy of England, 
 make them ; that if you wish them to be high-minded and 
 true, you can make them high-minded and true. — Speech 
 hy LoED Eandolph Chtjechill, at Birmingham^ April 
 I5th.
 
 12, FiTZROT Square, W. : 
 April, 1884. 
 
 Mr Lord, 
 
 It is admitted on all hands that the Conservative Party 
 looks to you as one of its future leaders, and that in any Conservative 
 Cabinet which may be formed, either at a near or more distant date, 
 you must occupy a prominent and influential position. It is the 
 belief of Conservatives that in the meantime you will co-operate 
 generally with the recognised Conservative leaders, remembering that 
 the secret of the success of the Conservative Party must ever be its 
 homogeneity and unanimity, in which it contrasts with the disorganized 
 and disunited condition of its opponents. 
 
 It has occurred to me, as one standing outside the political arena, 
 and cordially sympathizing with the efforts that are being made by 
 you and others to maintain the political principles of the country, both 
 at home and abroad on a right and sound basis, briefly to indicate 
 to your Lordship the lines in which it appears to myself and others 
 that the Conservatism of the future should work ; on which it must 
 work, if it is to obtain and to retain a hold upon the people as a 
 governing and energetic principle. 
 
 The first point which occurs to me is that the Conservatism of 
 the future must represent the historic continuity and force of English 
 Institutions. It must represent this principle not as implying that 
 every Institution is to remain exactly as it is in the present, or as it 
 has been in the past, but as asserting that these Institutions contain 
 elements of life and usefulness not to be rashly eliminated from the 
 social system. 
 
 The first of these Institutions is the Crown. Happily, the irre- 
 verence of the most irreverent of our opponents has never, except, I 
 believe, in periods of youthful wantonness and Debating Society 
 eloquence, seriously propounded ideas of change in the monarchial 
 form of government in this realm. 
 
 Liberals, that is, most of them, no less than Conservatives, would 
 affirm that they were loyal to the Crown, and we are thankful that it
 
 2 
 
 is so. But it must not be forgotten that there is no other Institution, 
 however sacred, however useful, which has not been threatened by- 
 some or other of the sections of what is called the Liberal Party. It 
 is the province of Conservatism to defend these Institutions. But the 
 Conservatism of the future must not be confined to mere defence. 
 The people will never be content with simply the assertion that we 
 wish to maintain things as they are. Action, progress, improvement, 
 are words, and mean things dear to the English nature ; and it is pro- 
 bable, that because these words have been taken up by the persons who 
 call themselves Liberals, that so often the Liberal Party has been in 
 power, the people fondly believing that something was going to be 
 done for them. 
 
 The Conservatism of the future then must be active. While pre- 
 serving the ancient methods — methods, the existence of which prove 
 their life and usefulness — it must not fear to reform when necessary, 
 to enlarge when possible, and to adapt the institutions of the past to 
 the exigencies and varying wants of the present. Thus, every Queen's 
 speech should contain indications of measures of practical usefulness 
 and advantage. Reforms in the tenure of land which shall scrupu- 
 lously protect the rights of property, while giving facilities for the 
 acquistion and transfer of the soil, and encouraging the expenditure of 
 capital upon it, whether of a large or small amount ; measures by 
 which the health and temporal happiness of the people are likely to 
 be promoted, such as the formation of municipal and county institu- 
 tions, the encouragement of the voluntary principle in popular edu- 
 cation, are measures which, if courageously enacted, would endear that 
 Party to the nation which promoted them. These might all be parts 
 of the Conservative programme. And here, my Lord, let me say that 
 the leaders of the Conservatism of the future must be courageous. 
 They must not be afraid of offending this or that section of their fol- 
 lowers. They must legislate for the nation on principles of justice 
 and equity, which shall be apparent to all men. 
 Alterna- It is of vital importance to the grow^th and vigour of Conservative 
 
 Micv principles, that the Conservative Leaders should, in all great questions, 
 be prepared with an alternative policy. 
 
