e in the virtue and wisdom of the middle, that is, of their
own class. Macaulay hopes for a reform bill which will make the votes
of the House of Commons 'the express image of the opinion of the
middle orders of Britain.'[123] Mill holds that the middle class will
retain this moral authority, however widely the franchise be extended;
while Macaulay fears that they will be swamped by its extension to the
masses. The reform bill which they joined in supporting was regarded
by the Radicals as a payment on account; while the Whig hoped that it
would be a full and final discharge. The Radical held that no barriers
against democracy were needed; he took for granted that a democracy
would find its natural leaders in the educated and intelligent. The
Whig, to whom such confidence appeared to be altogether misplaced, had
to find some justification for the 'checks' and 'balances' which he
thought essential.

II. WHIGGISM

I have spoken of Macaulay's articles because they represent the most
pointed conflict between the Utilitarian and the Whig. Macaulay
belongs properly to the next generation, but he appeared as the
mouthpiece of the earlier group of writers who in Mill's time
delivered through the _Edinburgh Review_ the true oracles of the Whig
faith. Upon that ground Mill had assailed them in his article. Their
creed, he said, was a 'see-saw.' The Whigs were aristocrats as much as
the Tories. They were simply the 'outs' who hoped to be the 'ins.'
They trimmed their sails to catch public opinion, but were careful not
to drift into the true popular currents. They had no desire to limit
the power which they hoped one day to possess. They would attack
abuses--the slave-trade or the penal laws--to gain credit for
liberality and enlightenment, when the abuses were such as could be
removed without injuring the power of the aristocracy. They could use
'vague generalities' about liberty and so forth, but only to evade
definite applications. When any measure was proposed which really
threatened the power of the privileged classes, they could bring out a
contradictory set of fine phrases about Jacobinism and democracy.
Their whole argument was a shuffle and they themselves mere selfish
trimmers.[124] To this Jeffrey replied (in December 1826) by accepting
the position.[125] He pleaded guilty to a love of 'trimming,' which
meant a love of the British Constitution. The constitution was a
compromise--a balance of opposing forces--and the