¥ t^:j^^ /o THIRD EDITION, REVISED PROFESSOR TYNDALL Party Politics A LETTER ^rtntetj fcg pErmissi'on WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS EDINBURGH AND LONDON MDCCCLXXXV PRICE ONE PENNY. The letter herein published was received from Dr Tjndall in reply to the following communication addressed to him last May : — POLLOKSHIELDS CONSERVATIVE ASSOCIATION, Glasgow, 25t/i May 18S5. Sir, — I ■ftTite this letter as president of above Association. Its purport is to ask if you would allow your name to be suggested to the Executive as a candi- date in the Conservative interest at the ensuing General Election. The comjiosition of next Parliament is looked forward to with some misgiv- ings by those who concern themselves with politics, and who are anxious after the life of the constitution in its fundamental parts, and for the good govern- ment of the country. Considering along with many others that our best safety, under the extended franchise, lies in the whole people recognising the supreme and vital necessity of having two great parties in the country, in strength so apportioned that neither could with impunity practise, for any prolonged period, intimidation on the one hand or misgovernment on the other, I think the time has come when all open-minded men should pause and consider and reconsider with which of the two forces they will ally themselves in future^with the Conser- vative party, as against the party of innovation, or vice versd. In no part of the United Kingdom does this doctrine require to be more preached than in Scotland. Our party stands at present as 9 against 51. If the same proportion prevailed over the other sections of the countrj', party government would become an utter burlesque. I am not of course aware whether your high duties in the domain of Science would permit of your descending to the lower plane of political work ; but if it were so, I am confident your candidature in any constituency would evoke genuine and hearty enthusiasm. Waiting the favour of your early reply, and with the assurance of my highest respect, — I am, your obedient servant, CHAS. T. GRANT. Dr John Tyndall. LETTER.. Alp Ltjsgen, October 14, 1885. SIR, Would you allow me the unmerited privilege of sending you a tardy word of answer to the friendly and flattering invitation, touching the representation of East Renfrewshire, with which you honoured me some months ago? To that invitation I at once replied by telegraph, promising to render, subsequently, my answer more complete. I will not trouble you with my reasons for the delay which has occurred, but simply ask you to accept the assurance that if those reasons were placed before you, you would deem them sufdciently strong. From a practical point of view, your theory of party government is, in my opinion, wise and just. It is not good for the State, and least of all for the nobler elements of the State, that any party should be so entirely para- mount as to be raised above the fear of criticism by a rival party. A party thus uncontrolled tends only too surely to run into a despotism more offensive to the lover of true liberty than the despotism of kings. There are amongst us men of " leading," if not of " light," who are working to this end. It is the duty of every free man to resist them. Were interinittcnt members permitted in the House of Commons — members at liberty to speak, when, by virtue of any special knowledge, or for some other reason, they had anything profitable to say — I should willingly accept election to that class. But the permanent atmosphere of the House would not suit me. I belong to no party. I have not even a vote. In regard to politics, I am merely an interested looker-on. As such I note that it is not brilliant talents, versatility of mind, rhetorical power — not even enlightenment pure and simple — that are to be regarded as the essential qualities of a British statesman. We need something weightier than these — something to which these endowments and accomplishments are as mint, anise, and cummin. Gifts and graces without end were showered upon the late Cabinet, and still the upshot of their five years' labours has been humiliation abroad and confusion at home. No honest man, unwarped by party prejudice, can shut his eyes to this fact. We have been governed by men who, however capable individually, have, in their collective action, resembled bunglers and cowards. Taking their cue from an unstable leader, their method was to advance by impulse, and to retreat, as if frightened by their own audacity, when the impulse died away. Were it a single offence against political wisdom of which they were guilty, the error might be readily con- doned. But it was an unredeemed tissue of such offences. They made an early beginning. On the 6th of January 1881, they put these words into the mouth of the Queen: " A rising in the Transvaal has imposed on me the duty of taking military measures with a view to the prompt vindication of my authority." Seven weeks after these brave words were uttered, Sir George Colley and his men were butchered on Alajuba Hill. The " vindication " of the Queen's authority ceased, and, like a whipped cur, the .UJUC '*c«^' British Cabinet " scuttled " from the Transvaal. Why go there for the mere purpose of running away ? Why go to Egypt for no nobler end ? Three years ago, sitting where I now sit, surrounded by the snowy Alps, I received a telegram announcing the victory of Tel-el-Kebir. Exult- ing for the moment in the competence of our officers, and the bravery of our men, I exclaimed, " Thank God, we are a people yet ! " I could not then believe, or dream, that British statesmen would spill the blood of their own countrymen, hack and shoot down some thousands of Egyptians, bombard Alexandria, and make Arabi an exile, without having an object equivalent to all this blood and ruin clearly in view. But they had no tangible object at all ; and, as time went on, a Government which has debased a noble trade- mark by calling itself " liberal," proved itself capable of doings more unpardonable still. If, "to shame the doctrine of the Sadducee," there be a day of future ret- ribution for the misdeeds of men, I would not willingly accompany to the judgment-seat the unpurged spirits of those who are responsible for the blood shed in the Soudan. Democracies, it is said, have short memories. The British public, I am assured, have already forgotten Gordon. All the more need that the public memory should be supple- mented by the recollections of those on whom events have made their due impression — of those from whom no dust of platform eloquence can hide the picture of slaughtered armies ; of murdered garrisons ; of women and children woe-stricken and bereaved; of Arab "Ironsides," brave as those of Cromwell, handed over by thousands to the vultures; of English, Scotch, and Irish heroes now rotting under the desert dust — and all to as little purpose as if the ghastly tragedy had been rehearsed for the mere pas- time of our late rulers. Only compare the steadfast valour of these fallen ones with the criminal vacillation of the men at home who sent them to their doom ! Do I speak too strongly when I denounce it as a damning and dam- nable business from beginning to end ? And to think that the man who is answerable beyond all others for this waste of blood — who sent Gordon to the wilds, and there abandoned him to death and mutilation — should be now talking to the people of Mid-Lothian as if no fleck rested on his workmanship ! " Humiliation abroad, and confusion at home " — such has been the work of our late Government. To propitiate France, we alienated Germany, and France spat upon us for our pains. The same lack of judgment, the same infirmity of purpose, and, I would add, the same weak impressionability which led to the bloody sacrifices of the Soudan, have brought the Eussians to the gates of India. In no part of the world, outside our shores, can we point to the late Cabinet's handiwork, and pronounce it good. Their recent home - work is still untried, but thoughtful Liberals fear it most. Unlike his great master, Sir Eobert Peel, the late Prime Minister jumped the stage of tentative experiment, and made the fate of Britain as uncertain as a game of pitch-and-toss. Some of my Rad- ical friends profess a certain scorn for foreign politics — some, but not all. The wisest among them know that a great empire must accept imperial responsibilities. The blood of Britain flows round the world, and the circula- tion cannot be damaged, even at its most distant point, without reacting to the injury of the central organ. They are vestrymen, not statesmen, who thus flout foreign poli- tics ; and woe be to Britain when her destinies are com- mitted to such hands ! A few words in reference to Ireland, and I have done. I heard the speech of Mr Gladstone on the Disestablish- ment of the Irish Church, and from that hour my faith in his capacity as a statesman disappeared. Twenty years before the ex-Premier had discovered a Upas-tree, where he had previously discerned only the Eose of Sharon, the conviction had been forced upon me that the Church of England, in Ireland, was an injustice and an offence to the Catholic population. I, moreover, hoped that its dis- establishment would not only remove a special grievance, but inaugurate a period of general amelioration. So I went down to the House of Commons to bless Mr Glad- stone, but I quitted it with no blessing on my lips. It was a splendid opportunity, through sheer incompetence, for ever lost. Blunders of colossal magnitude have fol- lowed this one, which, so far from satisfying Ireland, and enhancing the force of union, have brought us to the verge of national disintegration. Even now, at the eleventh hour, we might, if we were wise, take a profitable lesson from Ireland. We behold there a man of comparatively brief political experience — sparing of words, but resolute in act — who has continually worsted a Government composed of our cleverest politi- cians, with the most fluent orator of England at their head. The case points the moral introduced at the beginning of this letter. As regards rhetorical brilliancy and intellect- ual culture, Mr Parnell will hardl}'^ bear comparison with many of his opponents. But in strength and stability of character, in tenacity of purpose, and definiteness of aim, he has hitherto proved more than a match for them alL There is, moreover, no shiftiness in the young Irishman. He has never disguised what he aimed at, and what he meant to achieve. But he was not believed — he is not even now believed. And so our politicians jog on, trying to win over Mr Parnell, or to detach from his leadership the Irish people. They will do neither. Mr Parnell has a good digestion. He accepts and assimilates the sops offered by the Imperial Government, and in return smites that Government with recruited strength. Give him more and he will do the same. For, be assured of it, the end and aim of Mr Parnell is to break up an empire which he hates, and which he has taught his followers to regard as a curse to humanity. If we are prepared to accept this result — if Britain, as a whole, is willing to forget " what the arms of her heroes made her," individuals like myself must bow in acquiescence. Lord Cowper would doubt- less ascribe the result to " fate," and resign himself with oriental calmness to the " inevitable." For my own part, I must continue to believe that the warp and woof of des- tiny, woven at St Stephen's during the last five years, would have turned out a very different tissue had the shuttles been thrown by braver men. This, and a great deal more, I should have felt com- pelled to say to the electors of East Eenfrewshire, had it been my privilege — or my doom — to appear before them. I am, SIR, Your obedient Servant, JOHN TYNDALL. Charles T. Grant, Esq., President of the Pollokshiclds Conservative Association. PRINTED BT WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS. *>*« •* "f «^-a- «• vft.V