 The Conservative Party may be largely recruited from the middle 
 and the working classes. But it cannot be expected that men will 
 work vigorously in our large towns on behalf of their cause unless 
 they are to see something as the fruit of their exertions. 
 
 We desire to promote among our young men brave, loyal, English 

 
 3 
 
 principles. These principles must be embodied in a visible, tangible, 
 palpable policy. We must not be content with simply pointing out 
 tbe faults of our opponents. "We must be prepared to show what we 
 should do if we were in their place. 
 
 Vitality is essentially constructive, and unless England be in its 
 decadence {procal ahsit omen), the English nation must continually 
 adapt itself to the changing necessities of the age. The question 
 before us is whether that change should be in obedience to these 
 anarchial, destructive, disintegrating forces which are summed up 
 in the misnomer of Liberalism, or whether the change shall be 
 effective in accordance with the healthy traditions of the past. 
 
 My Lord, there will be in the future serious and solemn problems 
 which one or other of the great political parties in England must 
 solve. 
 
 There is the Irish question. No one will say that what is called the 
 Liberal policy to Ireland has proved a success. The Liberals have Ireland. 
 treated Ireland strangely, petting her to-day and coercing her to- 
 morrow, kissing her on one cheek and striking her on the other, now 
 encouraging vain hopes, and then sending bayonet and proclamation 
 to keep her in order. Eead Mr. Bright' s speeches on* the Disestab- 
 lishment of the Irish Church, and see in the light of recent events 
 what fruits his policy has brought forth. Where is the content, the 
 happiness, the peace, which he predicted in good English indeed, but 
 with exceedingly bad logic? Exceptional legislation has been the 
 ruin of Ireland. Let it be the part of the Conservatism of the future 
 to treat Ireland as England is treated : to make no difference between 
 the integral parts of the empire, to make it clearly understood that the 
 dismemberment of the United Kingdom and Ireland is impossible, and 
 on the other hand there is no liberty, no privilege, no right belonging 
 to Englishmen which Irishmen are not to share with all equality and 
 all impartiality. 
 
 There is the Eastern Question. I have no pretence to being a seer, 
 but I venture to affirm that the Eastern Empire of Great Britain must '^^^^^^ 
 increase or perish. We may have as much reluctance, as Mr. Grladstone duestior-i. 
 said in his Midlothian speech, he had to increase our imperial respon- 
 sibilities, but the logic of events is stronger than the resolve of States- / 
 men, and Providence is mightier even than what his followers used to / 
 think was the wisdom of Mr. Gladstone. Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor^ 
 Persia, mnst come under the influence of Europe. How is the concert /of 
 Europe likely to be promoted — by vacillation, by subterfuge, by retice^ace, 
 
 / 
 /
 
 by a want of policy, or "by an avowal of our intentions and aims ? Is 
 Russia to go to Herat to dominate Persia, to threaten Afghanistan ? It 
 is the mission of the Conservatives to sayno to these questions. England 
 has a destiny which the literary ability even of Mr. John Morley can- 
 not alter, and to resist which Mr. Labouchere and Sir Wilfred Lawson 
 are equally impotent. All this the constituencies should know. When 
 has England ever sank so low as in her management of Egyptian 
 affairs under our present rulers ? 
 
 The Conservatism of the future must always be prepared with an 
 alternative policy : and now is its opportunity. 
 
 The Ministry is speaking with faltering breath, and with a stam- 
 mering tongue. The House of Commons resembles an organism under 
 the influence of a paralytic seizure, in which the limbs move without 
 control. 
 
 The Liberal Party has no real existence. It has no true policy. 
 It is a house divided against itself. It is terrified by the Caucus. It 
 is just beginning to doubt the glamour of Mr. Grladstone. The pre- 
 sent parliament can do nothing and it knows it.^ 
 
 Now, my Lord, is the time for Conservative action, and we may 
 hope that the Conservatism of the future under your leadership will 
 bring peace and blessing to a united and grateful people. 
 
 I am, my Lord, 
 
 Tour faithful Servant, 
 
 J. J. COXHEAD.
 
 UKbANA
 
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