The Press. — London, England, 1856-10-25 00:00:00

„,. OCTOBER 25, 1856. 1021 THE PRESS. " matter. Never mind. It is only some idle rascals in the street.' In this strain Mr Lofty discourses for some minutes, as various' fancies flit through his clouded brain, and then, happily oblivious once more of external things, he falls back into slumber with this confession of his political creed on his lips :—" We respect the million. We " maintain that there are principles. We uphold the public good." Admirable sage ! may you never again be disturbed !from your slumber with your row of decanters in view, to give utterance to such profound political wisdom ! Mr. LAING, in his address to his constituents, observes that a year ago the press and Parliament were almost unanimous in " demanding the prosecution of the war at any cost until Russia was " thoroughly humbled and reduced within her ancient limits." The Times, assuming this observation to be directed against itself, alleges that it is " falsification of history." What are the facts? We have taken the trouble to string together, for the amusement of our readers, a few of those numerous passages in which the Times gave vent to its unwarlike (?) opinion about a year ago : Nov. 19.—As for negotiation, the time has gone by, or is not yet come. We have gotiated on an equality and failed. The next negotiation must be on a disparity, when e side lies at the mercy of the other. It is vain to expect that next year. Ocr. 10.—Far better would it have been never to draw the sword than to pause at such a moment as the present. Ocr. '22.—England and France have everything to gain and nothing to lose by pro longing the war. Nov. 8 —No manifesto in favour of war could be so powerful as the appointment of a Minister thoroughly committed to its prosecution. Nov. 9.—lf the nation be in earnest—if the prosecution of the war sternly, reso lutely, and at any sacrifice, be the determination, and not the boast of the English people—if an overthrow, once for all, of the European enemy be their real end and aim, thorn let them seek the alliance which will give them strength for a great and successful effort. - - Do these observations point to a war of extremity or do they not ? Is it not a fair inference from them that there was a party in this country, with the Times at its head, which demanded that the war should be continued until, in the phrase of Mr. LAING, Russia was thoroughly humbled? and this language, be :t remembered, was adopted after Sebastopol had fallen, and after negotiations for peace had been opened. It is unnecessary that we should refer to the columns of this journal to show that Mr. LAING'S observation that THE PRESS stood alone in advocating more moderate sentiments was equally well founded. As a matter of fact, every word of Mr. LAING'S statement on this subject is correct ; and it required that " impudent blindness " to realities," with which it pleases the Times to charge by implica tion this Journal in another of its articles, to assert that Mr. LAING falsified history in stating that a year ago it was all for bringing Russia to her knees, and for plucking up the anchor to which all the despots of Europe clung in their hour of trial. Why, by and by, we shall have the Times denying that it ever bullied Bomba! One of the greatest social nuisances of the day is a perambulator No one disputes the fact, and every one will be rejoiced to hear that the pre-emptive right of nursemaids to wheel their babies upon the pavement has at length been brought into question by Mr. ARNOLD, the sitting magistrate of Westminster. In the case of a costermonger brought up on Thursday by the police for wheeling his barrow upon the pavement, Mr. ARNOLD argued thqt, if perambulators were allowed, why not barrows ? The one should not be molested if the other were permitted, and the police carried out the law unfairly in not summon mg the drivers of both. The police, said Mr. ARNOLD, should carry out the law fairly, and summon "all persons " who were found wheeling perambulators or any other kind of vehicle upon the pathway. We sincerely congratulate the worthy magistrate upon the m oral courage he has displayed. Vigorous measures must be strictly enforced and we may then hope to succeed in fairly regaining our freedom of passage. THE PALMERSTON REFORM BILL. (From a Ministerial Paper.) THE secret is out at last, and a Manchester organ has been selected to apprise the nation of its approaching good fortune. The statement that the Premier had desired his colleagues to supply him with their ideas as to the measures which ought to be brought forward next ses sion was perfectly true, but the fondest admirer of the Noble Viscount could hardly have anticipated the grandeur of the result. The sugges tions of the united Cabinet have been consolidated, and we are now officially informed that the measure of the next session is to be LORD PALMERSTON'S REFORM BILL. These tidings are in themselves sufficient to infuse new hopes and new confidence into the great Liberal party, which has, we are free to confess, been of late years a good deal discouraged by reason of the faint heartedness of its recognised chiefs. We are well aware that any measure of this kind, introduced by the noble head of the Government, will be received with enthusiasm. But we are fortunate and honoured in being able to lay before the country some outlines of the measure of Reform as at present constructed. We have reason to believe that any It will abolish all and every of the existing qualifications for a vote for the election of a member of Parliament. It will enact instead a combination of the educational and property tests, which it is hoped will satisfy all classes, especially