ng the Liberal party any more than the Tory
party. Men do not gather grapes from thorns, nor figs from thistles. The
Liberal party is to-day what it has always been--an organisation of
capitalists formed to serve the interests of the capitalist class."[635]

Liberalism, with its championship of exaggerated individualism, stands
not for liberty, but for administrative anarchy. "The trouble with
nineteenth century Liberalism is that, by instinct, by tradition, and
by the positive precepts of its past exponents, it 'thinks in
individuals.' It visualises the world as a world of independent
Roundheads, with separate ends, and abstract rights to pursue those
ends. Nineteenth century Liberalism is, in fact, axiomatically hostile
to the State. It is not 'little Englandism' that is the matter with
those who still cling to such views; it is, as Huxley and Matthew
Arnold correctly diagnosed, administrative Nihilism. So far as
political action is concerned, they tend to be inveterately negative.
They have hung up temperance reform and educational reform for a
quarter of a century, because, instead of seeking to enable the
citizen to refresh himself without being poisoned or inebriated and to
get the children thoroughly taught, they have wanted primarily to
revenge their outraged temperance principles on the publican and their
outraged Nonconformist principles on the Church. Of such Liberals it
may be said that the destructive revolutionary tradition is in their
bones; they will reform nothing unless it can be done at the expense
of their enemies."[636]

"The question is frequently put: 'Why are Socialists so much opposed
to Liberalism?' But a little serious reflection will explain the
circumstance. Liberalism is really more conservative than Toryism.
This is not a paradox, it is a fact. Toryism stands for government,
and it does not necessarily follow that it stands for bad government.
Liberalism, on the other hand, admittedly seeks an unrestrained
operation of the individual will. It is opposed to government. It does
not consciously subscribe to the recognition of our social being. It
regards individuals as self-contained units operating in separate
spheres. The less government we have the better, is the keynote of
Liberalism. This was Emerson's theory, and Emerson was an
anarchist."[637] "The modern Conservative candidate is politically a
man without prejudices. No abstract principle forbids him to listen
sympathetically to any