Mill,whose position was incompatible with parliamentary ambition,was to be the exponent of their principles in the press.Whatever their failings,they certainly formed an important section of the most intelligent politicians of the time.Mill became their chief exponent in the press,and began operations by articles in the Examiner and the Monthly Repository (edited by W.J.Fox).He says(26)that his writings between 1832and 1834would fill a large volume.Molesworth then proposed to start a new quarterly,to be called the London Review,which should represent the true creed more faithfully than the recreant Westminster.He stipulated that Mill should be the virtual,though he could not,on account of his official position,be the ostensible,editor.The first number of the London accordingly appeared in April 1835.A year later Molesworth bought the Westminster,and the review was now called the London and Westminster.Molesworth,having become tired of carrying on a review which did not pay,handed it over to Mill in 1837,who continued it till 1840,when he transferred it to Mr Hickson.(27)The vitality of unprofitable reviews is one of the mysteries of literature.Mill lost money and spent much time in this discouraging work;but he would doubtless have grudged neither had he succeeded in doing a real service to his party.
The 'philosophical'Radicals,however,were doomed to failure.One among many obvious reasons is suggested by the name.
Philosophical in English is synonymous with visionary,unpractical,or perhaps,simply foolish.The philosophers seemed to be men of crotchets,fitter for the study than the platform.
They had,as Mill says,little enterprise or activity,and left the lead to the 'old hands,'Hume and O'Connell.About 1838,indeed,Mill appears to have become quite alienated from them.He thought them 'craven,'and they thought him 'mad.'(28)He admits,indeed,that the men were less to blame than the times.
Mill,however,held then,and seems to have always believed,that what was wanting was mainly a worthy leader.His father,he thinks,might have forced the Whigs to accept the Radical policy had he been in parliament.For want of such a leader,the philosophical Radicals became a mere left wing of the Whigs.For a time,Mill had some hopes of Lord Durham,who represented Radical leanings in the upper sphere.Durham's death in 1840put an end to any such hopes;and the philosophical Radicals had pretty well ceased by that time to represent any real political force.In truth,however,it is difficult to believe that any leader could have made much out of the materials at his disposal.
The Reform Bill had transferred power to the middle classes.They had resented their own exclusion from influence,and it had been impossible to prevent the great towns from acquiring a share in the representation without risk of violent revolution.But it did not at all follow that the majority of the new constituents accepted the programme of the extreme reformers.They had forced the doors for themselves,but had no desire to admit the crowd still left outside.Only a small minority desired the measures which the Radicals had contemplated,which involved organic constitutional changes,and would possibly lead to confiscation.
When the Chartists proposed a sweeping reform the middle classes were frightened by the prospect of revolution.They were quite willing to leave the old aristocratic families in power,if only the policy were modified so as to be more congenial to the industrial interests.Statesmen brought up under the old system were still the office holders,and were only anxious to steer a middle course.All this is now obvious enough;and it meant at the time that the philosophical Radicals found themselves,to their surprise,without any great force behind them,and were only able to complain of the half-hearted policy of the Whigs,and to weaken the administration until the Conservatives under Peel could take advantage of a situation which had become intolerable.The favourite measure of the philosophical Radicals was the ballot.They attributed the slackening of zeal for Radicalism to the fact that the aristocracy were trying to maintain their old power by bribery and intimidation.The ballot would be the most obvious check to this policy.
