Lord of M'i

The Hon. Kjung Mrus, Lord of M′i PC J (Shinasthana: 迷侯, m′i-go; Jan. 2, 1810 – Oct. 30, 1889) was a Themiclesian aristocrat, civil servant, jurist, and Conservative politician, twice Prime Minister of Themiclesia from 1878 to 1880 and 1886 to 1888. M′i is most noted for his attempts to stay the rise of the Lord of Krungh and his New Conservatism; due to disunity in his party and a preference for reaction, his government's achievements in other fields were considerably limited.

Early life

He was born the third son of Kjung Hus-ning (恭好年), the second Lord of M′i. He was first educated privately then at Academia Shinasthana, becoming a master of laws and called to the bar in 1844. Though not expected to inherit the title, the House of Lords convicted his father and elder brother for embezzling money in the Themiclesian Navy in 1851, disinheriting both of them and causing the title to pass to him by default. That his father was alive and a commoner while he a peer was a life-long cause for shame and anxiety for him, and he chose not to take his seat in parliament. He was made sixth justice of the Supreme Court in 1863.

Career

Public Works Secretary

At the behest of the Lord of Nja′-′rjem (女陰侯, nja′-′rjem-go; prime minister 1866 – 69), he entered politics as Secretary of State for Public Works in his short-lived ministry. His opponents were not prepared for his sharp mind and deep involvement in public projects, judging them not for the affiliation of their sponsors but tangible merits, such as expected expenses and opportunistic savings. On the other hand, he believed that a willingness to disregard aristocratic rights also was one for commoners' rights. In court and in parliament, he sought to harmonize Themiclesian legal traditions with Casaterran thought, defending those accepted in both and critically assessing where they disagreed.

Leader of the Opposition

Becoming the leader of the Conservative Party in 1869, his relative youth was sometimes an impediment to leadership. After the Liberal Party, under the Lord of Sng'rja and Lord T'jang-mjen, maintained their majority in the election that year, M′i used his oratory eloquence to critique the govenrment, and the Liberal government responded to M′i's acrid criticism by moving ministers from the upper to lower house and introduced most policies in the House of Commons, where they dominated. M′i then relied on Krungh (who sat as Lord Gwrjang-goi in the Commons) to offer opposition to the government. Yet the death of Krungh's father in 1871 moved him to the upper house, M′i losing his ally in the lower. In the election of 1873, Krungh was convinced that contemporary Conservatives were too skeptical of a larger role for government. Both were cognizant of calls to expand the franchise in various degrees, but M′i believed the time was too early for "franchise for every man", while Krungh though they should be enfranchised at a debt to the Conservatives. As a result, the party appealed both to skepticism of government involvement in industry, under T'jang-mjen's manifesto, being too risky, and to an equitable sharing of profits between capitalists and labourers. The Conservatives lost to Lord T'jang-mjen's Liberals, who convinced the electorate the Conservatives had a contradictory platform without addressing M′i's doubts.

Late in T'jang-mjen's government, Krungh started to make speeches to the unenfranchised public and using his personal money to fund candidates who believed government had a direct role in improving the lot of the working man. Against M′i's injunction, Krungh began politicizing the 95% adult population that up to that point had no political voice, fully confident he could "capture their hearts" even if he could not secure a vote for them. M′i, believing the law that excluded the masses from politics must be obeyed, and their inclusion introduced an unwanted dimension to politics, was exasperated at Krungh's unorthodoxy but did nothing to remove him or prevent him from financially sponsoring candidates for the Commons. While he had his own pocket seats, he was not as wealthy as Krungh and more hesitant to spend competitively on elections, turning them into "bribery-contests". Many believe this is a result of the conviction of his father and brother, and M′i didn't want to be seen using money in public life.

First premiership

Krungh's idea of appealing to non-voters applied sufficient pressure on voters to produce a nominal Conservative majority in 1878; however, since Krungh's faction didn't feel bound by M′i's directives, M′i's first government effectively held a minority instead. Increasingly dissatisfied with Krungh's assertive politics, M′i distanced himself from him but did not oppose making him Secretary of State for Appropriations. [...] M′i's support in the House of Commons thus became suspect. 24 MPs crossed the floor, enabling the Liberals to press for a general election, which M′i conceded on Mar. 2, 1880.

Leader of the Opposition

While Krungh did not sit as a different party, he was far estranged from M′i and encouraged candidates to run as Conservatives, sometimes in conflict with M′i's Conservatives; splitting the Conservative vote, L'ong-mjen's Liberals emerged with a majority in the Commons. L'ong-mjen pressed for urgent investigations of peers for malfeasances and successfully unseated 15 Conservative peers by 1885 for crimes. On the other hand, 13 of them were closer to Krungh than M′i, which strengthened M′i's position relative to Krungh's, at the expense of the overall Conservative position in the upper house. This further alienated the two party leaders during L'ong-mjen's six-year premership, but the two reconciled with each other in 1885, after the election has been called. Krungh continued to provoke the masses into pressuring their employers to change the way they voted, while M′i withdrew candidates where Krungh believed he had superior ones. Krungh survived what may have been an assassination attempt, which he implied was instigated by the Liberals.

Second premiership

The reunified Conservative Party won the election, but L′ong-mjen began to attack Krungh's faction in parliament, contrasting its electoral commitments with its actual parliamentary activity, which damaged Krungh's reputation and cast doubt on Conservative MPs that were not affiliated with Krungh. However, M′i decided to follow a set of policies that benefited the aristocracy as a whole, in order to consolidate Conservative support in the upper house. Due to Krungh's electoral rhetoric, Conservative MPs found this set of policies difficult to accept, since they were against the interest of almost every commons electorate. From the other side of the House, L'ong-mjen called for cross-party support to oppose the "restoration of aristocratic privileges" championed by M′i. That put his government into serious question yet again in the House of Commons. After a series of mismanaged crises, the Conservative parliamentary party again crumbled in the Commons, with progressive Conservatives (favouring regulation) supporting Krungh, and regressive Conservatives supporting M′i and his pro-aristocracy policy goals. Krungh again split from M′i and flirted with co-operation with L'ong-mjen, who was restored to power in 1889.

Reception

The Lord of M′i is generally considered an unsuccessful prime minister, despite his personal brilliance and character. Some scholars state that the Conservative Party of the late 19th century lacked a positive idea unifying its ranks and electorate and was instead based on skepticism of reforms and interests that Liberals have neglected to protect or represent. Such a party, according to C. E. Lawrence, "is good at opposition but not at government". Indeed, in both permierships, M′i faced insurmontable divisions in his own party in ideology and politics. Some such divisions occurred on fault lines in patronage support, others on completely-contradictory views about the outlook of th enation, and still others on differing structural interests between the Commons and Lords. The fact that his most potent ally, the Lord of Krungh, was also his main opponent in the party, suggests that he had very little ability to exert personal influence over either the Conservative Party in the Commons or Lords and motivate them to support him. Both his ministries were disunited internally and quagmired in difficult commitments to the Liberal Party, and co-operation between the chambers was erratic, exposing it to Liberal criticism. While the Krungh attempted to remedy these problems, his apparent lack of principles and aggressive giving of patronage, against other Conservative magnates, made M′i weary and increasingly suspicious over his career.

See also

• Themiclesia