OPPOSITION TO THE REFORM BILL. middle and working classes of England till now. 519 Mr. Glad stone has the nerve as well as the brain of a real statesman. That he will meet with formidable opposition on the part of Earl Derby and his so called Conservative clique is to be expected; but the lamentable part of the whole thing, we are afraid, will turn out to be, that those members elected to the present Parliament as professed Liberals will be frightened from the support of Gladstone because he goes too far. We saw the same thing when even advanced Whig statesmen deserted their principles because Sir Robert Peel had come forward from the ranks of the Tory party to advocate a sweeping reform. Such defections show, either inconceivable stupidity on the part of men who professed to be advanced in the science of public economy, or the grossest insincerity in the maintenance of the principles they profess. It is possible also that some of the Radical members may oppose Gladstone's bill, because they prefer rather than take half a loaf to go without any bread. It is enough, however, for Americans to know, that Mr. Bright will sustain the Chancellor in the position he has taken. This humane statesman, in discussing the provisions of the bill, expressed an approval of the abolition of the ratepaying clause, and pointing out with regard to the county franchise which he did not altogether approve-that the Opposition had committed themselves to it by Lord Derby's bill, and that it had worked well in Ireland. In answer to those who attributed to him the parentage of the bill, he disclaimed having supported or suggested a seven pound franchise, as he had always been in favor of a household franchise; but he reminded the Opposition that Mr. Walpole and Mr. Henley had supported an eight pound franchise, and appealed to them not to split hairs about so small a difference. He condemned the savings-bank franchise as the worst of all the fancy franchises, and disputed the accuracy of the statistics as to the proportion of workingmen in possession of the franchise. He made an animated reply to the attacks of Mr. Lowe and Mr. Horsman, and drew an amusing portrait of the 520 A FAMILY PARTY IN PARLIAMENT. new party formed by the alliances of those two gentlemen, insinuating that loss of office was the cause of their Anti-Reform zeal. He warned the Opposition that, if they rejected this bill, they would repent it before many years were over; and concluded by expressing his intention-making allowance for the difficulties of the government and the disinclination of Parliament to support the bill, though he deemed it inadequate to the occasion. Mr. Bright is inspired by the highest maxims of policy and political wisdom. It is, doubtless, to be regretted that the question of the distribution of seats and the equalization of representation could not be embraced in this reform, for the present Parliament is after all little better than a family party. In a recent article, the London Spectator, analyzing the House of Commons, states that 92 members, or about oneseventh of the entire House, are sons, brothers, uncles, nephews, sons-in-law, or brothers-in-law of the present heads of the 31 houses known as "the great governing families of England." This is exclusive of members standing in the same relation to the great Scotch and Irish families, and at least another 30 might be added were the degree of relationship extended to first and second cousins; 170 near relatives of peers not included in the thirty-one, 15 of them heir-apparent or presumptive, and 60 baronets further represent the landed and "countyfamily" in the House. Making allowance for baronets also reckoned as relatives of peers, little under 300 out of 656 members of the House of Commons are more or less closely identified with the great land-owning caste of the country; 120 mem-bers are more or less concerned in the management or mismanagement of railways, while 115 are directors of insurance, banking and joint-stock companies, and 104 directors of miscellaneous companies, including nearly all kinds and forms of joint-stock associations before the public. Whatever may be the fate of this bill the Ministry will live or die by it. They have considered well the ground they have taken, and to our eyes one of two things looks very clear to THE GREAT CRISIS COMING. 521 day; either the Bill will pass with the applause of England, or a storm of indignation will arise which will dissolve the present House, or force the country into a revolution. Gladstone thinks even the whole of the coming summer will be too brief a period for the full discussion of the merits of the question. But the longer the discussion, the more fire will be struck from the collision of the people with the Aristocracy; the more light will be shed over the rights of the masses, and the more determined will they become to win the victory. A XXXV. SINGLE glance at what this new Reform Bill proposes to do, will close this book. The qualifications of county suffrage are cut down from $250 occupancy, to $70; while in boroughs the payment of an annual rent of $35 for a house, and in the towns $50 per annum for apartments, secures the