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CONSERVATIVE PARTY

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 977 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

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CONSERVATIVE PARTY , in See also:

GREAT

Great See also:

BRITAIN (Gr. Hperavuml vi7vot, Bperravia; Lat. Britannia, rarely Britannia)

Britain, the name of the successors of the Tories (see WHIG AND TORY) as one of the great See also:

POLITICAL

political parties, representing the opposition to the Liberal party (q.v.), championing stability rather than innovation, or the advantages of preserving inherited conditions so far as possible rather than adopting changes which are founded on theoretical ideals. J. W. See also:

Croker suggested the See also:

TERM

term (Quarterly Rev., See also:

Jan. 1830) as more appropriate than " Tory," but for some See also:

time it was only used sporadically, and many of the old Tory regime disliked it. The term " Tory " has in fact never quite fallen out of use, and has been commonly retained by many See also:

MODERN

modern Conservatives who wish to emphasize that theirs is a constructive and See also:

POSITIVE (or PORTABLE) ORGAN

positive policy of constitutional as opposed to See also:

RADICAL (Lat. radix, a root)

radical reform, and not merely one of letting things remain simply " as they are." Similarly attempts were made in the 'eighties to substitute " Constitutionalist," but without its becoming current See also:

coin; and See also:

Lord See also:

Randolph See also:

Churchill called himself a " Tory democrat." See also:

Sir See also:

Robert See also:

Peel, in a speech in the See also:

House of See also:

COMMONS

Commons, protested against the " un-See also:

ENGLISH

English name of Conservative." Yet Peel himself shattered the old Tory and Protectionist party in 1846, and soon after called himself a Conservative, and the Peelites were commonly spoken of as " Liberal Conservatives." And when " Liberal " came into See also:

REGULAR

regular use for one party, " Conservative " became the recognized term for its opposite, Toryism being popularly regarded as the reactionary creed of the sup-porters of " vested interests " and opponents of reform of any See also:

KIND (O. E. ge-cynde, from the same root as is seen in " kin," supra)

kind. The See also:

CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

character of any See also:

BRITISH

British Conservative party, in the widest sense of the term, has naturally changed, and was See also:

BOUND, or BOUNDARY (from O. Fr. bonde, Med. Lat. bodena or butina, a frontier line)

bound continually to See also:

CHANGE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. cambium, cambiare, to barter; the ultimate derivation is probably from the root which appears in the Gr. «a urmu', to bend)

change, with the progress of events. The successive Reform Acts, which put political See also:

POWER [WILLIAM GRATTAN] TYRONE (1797-1841)

power into the hands of new classes of the electorate, made it necessary to make a new sort of See also:

APPEAL

appeal to them, in See also:

order to support the causes of the See also:

church See also:

ESTABLISHMENT (0. Fr. establissement, Fr. etablissement, late Norm. Fr. establishement, from O. Fr. establir, Fr. etablir, Lat. stabilire, to make stable)

establishment, the House of Lords, and the See also:

main features of the constitution. The See also:

HISTORY

history of this See also:

MOVEMENT

movement cannot be summarized here, but the salient details may be found in the See also:

BIOGRAPHICAL

biographical articles on such leading Conservative statesmen as Lord See also:

Beaconsfield, Lord See also:

Salisbury and Mr A. J. See also:

Balfour (qq.v.). In organization the party followed much on the lines of the Liberal party.

After 1832 associations known as " Constitutional " or " Conservative " multiplied throughout the See also:

COUNTRY (from the Mid. Eng. contre or contrie, and O. Fr. cuntree; Late Lat. contrata, showing the derivation from contra, opposite, over against, thus the tract of land which fronts the sight, cf. Ger. Gegend, neighbourhood)

country; and a " See also:

NATIONAL

National See also:

Union of Conservative and Constitutional Associations " formed a See also:

CONFEDERATION (Fr. confederation, Lat. confoederatio, from foedus, a league, foederare, to form a league)

confederation in 1867, in See also:

ALLIANCE

alliance with the See also:

WORK

work of the Central Conservative See also:

OFFICE (from Lat. officium, " duty," " service," a shortened form of opifacium, from facere, " to do," and either the stem of opes, " wealth," " aid," or opus, " work ")

Office under the party whips. It was, however, unlike the similar Liberal " National Liberal Federation," under the See also:

CONTROL (Fr. contrdle, older form contre rolle, from Med. Lat. contra-rotulus, a counter roll or copy of a document used to check the original; there is no instance in English of the use of " control " in this, its literal, meaning)

control of influential See also:

PEOPLE

people who were loyal to the Central Office. In this respect the Conservative party, as an internally loyal party, had some See also:

ADVANTAGE

advantage in organization; and such See also:

INDEPENDENT

independent outbreaks as that of the " See also:

FOURTH

Fourth Party " (in the See also:

PARLIAMENT (Anglo-Lat. parliamentum, Fr. parlement, from parler, to speak)

parliament of 1880), while stimulating to the Central Office, may be said to have applied a useful See also:

MASSAGE

massage rather than to have led to any breaking of bones; while the See also:

PRIMROSE

Primrose See also:

LEAGUE

League and similar new bodies acted as co-operating agencies. Mr See also:

Gladstone's proposal of See also:

Home See also:

RULE

Rule for See also:

Ireland in 1886 resulted in a great See also:

ACCESSION (from Lat. accedere, to go to, to approach)

accession of strength to the party, owing to the splitting off of the Liberal Unionists from the Liberal party. From this time the term "Unionists" began to come into use, to signify both the Conservative and the Liberal Unionist parties; the distinction between the two wings gradually See also:

GREW, NEHEMIAH (1641-1712)

grew smaller; and by degrees the name of " Conservative party," though officially maintained, became more and more vague, as politics centred See also:

ROUND (O. Fr. rond, Lat. rotundus, the Fr. is the source also of Du. rond; Ger., Swed., Dan. and Nor. rond)

round Ireland, Imperialism or See also:

TARIFF (adapted in English from the French; the word comes through the Spanish tarifa, a list or schedule of prices, from the Arabic, ta'rifa, information, an inventory, 'arf, know-ledge)

Tariff Reform. See also M. Ostrogorski, See also:

DEMOCRACY (Gr. 3np.oKparia, from S)µos, the people, i.e. the commons, and Kparos, rule)

Democracy and the Organization of Political Parties (Eng. trans., 1902) ; T. E. Kebbel, History of Toryism (1886).

End of Article: CONSERVATIVE PARTY

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