The Press. — London, England, 1858-04-10 00:00:00

evrrtsp.entutt. R. BRIGHT'S CONTEMPLATED REVOLUTION. TO THE EDITOR OT "THE PRESS." Sir,—The following paragraph, containing the present opinion and prospective hopes of so noted a tical celebrity as Mr. Bright, - has I y the press honoured with a very extensive circulation. contains matter worthy of minute attention : The unemployed of Birmingham, having passed a memorial to the Queen, praying for some gigantic system of free emigration, authorized their chairman to ask Mr. Bright to present the memorial. On Friday afternoon the following reply was received from Mr. Bright, and as it is one of the most remarkable productions of the great Reform champion, we subjoin a copy : Dear Sir,—When your memorial reaches me or Mr. Schole lield, we will at once take the usual course with respect to its presentation to the Queen. lam sorry to tind that the " un employed should be so numerous in Birmingham as to induce to unite, with a view to some public measures for their Aid. At this moment the unfavourable condition of the .1 markets of the United States and of the continent of Europe will account for much of the suffering which I. being endured the working men of England. I confess, however, that I see no remedy for a large portion of the mischief complained so long as we tiud our taxes constantly on the increase, and national expenditure augmenting. We are now spending 20,000,0001. a year more than we were spending only a few years and our military expenses have doubled since the year a', when the Duke of Wellington and •Sir Robert I'eel were . power. This year, I suppose, we shall raise in taxes at least 0,000,000/. sterling more than will require to be raised by an eqnsl population, living, not in England, but in the United States of America. Surely this will account for much of the evils which you and the memorialists and the working classes generally sutler, and I am not surprised that sensible men should wish to quit a country where the burdens are so heavy, slid the political privileges of three•fourths of them are so few. very man who is not prepared to compel a better and more economical government at home should emigrate, or the pau perism of his day will be deeperand more without remedy in the days of his children. I wish I was able to come to Birmingham and talk to you about these great queationa.--Yours very re spectfully, JOHN BRIGHT. -Times, March 29. There is in Mr. Bright's letter an acknowledg it of "the great fact " that all the prophecies of , Anti•Corn-Law League have proved erroneous. Jnder the operation of Free Trade, emigration has increased with unprecedented celerity, as the produce other nations imported into these islands has increased in extent; the exportation of human beings has also increased. What are shiploads of foreign corn, and of foreign-manufactured goods of sorts, but concentrated human labour ? Were the operatives of these islands to see landed on the quays, at the railway stations, thousands of living labourers and artizans, who entered the fields and workships, and cast the native-born labourers and artizans into the streets to starve, to die, to emigrate, le cry would soon be heard in Birmingham,— England for the English !" In effect, this is, with omission of an important circumstance, what occurs—the foreigner, under present circumstances, .1 saved from paying British taxes. When the labour . the Englishman, in the shape of manufactured goods, is not absolutely prohibited, but enters a foreign market, it is directly taxed from twenty to forty per cent.. The Englishman is thus doubly taxed ; there is his own home taxation, and the tax be is compelled to pay for the privilege of selling abroad. Mr. Bright's remedy • for national. distress is reduced taxes. • The Queen of England must be paid after the fashion of the President of the United States. Assume, briefly, that the taxation of Eng land must be reduced, say from 60,000,0001. to 6,000,0001. per annum. • Before this consummation can be realized, the National Debt must be paid, or blotted out with a cotton cloth. • The Queen of England, whose income is a compensation for in terest in the estates that belonged to the Royal Family, must henceforth be an annuitant in reduced circumstances, and all under the Queen must follow the royal example. Divide the 50,000,0001. thus acquired among the whole population, share and share alike, man, woman, and child, it will not be quite 21. each per annum. As the Queen, and all under her paid from the taxes, spend the much greater proportion of what they receive within the country, and to that extent find employment for the working population, the internal industry of the country will not be greatly increased by the change. The disbanded soldiers and sailors, dr.c., will neces sarily return to their friends, and try to find employ ment as best they can ; the number of hands in the labour market must be augmented, and, as a natural consequence, the difficulty of finding employment to some extent also increased. All those who are not disposed to remain in England, and with that disposi tiara resolved to assist Mr. Bright in accomplishing a revolution (to which those changes are the prelimi nary steps), are recommended to emigrate, in justice to themselves and their families. When Mr. Bright's revolution has been realized (assuming it possible) he cannot then, more than now, compel foreign na tions to abolish their tariffs. Englishmen selling goods abroad must still be subjected to foreign tax )1 E. Sir, — present politica' been h It coati The I memorie of free e Bright ti foliowini one of