The Press. — London, England, 1858-12-11 00:00:00

THE PRESS, DECEMBER 11, 1858. 1206 cteteris paribus, a nobleman is more fit to rule than a Vcotton-spinner, because rulers must be men whose minds are sufficiently enlarged to take in the interests of the whole nation viewed as one body. They must not be men whose minds are contracted by being continually absorbed in the pursuit of one object. And he fairly enough adds, " The nobleman considers the claims of all " classes equally ; the spinner considers every " thing to be good or bad, according as it ex " tends the interests of cotton." It is, moreover, absurd to speak of rulers as a class, because, in fact, they are taken from all classes. The middle classes contribute a large number, and sons of colliers, and hatters, and soap-boilers, and artists, and newspaper-writers, and brewers, and physi cians, and Scotch parsons, and weavers, have all sat upon the Treasury benches. It is clear, then, that the middle classes are not shut out from ruling, if they have talent for it ; but the truth is, that the number of that class capable of ruling is utterly dis proportionate to the qualified persons of the upper class. In three notorious instances the middle-class holders of railway shares went to the aristocracy for a chairman of their company, and one of them actually resigned in disgust because his middle-class constituents would not abide by their engagements. To these cases Mr. BRIGHT adds the Crystal Palace, in which there is no aristocratic management, but which is entirely governed by the " capable " middle class ; and he adds somewhat bitterly, " Its present condi " tion shows in what a plight the country would " have been had the rulers of that speculation " been also the rulers of the State." It would not be wise of the Bright school to push too far the inquiry whether aristocratic rulers or the middle class had the control of Government contracts for the army and navy. Mr. BRIGHT'S adversary spares him in no respect. After quoting a passage in which the Radical orator made some blundering allusions to the condition of Highland shepherds, and showed that he knew nothing of that class, he proceeds in the following passage to expose how little he knew of the circumstances and habits of the class he reviles : "You remember that you, Mr. COBDEN, and I, served together on a committee to inquire into the expediency of reducing generally the salaries of the public servants of the Crown. One of the persons examined was Lord JOHN RUSSELL : he went into great details of the experience of his official life : he mentioned the number of occa sions when Ministers are called upon by their position to contribute largely to various public subscriptions : he pointed out the necessity of his having a larger house, and consequently larger establishment, than when he was not in office; and that being not of extravagant habits, he had never from his earliest youth been under any pecuniary difficulties till he was in office, when he became slightly embarrassed. He stated amongst other expenses the necessity of seeing many persons at dinner whom he could not con converse with at other times ; not only members of Parliament, but persons of intelligence from the country, and even from our colonies and foreign countries, by intercourse with whom he acqu►red much valuable information. Never shall I forget the astonishment of all of us when you and Mr. COBDEN doubted the advantage to be gained by asking such persons to dinner, and in quired if he did not save as much expense by being asked out again to dinner in return for the invitations he gave : so little did either of you understand the real nature of such establish ments, or the habits of private and friendly inter course in that rank of society." There are points in which we cannot agree with Mr. DRUMMOND—points in which we can not approve his temper or his style—but as a whole it is deeply instructive and tolerably amusing ; and considering how thoroughly it cuts the ground from under Mr. BRIGHT, we do not wonder at the bitterness, and, we must say, mis representation, with which it has been treated by Radical contemporaries. THE FRANCHISE IN BOROUGHS. TO THE EDITOR OF " THE PRESS." Sir,—As it seems that the triangular duel is to be fought on the floor of the House of Commons, in the ensmn on the subject of Reform, I think it 'her useless, before considering in franchise should be extended, to understanding on the extent to which it has been carried already under the Reform Act of 1832. Of the county franchise I will not say anything on the present occasion further than to remark that the fabulous variety of interests, which entitles persons to be registered to vote for counties, was the subject of a Parliamentary inquiry some years since, which resulted in a Blue-book of more than ordinary size. - My business to-day is with the borough franchise. The Reform Act conferred the franchise upon every occupier of a house, warehouse, counting-house, shop, or other building of the yearly value of 101., who shall have paid his rates and taxes for a certain period, such payment having been required as some test of solvency, and almost abrogated by subsequent legislation. Such being the letter of the law, I think that there are few of your readers who will not he surprised to learn that the Court of Common Pleas decided on appeal that the occupier of one or two attics in the City of London, who paid 4s. 6d. a week in the shape of rent, was an occupier entitled to be registered under the Reform Act. The result is that in the metropolitan boroughs almost every married man is entitled to a vote. It is not unworthy of remark that the appeal from Cie decision of the revising barrister has been to the Court of Common Pleas alone, and that from 1832 to the present time the decisions of that court have almost invariably been in favour of the claim to be registered. Far be it from me to suggest that the court has erred in its judgments. I only allude to it in answer to the suggestion of the soi-disant Re formers that the existing trane,hise is of a very limited character—the fact being that in all places a large, and in some cases a preponderating, proportion of the labouring classes is already inscribed on the register of voters for cities and boroughs. Nothing is more fallacious than figures—as the above statement shows, for it is a complete answer to the argument deduced from returns of the num bers of 101. houses in the kingdom. The return of greatest weight, in considering the necessity for a Reform Bill, is that which shows that of the electors already on the register not mote than two-thirds, and in many places not one-half, take the trouble to walk to the polling-booth to record their votes. Mr. Bright has spoken, aad Birmingham has furbished up its arms, but the hon. member and his constituents have alike failed in making a single practical suggestion on the coming question of Reform. Nothing is so easy as to frame a preamble —and I fancy that even Mr. Bright will find nothing is so difficult as to draw a bill which the country will accept. Chn:ch maintained by the occupiers of real estate, is as well established as the right of the