suffrage. The Bill thus increases the number of legal voters in England by at least one-third. By thus enlarging the basis, the professional classes who were before excluded, the better class of mechanics, and all shop-keepers and tradesmen, with a very considerable proportion of laborers, are brought within the pale. With so vast a proportion of the lower, middle and higher working classes in, as an element of the government, there is every ground for hope that this may prove the beginning of such a reform as we have always hoped for in Great Britain. Such a reform alone can save her. She has long enough sacrificed her people to enrich her Aristocracy. The new Reform Bill Debate will be read with interest throughout the civilized world, and whatever may be the immediate result, whether the Bill shall pass or not, it is certain that the Parliament that crushes it will be the last Parliament of the kind that will ever sit in London. The conflicting forces have met and are looking each other straight in the face. If the Democratic principle triumphs in England, it will be victorious throughout the earth. 522 REFORM OR REVOLUTION. The London Telegraph in speaking of the opposition that will be offered to the Reform Bill, utters the following Democratic Words: In Lima, Callao, Quito and the other equatorial cities of South America, it is the custom, when a house wants pulling down and rebuilding, to wait "for an earthquake." That is the last idea of the Times. Our contemporary is positively rash enough to complain that there is no uproar for reform, and to seek for an argument against the bill in the quiet satisfaction with which it has been received by the people. We sincerely warn the party of which the Times is now the acknowledged head, not to follow this dangerous line of opposition too far. . . . . . Only dam up the quietest river a little while, and when it breaks the boundary you will have torrent and foam and fury to your heart's content. Only "wait for the earthquake" long enough, and, if it will not build your new edifice for you, it will, at least, make mammocks of that which was standing. Does our cotemporary wish to wait for such rough engineering? There is nothing which comes from such little causes, and leads to such tremendous results, as the uprising of the industrial ranks. For years thoughtful persons have been wondering whether education and political intelligence could keep the bit in the mouth of the laboring classes long enough to let reform or revolution come first. Let a bad harvest come, however, or the rinderpest seriously extend, or an unpopular war break forth-let cholera, commercial distress, or any one of the hundred possible evils provoke the "common people" to ponder how they are lodged, how much of their wages go to the estimates, and what money out of seventy millions is expended in national education-and we do not think the Times would have to listen long for that thunder in the air, without which it declines to repair the electoral edifice. Only we ask again whether it is wise to wait for such a danger? A generation ago, people did wait, and the consequence was, that we had a revolution in everything but bloodshed, and only just stopped at the brink of that. There are sincere persons now who, perceiving how mild the present measure is compared with Lord Althorp's, are seriously inclined, when the Times and the Tories thus quote, with floods and earthquakes, to help them into utter political demolition. For there would be no half-measures if the people were "up." Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow would not stand delicately trimming off a half per cent. here, and chatting over a savings-bank franchise there, with the vast victory of America to excite them toward manhood suffrage, and with thirty-four steady years of growing power passed since Brougham took thirty Peers' patents in his dispatch-box to Windsor, and whispered to his Majesty, "These, Sire, or the bill-or civil war.". The country has before it a bill of which it approves, and which, it is justly confident, will shortly become law. Clamor is not the accompaniment of so fortunate a state of things; hungry folks call out for their dinner, but they do not make a noise about it when the cloth is spread, and the smell of roast and boiled is coming from the kitchen. If you disappoint them at that stage-if you dare to insult millions of expectant people with the stale announcement, "those that ask sha'n't have, and thoso that don't ask don't want"-then indeed "'ware appetite.". The bill is not such as to cause enthusiasm by its generosity, nor anger by its defects; it is simply "enough to accomplish by a decided improvement," and plain people like the English don't go into hysterics over" enough." Our decided advice to those who do not like Reform is to be content without it, and to console themselves with the fact that several millions of grown men are sitting still to receive what would have to be amplified if they should once " get up to fetch it." ..... Behind such words as these we hear the tramp of the invincible multitude. The day for Reform or Revolution in England is hastening. In God's name let it come! |