Reform Dear S field, W 6 presentat employee them to relief. markets i will accol by the We can see n of, so ion our nark 20,000,001 back, And 1835, whi in power 50,000,00 equal po buttes of evils whi geuersll3 should w and the I Every me economic peristn of days of l and talk apectfull: —Times Ther went of the Am Under increas , of otho increas beings foreign all soil operdti quays, labouri worksh artizan the or " Engb the or occurs. ie sarel of the goods, foreign forty I taxed ; he is abroad is redu THE PRESS,: APRIL' lA' 1858. tion. It did all very well-for the purposes of agita tion, twenty years ago, to declare that foreign nations would follow British example, and open their ports to the world. The'United States—the pet example of Mr. Bright on all great occasions—is now, as for• merly, highly protective. - It won't do to try the old game over again ; it cannot be successfully repeated. Every prophecy made by the Free-traders prior to the repeal of the Corn Laws has been falsified by experience. They promised "Peace, high wages, full employment "; Time has answered the oracle, and with 'his finger written, " War, low wages, and want of employment." The country swallowed the Free-trade draught of Mr. Cobden. .The physician promised the confiding patient a complete cure for all the grievous bodily infirmities of which he com plained. - The physician, having when in practice acquired a competency, is now in retirement. The patient is in a very bad condition, suffering from that most trying of all diseases, the want of employ ment—the disease of all others which It was said could not possibly return. - The patient, racked with pain, sends his OW4 prescription to London. He receives advice gratis from the Rochdale apothecary, and he says, " There is but one remedy . for you. Swallow Bright's Pills of Health, and you are safe ; refuse it, and your only hope is in a change of cli mate. Pack up and be off, or resolve to aid Mr. Bright. Let there be no delay—danger is imminent." Were it possible for the sick man, which it is not, to swallow all the drugs in the shop of the Rochdale apothecary, after having endured much pain, the unfortunate sufferer would discover that his consti tution was shattered, his name dishonoured, and he a skeleton in rags, with the alternative before him of living on low diet, working without intermission, or certain and almost immediate death.—l am, sir, your obedient servant, April 5, 1858. FAIR TRADE. INDIAN GOVERNMENT. TO THE EDITOR OF " THE PRESS." Sir,—Referring in a leading article of your last number to the proposition contained in my letter of the 24th March, that the Indian Council should be elected by the votes of the members of both Houses of Parliament, you remark, that " this plan would undoubtedly be objected to by many, as stripping the Crown unwisely of a large portion of its prerogative." Could I for a moment conceive that such a conse quence was involved in my suggestion, I should at once admit, not only that it would lead to partial objection to the proposal, but that it ought to induce its instant and absolute rejection. Devotedly at tached to the Constitution of my country, and admiring the wisdom which recognizes, and the judgment that balances in its arrangements, the relative claims of monarchical privilege and popular right, • f should be the very last person to advocate any disturbance of that equipoise on the maintenance of which I am profoundly convinced that the per manence of our institutions, and with • them the preservation of our political liberty, depends. But I am convinced, sir, that on reconsideration you will perceive that your conclusion is opposed to all the rules of logical induction. The powers to be dele gated to a council may indeed be so absolute as to render it independent of the control of the Crown ; but this would then be the result of unwise delega tion of power, not of unwise construction of the body to whom it is to be intrusted. •To suppose that the appointment of the Council by the *members of the Legislature would necessarily involve an invasion of the Royal prerogative, appears to me as incon sistent as it would be to imagine that the same con sequence must follow the constitutional exclusion of the Sovereign from all interference in the election of members of Parliament. .Without further argument, however, it may suffice that I remind you that the representative principle, for which alone I contended, in contradistinction to that of nomination, is actually embodied in the Government India Bill ; and surely no one will suspect Lord Derby of a desire to " strip the Crown of its prerogative." To counteract all such tendency, I have always contemplated that the President and Vice President should be appointed by the Crown—the former being a Cabinet Minister, and his assent being necessary to all " Ordinances " to be adopted by the Council; the latter a permanent appointment. To this safeguard I would add a power to the Crown to place on the list of persons eligible for election, in addition to those qualified according to the provisions of any act to be passed for the govern ment of India, all such individuals as may be spe cially recommended to be so placed by the president for the time being, thus opening the door for the in troduction to the Council of talent and fitness from every department, guarded by the personal selection being subsequently confided to a constituency ab solutely unequalled for all the qualifications calcu • lated to inspire public respect and confidence. I could enlarge on details which T am prepared to suggest, which would, as I think, equally dispel all apprehen