us the Premier, himself a Tory in other days, has refused to place either qualification so low as to admit the Democratic element. The two questions which will be proposed to the voter at the hustings are conceived in a tone eminently charac teristic of Lord Palmerston. The educational test will be a demand whether the elector " knows B from a bull's foot." The property test will be applied by the inquiry, such a thing as a shilling about you? " In addition to these guarantees for the fitness of the voter to ex ercise the great constitutional right of a Briton, a hustings oath has been framed, in the same spirit, by the Noble Viscount, which is to be administered on demand of any candidate. It is conceived in a truly catholic intention, and will dot exclude any class of her Majesty's subjects on account of their religious opinions, the appeal at the end having been secularised, especially with a view to members of the Jewish persuasion. It consists of the simple woi ds— " S'elp me never so much " We now proceed to the disfranchisement clauses, upon which we think it probable that discussion may arise, but we have every confithtnce in the good sense of the country supporting its Premier. The following classes will be excluded from a share in the representa tion : " You haven't All persons who have at any time voted for a Conservative candi date since Lord Palmerston last renounced that creed. All persons of a superstitious or bigoted character. N.B.—Com missioners will be appointed to revise the lists in conformity with this enactment, and the principles of interpretation are explained as follows : 1. Superstition. Keeping a Bible in the house, except for family entries, or, in a magistrate's case, for affidavits. Going to church more than twice a year. Objection to swearing. Petitioning against Sunday concerts, theatres, or fireworks. Dislike of Roman Catholic ceremonies. Objection to be married by a registrar. All persons who manifest hostility to the present system of ob taining the support of Ireland for Government—namely, by procuring political assistance by rendering pecuniary succour. All persons incapable of appreciating a joke upon a serious sub ject. N.B.—Commissioners will be appointed to test electors in this respect, and Mr. Bernal Osborne will be the chief commissioner, and is studying the " authorised version" with a view to the construction of " sells." He has already some excellent test conundrums, especially one as to where Moses was when the candle went out, and one inquir ing whether Paul, who stood up for the eleven and was bowled, was not thereby proved to be a cricketer. Mr. W. J. Fox will probably have a seat in this commission, for which he is well Qualified by his peculiar tenets upon religious matters. A few other disfranchising clauses will be introduced while the bill is under consideration, but we will pass on to some other features. The Ballot has, of course, occupied the attention of the noble framer. We need not repeat the arguments which have been advanced for and against this mode of taking the vote, but come at once to the mode in which the difficulty has been solved by Lord Pahnerston. The 19th clause enacts :—" Any person who shall desire the pro " tection of the secrecy of the ballot shall have the same, provided " that he satisfies the agent for the Government candidate that he "intends to vote in the right direction, and such agent shall appoint a " person to receive the said vote secretly." Nothing can be more satisfactory than this. It concedes the desired boon, but at the same time provides in the most efficient man ner that the boon shall not be abused. 2. Bigotry. As regards the duration of Parliament, Lord Palmerston proposes to enact that the present Parliament shall cease to exist on the day that he ceases to retain office, and not until then ; and, further, that any member of the present Parliament who shall have voted against the present till shall, ipso facto, or rather by his evident unfitness for legislatorial duties, be disqualified from sitting in any Parliament to be thereafter assembled. Should the next Parliament not re instate him in office, its duration is to be six months, but if it should, it is to last in the same manner, and terminate on the same condition. The property qualification of members of Parliament it is pro posed shall in future be as follows : For Conservative members, 10.0001. a year, from land. For Liberal members (not Irish), 1001 + a year frog► any source. For Irish members, 251. in pocket, either in Irish I 0 U's., " borrowed " railway shares, or pawnbrokers' duplicates (the advanced amount to be treated as capital). These are the leading features of Lord Palmerston's Reform Bill, and we are bound to say that we deem it quite worthy of his reputa tion. He has dealt at once reverently and boldly with the land►narks of the Constitution, and has acted like a skilful surgeon, who in removing the diseased part has been cautious not to injure the healthy regions. We augur a glorious political success for the measure, and we can only say that the night that sees, alas no longer "young," but modifications will be those of detail only. Old Harry with his beaver up— Lord Palmerston's Reform Bill will be submitted by himself to the (not that the Noble Viscount wears beaver, but best silk hats), pre- House of Commons on the opening day of the month of April next. paring to address the Commons of England in support of the bill, will Leave will no doubt be given to bring it in, and the second reading witness a spectacle which Somers or Grey might gladly revisit the w ill be fixed for the first Saturday in the middle of the week. scene of their fame to behold and applaud. •,