RADICALISM (from radical, from Lat. radi ealis, relating to a root, radical, from radix, root ; connected with Gk. iSciat, rhad-ix, root, i3d.5akcvor, rhadainnos, branch, Goth. wafirts, root, OHG. Mn; Ger. Wurz, AS. u-yrt, Eng. wort, weed). In modern history generally, the temper of mind which is most opposed to the conserva tive, and aims at constant and progressive re form of political institutions. The word was first used of a political party in England about 1819 though a Radical Party, marked off by clear distinctions from the Whigs, may be said to have originated in 1769 with the first concerted move ment to reform and control Parliament b7 press ure from without. Oddly enough, the efforts of the first Radicals were directed not against the Crown or the Douse of Lords, but against the Douse of Commons. Radicalism in its origin was a middle-class movement; its active men were a limited class of voters who conceived that their rights were being infringed. Their first popular leader was Wilkes.
A second period extends from 1789 to 1831. The mighty influence of the French Revolution brought up a new class of .Jacobinieal Radicals. Under Thomas Paine and Godwin, significant changes took place in their attitude. The Crown and the House of Lords were attacked; com plaints of oppressive taxation were heard: and the leaders of the school were most of them men who rejected religions creeds. The first guar ter of the nineteenth century was a discouraging time for the Radicals, but they were not dis heartened. This period witnessed the rise of the most profound and systematic philosophy of radicalism that had yet been formulated. The scientific or philosophical Radicals now came forward, with Bentham and James Mill, with Ricardo and Grote and Joseph Hume. They gained a powerful organ when in 1824 they founded the 'Westminster Review. But there were also practical reformers, and the party was beginning to be recognized' as having a definite existence. The working classes now began to take a greater part in the movement, and the first hints of modern socialism were given by Spence and Owen.
The third period opens with the definite agi tation for reform of Parliamentary representa tion, which is part of general English history.
While the Radicals lent their support to the movement for the passage' of the Reform Bill, they regarded its results with disappointment, and tended to become more and more sharply dissociated from the Whigs who had passed it. The hope of further enfranchisement of the peo ple seemed slight; and the feeling of despair thus engendered gave rise to one of the most impor tant phases in the history of English radicalism, the Chartist movement. (See CHARTISM.) The Anti-Corn Law agitation, though the work of Radicals, especially of their two brilliant leaders, Cobden and Bright, was not an essential part of their campaign. Yet the Manchester school of politicians may be called the dominant type of Radicals from say 1840 to 1885, the connecting link between those of the beginning and end of the century. Though from a despised and perse cuted sect, the Radicals, especially under the strong leadership of Chamberlain, succeeded in becoming the controlling force in the Liberal Party, their triumph is not so complete as it appears, and many of the reforms to which strict theoretical Radicals have all along been commit ted seem as far as ever from accomplishment.
On the Continent there is a strong tide of Rad icalism. France has had a strong Radical Party, under one name or another, ever since the .out break of the Revolution. Its tenets are those of the party wherever it is found—the widest pos sible liberty for the individual. In addition the French Radicals have been the most persistent opponents of monarchy, and to their efforts the success of the revolutions of 1830 and 1848 may be attributed. To-day they are a strong party. In Germany the rise of the Radicals is of a com paratively recent date. The Socialists, both in Germany and France, must be considered as close ly allied to the Radicals. Consult: The Radical Programme (London, 1885) ; Lowell, Parties and Governments of Continental Europe, 2d vol. (Boston, 1897) ; Kent, The English Radicals (London, 1899). See POLITICAL PARTIES.