in the country, I admit we have no program. But if
to have a policy with distinct ends, and these such as most deeply
interest the great body of the nation, be a becoming program for a
political party, then I contend we have an adequate program, and one
which, here or elsewhere, I shall always be prepared to assert and
to vindicate.

Gentlemen, the program of the Conservative party is to maintain the
constitution of the country. I have not come down to Manchester to
deliver an essay on the English constitution; but when the banner of
Republicanism is unfurled--when the fundamental principles of our
institutions are controverted--I think, perhaps, it may not be
inconvenient that I should make some few practical remarks upon the
character of our constitution upon that monarchy limited by the
co-ordinate authority of the estates of the realm, which, under the
title of Queen, Lords, and Commons, has contributed so greatly to
the prosperity of this country, and with the maintenance of which I
believe that prosperity is bound up.

Gentlemen, since the settlement of that constitution, now nearly two
centuries ago, England has never experienced a revolution, though
there is no country in which there has been so continuous and such
considerable change. How is this? Because the wisdom of your
forefathers placed the prize of supreme power without the sphere of
human passions. Whatever the struggle of parties, whatever the
strife of factions, whatever the excitement and exaltation of the
public mind, there has always been something in this country round
which all classes and parties could rally, representing the majesty
of the law, the administration of justice, and involving, at the
same time, the security for every man's rights and the fountain of
honor. Now, gentlemen, it is well clearly to comprehend what is
meant by a country not having a revolution for two centuries. It
means, for that space, the unbroken exercise and enjoyment of the
ingenuity of man. It means for that space the continuous application
of the discoveries of science to his comfort and convenience. It
means the accumulation of capital, the elevation of labor, the
establishment of those admirable factories which cover your
district; the unwearied improvement of the cultivation of the land,
which has extracted from a somewhat churlish soil harvests more
exuberant than those furnished by lands nearer to the sun. It means
the continuous order which is