The Press. — London, England, 1853-10-22 00:00:00

578 mining speculation which prevailed during the latter half of 1852. If our contemporary is right, that abundance of money, and that spirit of enterprise, were symptoms of dis tress. Escape from this conclusion is im possible, for, if under the free-trade regime a high rate of interest bespeaks extended emu- Illeree and prosperity, a low rate of interest must indieate the reverse. Hut the most satisfactory refutation of the strange doctrines is to be found iu the past hi s tory of previous periods of commercial difficulty in this country. In the autumn of 1847 it was found necessary to suspend the operation of the Bank charter in order to pre yent universal bankruptcy. That measure was called for solely through the scarcity of bullion, and that scarcity was caused by a de plorably deficient harvest, which necessitated enormous purehusem of forcie food. Looking farther back, we find that in the autumn of 18341 the Bank was compelled to borrow from the sister establishment France, in order to enable her to meet her engagements. What brought about that necessity? Precisely the saute cause which operated in I,4l7—viz. ' a deficient home supply of food, occasioned by two bad harvests in succession. At present we perceive the same causes operating as at the two periods we have named, but happily not as yet to the Millie extent. The harvest has lawn notoriously deficient, more so, We tear, than is generally supposed, and our im portations of foreign grain have been huger than in any former year. These obvious causes. isimbined with the threatening aspect of continental affairs, have depressed the funds and raised the rate of discounts ; and hence our ingenious contempontry, by a pro cess of reasoning which we confess our in ability to follow, arrives at the cheerful eon elusion that we have arrived at a pitch of prosperity which we never knew before. The exposure of these sophistries may be insidered superfluous. hut, appearing as hey have done in a journal which professes teach the soundest commercial philosophy, hey deserve notiee. An attempt is hieing made to mislead public opinion upon a ques tion of vital importance, and to create a .-hievons sense of security, at a time when the Isrect Of the commercial world ought to in spire the utmost prudence and eireunispee s It is for these Silineiela reasons, there tore, that we have departed from our rule to notice eolllellipolliry eollllllelllS. THE PROMISED REFORM BILL. VAniors modes have been suggested by which Ministers may escape from their self-imposed but difficult task of reforming the Constitu tion. That it is their interest. and come ineptly their desire, to do this nobody doubts. They have got out of the reform cry all they are likely to get—a year of respite to reconcile differences, fame meaatires, and conciliate the aid of conflicting parties. To their well balanced position. resting half on Conservative, half on Democratic, support, action of any kind must be fatal. If they go far, they will lose the Tories, the old Whigs. and moderate men generally. If they hesitate. and shrink from decided measures, they must irrevocably alienate the Radical section, whose patience has already been extensively tried. Nor would it be endured by the Liberals, as a party. that. after three years of delay and de liberation, after solemn engagements entered into. and unlimited credit given, their leaders , hould come tOrward with a proposition less extensive, and therefore less acceptable to them, than that which, in Lord Joni so lignally failed to carry. Lord Ammibv.F.N's tiovernment, then. lois every inducement to commit a bread' of Midi. It cannot fulfil its promises to the sat istitetion of all parties. Most probably it cannot fulfil them to the satisfaction of any party. There is. confessedly, no agitation in the country. nor the possibility of creating an agitation. People are thinking of anything and every thing rather than the new Reform Bill. Now It Is the Peace Conference—now intervention In favour of Turkey—now the repeal of the THE PRESS. newspaper stamp duties—now law reform— now the sanitary question—now labourers' strikes—now baths, washhouses, and free libraries—every subject that can be named is more popular, even with Democratic assem blies, than that of the much-vaunted manger extension. Possibly at the bottom of this indifferenee there may lie a strong suspicion that the Ministerial professions are all a sham. If s o, we join in the sentiment and agree in the opinion. We believe that Ministers will bring forward no reform bill if they can help it ; and that, if they are driven to legislate, they will do as little as possible. This result may he attained in more than ono way. Nobody has forgotten the intrigue by which Irish members were led to vote for the ejection of Lord DERRY'S Government. Mr. Harrxti could answer fur Sir C. WOOD, but not for Mr. GLADSTONE: he was authorised to speak for the Whigs, but could not undertake to be the organ of a coalition. So the votes were gained, and the quid pro quo withheld. What has been done once may be tried again. The dodge which imposed on the astute intel lects of the Brigade may be at least equally successful with the more simpleminded and guileless Saxons. Who stands pledged to bring in a Reform Bill ? Lord ABERDEEN'S Cabinet. But what if Lord ARERDEEN resign? A I liivernment deprived of its chief is ipoofueto dissolved and reconstructed, even though the other constituent parts remain the same. Thus a single change in the personnel of ad ministration releases twelve or thirteen states men from an ineonvenient pledge. Nothing simpler than this evasion—nothing more exactly in accordance with the CHANCRLLOR of the EXCHEQUER'S Cast of mind. Here is one door of escape, equally available too, what ever be the state of Europe, whether ono of suppressed menace or open war; for real peace, unhappily, is out of the question. Sup, pose war imminent or impending, the means of evasion are still easier to find. In any case, under any circumstances, it seems to us doubtful whether the great measure of 1554 will ever see the light ; and scarcely doubtful that, if produced to the public, it