occupiers of that estate to their possession, or of the landlords to their reversions. It arises out of the same law, and is defended by the same sanctions." I do not send this for publication to stir up angry feelings ; my object is of a totally different character. I would, if it were possible to preserve peace among Christians, advocate a fair and equitable compromise. And, if this should be resisted by the Dissenters, ant satisfied the Church would be greatly strengthened. I still hope that some plan will be proposed to vindicate the law, with a due regard to the feeling and prejudices of the dissenters. I am, sir, your obedient servant, JOHN Cox. Fairstead Rectory, oth November, 1858. foreign 6orresponbence. Pants, Thursday. THE official Moniteur has taken the trouble to Con tradict, in two sentences, the rumours which were lately prevalent here of a war with Austria being im minent. But the contradiction does not alter the fact that the relations between France and Austria are and have long been unfriendly, and that, as stated in my last, the prospect of a war some day or other with Austria is on the Imperial cards. " Suf ficient," however, " for the day is the evil thereof and so let us be thankful for the peace which fez the present we are destined to enjoy. Talking of Austria, I yesterday had the pleasure• of conversing with an intelligent Austrian nobleman , just arrived from Vienna. He represents the internal. situation of that great empire as extremely grave.. For example, the financial embarrassments of the Government are almost insurmountable, and the various schemes to which it has lately had recourse to lessen them have turned out ill ; the monetary system has been thrown into confusion by recent changes, and Jews have made all sorts of strange traffic in the new and old coins, to the grievous loss of every individual ; the rapacity and harshness of the bureaucrats—and Austria literally swarms with, them—exceed all bounds; the young Emperor's , good intentions and strenuous efforts to promote the. welfare of his people go for nothing, owing to the , supineness or positive hostility of the functionaries. who should support him ; trade is bad, agriculture. depressed, distress greater than was ever known, before. The consequence of all this is that profoundl discontent exists throughout the land and amonget all classes. Nor is the moral situation one whit better than the material one. The Concordat with Rome has excited universal disgust. The country, and particularly the capital, is invaded by Papal " missionaries," who preach in the different cluirchss from morning till night. It is the fashion for women. to go to the sermons, but men laugh them to scorn;: and so, whilst women neglect their families to gad. about from church to church and preacher to. preacher, the men proclaim almost downright loft: delity and plunge into profligacy. On the whole, the situation of things is strained, violent, false-;: and before it can he amended there must be a smash. Count de Montalembert refuses to accept the pardon whicl. the Emperor gave him last Thursday " on the occasion of the anniversary of the 2nd of December," and appeals to the Imperial Court (a French Court of Queen's Bench) against the con demnation pronounced by the Tribunal of Correc tional Police. A great deal of discussion has taken place as to whether or not the pardon quashes the right of appeal—as to whether or not the Emperor, from vexation at the appeal being made, will with draw the pardon—as to whether or not Count de Moutalembcrt, in the event of the condemnation on him being confirmed, can insist on going to prison in. spite of the pardon—and, lastly, as to whether or not he, by his condemnation, falls under the category of. suspects, that is, the people whom the Government can by law exile from France to some neighbouring• country or despatch to the sands of Lambessa the swamps of Cayenne. But it would be a waste of. time to enter into an examination of these various- points, inasmuch as the Emperor's determination is. to allow the appeal and maintain the pardon; so that,. if M. de Montalembert be condemned anew, he will be as free as he was before he was conderanedi at all. Lord Brougham is here, and, as his way is, has been seeing all the great political people of the day who are now in Paris, and talking with them at much: length about the great event of the day, which is the Montalembert affair. Some expectation is entertained that Paris will! in a few days witness one of those grand military pageants in which it delights. Another of the gigantic fortress-like barracks which the Emperor has caused to be constructed in important strategic! Positions—that near the fountain called the Chateau ensuing session, or mar not be allogetl direction the to a clear THE LAW OF CHURCH-RATES. THE following letter has appeared in the Essex and West Suffolk Gazette : Sir,—l fear the mljority of Churchmen are but imperfectly acquainted with the legal position of the Church-rate question. It seems therefore, at this moment, necessary that some information should be afforded on this important subject, in order to place the law fairly before the public. I, therefore, with the consent of Mr. Veley, who possesses a thorough knowledge of the law, send you, for publication, extracts that he has made from ihe judgments that were delivered in the Braintree Church-rate appeal. These extracts give the con• current opinion of all the judges before whom the cape was argued. Two points were decided in this far-famed appeal case. The first was, that no Church-rate can be made if resisted by the majority of those entitled to vot , 3 in vestry. The other point was, that the parish ioners are bound to repair the parish church. "We are all of opinion (said Chief Justice Tindal) that the obligatiun by which the parishioners, that is, the actual residents within, or the occupiers of lands and tenements in every parish, are bound to repair the body of the parish church, whenever necessary, and to provide all things essential to the performance of Divine service therein, is an obligation imposed upon them by the common law of the land." This is now the law, and remains in force, quite in dependent of the decision on the former point. Every one who infringes the common law is liable to be indicted, and, no doubt, the churchwardens have power now to enforce this legal obligation. From Mr. Veley's paper it is clear that the law is with the Church. As Lord Truro says, " The duty of repairing the church, and of providing the necessary funds for the celebration of Divine worship therein, is a duty as absolutely binding on the parishioners as any part of the statute or common law, and which is so clearly established that no lawyer of any pre tensions to competent knowledge upon such subjects is found to express any doubt upon it." I see a gentleman has lately published a letter in one of the county papers wherein he states, what I think likely to create a false impression, that the Church-rate is a personal tax. I refer him, for the law, to Mr. Justice Taifourd—" The right of the Church, that is of the inhabitants of the pariah, whether rateable or not, to have the fabric of the