sion of evils from the undue preponderance in the 351 Council of either royal, aristocratic, or popular in fluence ; but I do not .at present feel called on to discuss abstract theciries or specific systems, and having vindicated my leading proposition—that of election as opposed to nomination of the Council—l might quit the subject. I cannot, however, refrain from asking permission, through the medium of your columns, very earnestly to express my conviction, that in the present position of the great and solemn question of providing for the future government of our Indian empire, sufficient evidence has been afforded that neither public opinion, nor the judg ment of statesmen of any party, nor the views of legislators, are sufficiently matured to justify, either in justice or in policy, its instant decision. A preci pitate vote of the House of Commons may be fatal to the welfare of the Indian race, and to the British interests connected with our magnificent empire in the East ; for on that vote may depend whether, for a lengthened and indefinite period, that empire is to be well or ill governed. I venture therefore, with deep consciousness how little pretension I can per sonal]: offer to present such an appeal, but with earnest solicitude, and in the perfect absence of all party spirit, respectfully to suggest to those' with whom it rests either to stimulate or to calm, public excitement on this great and interesting question, whether they will not best discharge their high.and responsible mission, by promoting the withdrawal of the two rival bills now before Parliament, in-both of which, I believe, public intelligence discovers objections of principle not to be remedied by amend ment of details. The field would - thus be open for the introduction of a measure which, discardieg all the narrow views of expediency which guide the course of the party poiitician, may be founded on the comprehensive principles of the enlightened and sagacious statesman. For such a measure the dis cussions that have taken, and are taking place, have greatly prepared the public mind; and if .the exa mination of this great question be but pursued in a philosophic and patriotic spirit, it may well be hoped that a plan may be evolved worthy the occasion, the age, and the nation. 1 cannot better conclude than by inviting attention to the sentiments of 'our im mortal Burke, who in the discussions on Fox's India Bill, in 1783, thus nobly expressed himself : It is now to be determined whether we are to have a substantial reform in . our Eastern administration, or whether our knowledge of grievances bas abated our zeal for the correction of them ; and our very inquiry into the evil was only a pretext to elude the remedy, which is demanded from us by humanity, by justice, and by every principle of true -policy. .- Depend on it, this business cannot be indifferent to our fame. It will turn out a matter of great disgrace or great glory to the whole British nation. We are on a conspicuous stage, and the world marks our demeanour. Again, as if looking forward with prophetic inspira tion three-quarters of a century, he says : J am concerned to perceive the spirit and temper in which the debate has been pursued. The declamation of gentlemen has been vehement, but they have been reserved and silent as to the fitness of the plan to attain the real object in view. By some it is taken up as a point of law, by others it is regarded as the petty intrigue of a faction at Court, and argued merely as it tends to set this man a little higher, or that a little lower in situation or power. All the void has been filled up by invectives against coalition ; or allusions to the activity or inactivity of Ministers. The silence of these gentlemen concerning the interest and well-being of the people of India, sad concerning the interest which this nation has in the com merce and revenues of that country, is a strong indication of the value they set on these objects. It is not worthy of us; it is not right in this manner to depreciate the value, to degrade the majesty of this grave deliberation of policy and empire. Once more, appearing almost to foresee the present position of conflicting bills introduced by Ministers opposed to each other, and to indicate the fitting course to be taken by independent and patriotic members of Parliament under such circumstances, he goes on to say For my part, I have thought it right when a matter of this extiaordinary weight came before me, not to consider (as some gentlemen are so fond of doing) whether the bill originated from a Secretary of State for the Home Department, or from a Secretary of State for the Foreign ; from a Minister of Whit-nee; or from a Minister of the people; from Jacob, or from Esau. I asked myself, and I asked myself nothing else, what part was it fit for a member of Parliament to take, when a Minister of State, in conformity with a recommendation from the Throne, has brought before us A system for the better government of the territory and commerce of the East. The whole debate from which I have quoted is to the last degree instructive. But I must not pursue it. I may, however, remark that, by common con sent, the object then to be sought was a bill that should not be a "half-measure,' or a " palliative," but a " whole system," a " legislative provision, vigorous, substantial, and effective." Can any man doubt that this is the character of the measure now far more urgently required? But I must not further intrude on your space, or the patience of your readers, and will therefore sub scribe myself, sir, yours faithfully, Reigate, April 2, 1858. CMS 11031ANV!i. t 1