will fall very far short of the wishes and expectations of those by whose votes it must be passed into WV. In these suspicions we are confirmed by the language of a literary publication once power ful beyond all periodicals then existing ; and even at the present day, though rather belong ing to the past than to the present--" mogul nominis umbra '—respectable from its position, its influence, and its tone. The Edinburgh Review has long resigned to younger contemn poraries its ancient post in the van of the popular movement ; but it still commands a respectable circulation, and occasionally, though seldom, renovates its obsolete Whig eery with an infusion of modern Liberalism. Not so, however, in the matter of parliamen tary representation. The two remarkable papers of October, '5l, and Januai7, '5l, were Conservative in the strict sense of the word. Diselaiming democracy represented by uni versal suffrage and electoral districts, not only as inexpedient for the present, but as abso lutely and at all times dangerous—setting forth the necessity of a limited franchise both now and for the ftiture—and expressly de nouncing as class legislation that policy which would throw all power into the hands of the hamming masses—the writer addressed his whole energies to moderate, rather than to encourage, expectation—to cheek, instead of stimulating, the innovating and ultra-progres sive spirit which it was the obvious policy of Lord Jonx Itussm.m. to excite. In a third essay—a continuation of the two former—the same feeling is not less unequivocally dis played. Those indirect electoral influences against which purists declaim, and which few persons venture openly to defend, are palliated, if not vindicated. The reviewer objects to ballot—excuses the bribe taking voter by the example of the place-accepting or place-hunt ing senator—considers " any large reduction "of the present qualification as unjust in " principle, perilous in its operation, and re " trogressive in its tendency "—and conebides by a strong pnnegyrie on the project lalreadv noticed in our columns) of a so-called " franchise. Lastly, though recommend- SATURDAY, ing a lowering of the electoral qualification in counties, he proposes to increase the intiu. once of these last, as opposed to the towns, by transferring to them the majority, if not the whole, of such sesta as may be vacated by the disfranchisement of corrupt or rotten bo roughs. Ou the merits or demerits of this plan we may find opportunities to comment. Enough for the present to have indicated the tone of oomprounse, not to say vacillation, in which an accredited organ of the Coalition Cabinet approaches a question out of which its employers have made so much political capital. MR. COBDEN AND THE EDINBURGH CONFERENCE. PASSING by the graceful tribute paid by Mr. JOSEPH SWIM to the memory of Mr. BRADSHAW, of Raiticay-Quids celebrity, " over " whose grave he believed more tears had been " shed than over that of Wellington," and barely remarking the generous allusion of Mr. lIINDLEY to the physical infirmities of Mr. RozsucK, who was said to be suffering from pamlysis, we return to the apostle of peace, Mr. Com)Es himself; and, notwithstanding his pathetic appeal, "Do not pick out a stray re " mark by this orator or that—do not cavil at " any discrepancies that may be found in the " speeches, but look alone to those resolutions " which embody the principles auti objects " of the Conference "—we shall take the liberty of examining not only the resolutions but also the reasoning on which they rest. The tenor of these resolutions is to the effect that war is an evil and that armaments arc expensive. But no one asserts that war is a positive good, or that armaments are in them selves public benefits: all that is alleged is that war, though an evil, is sometimes !miles siny, and that armaments eau be justified as a means to an end. Will Mr. COBDEN venture to assert that in no event would he go to war, — that he would rather endure national disgrace than strike a manly blow for his country's honour, or, it may be, its existence ? Let him, without qualification, make this assertion openly, which his unqualified declamation implies, and his political existence is extinct. As national credit is wealth, so national honour is security. But if Mr. Comm.; will not repu diate war in all events, in that of foreign in vasion, for instance, then the question is only one of degree, not of principle. He says "we are not in a condition to exe " cute God's vengeance on Russia for doing "an net of injustice to Turkey." Who sup posed we were ? Does he think that Admiral DusnAm, his skilled seamen and disciplined maniacs, are fanatics who have gone forth to fight. in the spirit of crusaders ? They sailed in obedience to the orders of the Admiralty, which orders emanated from the Cabinet on certain considerations of policy, one of which is, that it is hazardous to the liberties and dangerous to the peace of Europe to permit any potentate to aggrandise his dominions at the expense of his neighbours, and acquire a preponderating power in the community of nations. But Mr. ConnEx, forsooth, has made a notable discovery—that not only is acquisi tion of territory not necessarily an increase of strength, but that the acquisition of Constan tinople by Russia, " instead of tending to in " crease her power, would have an opposite " effect." That is, that the possession of some of the richest portions of the globe, anti the occupation of that position on it—which. whether it be for the purposes of pence or of war—as an emporium or a military post—is the best, the strongest, and the most com manding—would impoverish Russia and di minish - her military strength. This is a matter of opinion ; and, inasmuch as Lord PALMERSTON thinks that territory furnishes men, money, and military positions, Mr. Con DEN says that neither Lora l'Ai.mrasvox nor any one else except himself knows anything about the matter. If Mr. ConoEN thinks it absurd to apprehend that Russian aggression will increase Russian power in the East, still more absurd does it seem to him to suspect the Em peror NICHOLAS of cherishing ulterior designs. Russia absorbs the neighbouring States, by