conservatism (konservatizm)

[For* con scrvativism, Of all the difficulties that were met in establishing locomotion by steam, the obstruction offered by blind, stolid, unreasoning conservatism was not the least. Josiah Quincy , Figures of the Past, p. 350. The hard conservatism which refuses to see what it has never yet seen, and so never learns anything new. J. F. Clarke, Self-Culture, p. 89. 2. The political principles and opinions maintained by Conservatives. See conservative, n., 3. I advocate neither Conservatism nor Liberalism in the sense in which those slogans of modern party-warfare are commonly understood. Sir E. Creasy , Eng. Const., p. 11. conservative (kon-sèr'va-tiv), a. and n. [F. conservatif (> D. conservatief = G. conservativ = Dan. konservativ ) = Sp. Pg. It. conservativo , conservativus , con ser vatus , pp. of con servare , keep, preserve: see conserve , v.] I. a. 1. Preservative; having power or tendency to preserve in a safe or entire state; protecting from lo , waste, or injury: said of things. This place of which I telle,... Ys sette amyddys of these three, Hevene, erthe, and eke the see, • As most conservatif the soun. Chaucer, House of Fame, ii. 339. I refer to their respective conservative principle: that is, the principle by which they are upheld and preserved. Calhoun, Works, I. 37. 2. Disposed to retain and maintain what is established, as institutions, customs, and the like; opposed to innovation and change; in an extreme and unfavorable sense, opposed to progre : said of persons or their characteristics. conservative His [Alfred's] character was of that sterling conserva tive kind which bases itself upon old facts, but accepts new facts as a reason for things. C. H. Pearson, Early and Mid. Ages of Eng., xi. Specifically-3. In politics: (a) Antagonistic to change in the institutions of the country, civil or ecclesiastical; especially, opposed to change in the direction of democracy. The slow progre which Sweden has made in introducing needful reforms is owing to the conservative spirit of the nobility and the priesthood. B. Taylor, Northern Travel, xviii. Hence-(b) [ cap .] Of or pertaining to the Conservatives or their principles. See II., 3. The result of this struggle was highly favourable to the Conservative party. Macaulay. Conservative force. See force. - Conservative system, in mech., a system which always performs or consumes the same amount of work in pa ing from one given configuration to another, by whatever path or with whatever velocities it pa es from one to the other. The doctrine of the conservation of energy is that the universe is a conservative system. See energy. When the nature of a material system is such that if, after the system has undergone any series of changes, it is brought back in any manner to its original state, [and] the whole work done by external agents on the system is equal to the whole work done by the system in overcoming external forces, the system is called a Conservative System. Clerk Maxwell, Matter and Motion, art. lxxii. The conservative faculty, in psychol., the power of retaining knowledge in the mind, though out of conscious ne ; memory. II. n . 11. One who aims, or that which tends, to preserve from injury, decay, or lo ; a preserver or preservative. The Holy Spirit is the great conservative of the new life. Jer. Taylor, Confirmation, fol. 32. 2. One who is opposed by nature or on principle to innovation and change; in an unfavorable sense, one who from prejudice or lack of foresight is opposed to true progre . See radical. We see that if M. Dumont had died in 1799, he would have died, to use the new cant word, a decided conser vative. Macaulay, Mirabeau. 3. [ cap.] In Great Britain, a Tory: a name first adopted by the Tory party about the time of the pa ing of the first Reform Bill (1832). The profe ed object of the Conservatives, as a political body, is to maintain and preserve by every constitutional means the existing institutions of the country, both ecclesiastical and civil, and to oppose such measures and changes as they believe have a tendency either to destroy or to impair these institutions. 4. In U. S. hist., one of the group of Democrats who, during Van Buren's administration, voted with the Whigs against the Independent Treasury Bill. conservatively (kon-serva-tiv-li), adv. In a conservative manner, or in the manner of conservatives; as a conservative; with conservativene . It is very conservatively English to make conce ion at the eleventh hour and fifty-ninth minute; but the clock is fast in Ireland. Philadelphia Ledger , Dec. 30, 1887. conservativene (kon-sėr'va-tiv-nes), n. Tendency to preserve or maintain; conservatism. conservatoire (kon-ser-va-twor'), n . [F., = Sp. Pg. It. conservatorio = G. conservatorium (> Dan. konservatorium ), ML.conservatorium : see con servatory, n.] An establishment for special instruction, particularly in music and theatrical declamation and training. See conservatory , 3. conservator (kon'sėr-va-tor), n. [F. conser vateur = Sp. Pg. conservador = It. conservatore , conservator , conservare , pp. con ser vatus , keep: see conserve, v.] 1. A preserver; one who or that which preserves from injury, violation, or infraction: as, a conservator of the peace. See phrases below. Of cold and moist con ser vat our flyntstone is. Palladius , Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 49. Decays of sense and clouds of spirit are excellent con servators of humility. Jer. Taylor , Works (ed. 1835), I. 81. Specifically-2. A person appointed to superintend idiots, lunatics, etc., manage their property, and preserve it from waste. [Connecticut.] -Apostolic conservator, or conservator of the apos tolic privileges, a bishop formerly chosen by the University of Paris to judge causes relating to benefices po e ed by members of the university. - Conservators of the peace, officers who, by the common law of England, were appointed for the preservation of the public peace, before the institution of justices of the peace. Their powers were far inferior to those of modern justices of the IMG:content-1108.png:[blocks in formation] IMG:content-1109.png:[blocks in formation] In Christ's law non concupisces is... the conservatory and the last duty of every commandment. Jer. Taylor, Ductor Dubitantium, i. 414. 2. A place for preserving or carefully keeping anything, as from lo , decay, waste, or injury; specifically, and commonly, a greenhouse for preserving exotics and other tender plants.-3. A place of public instruction and training, designed to promote the study of some branch of science or art. Conservatories of music and declamation (to which the French name conserva toire is frequently applied, the most celebrated institution of the kind being in Paris) have been maintained at the public expense in Italy, France, Germany, and other European countries for two or three centuries; and the name is given to many private establishments in Great Britain and America.