The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1867-03-12 00:00:00

DORSET COUNTY EXPRESS

DrIItCHESTER, TUESDAY, II4R,CFI 12, MT.

REFORM.

Tits changes which have occurred in the personnel
of the Cabinet encourage us in believing, that if both
parties in the House of Commons co-operate with
good faith and sinoerity, a Reform Bill may be passed
which shall he satisfactory to the nation at large. It
is quite evident that Lord Derby heartily desires to
attain that result, or be would not have separated
himself from personal and political friends like
General Peel, Lord Cranborne, and Lord Cernarvon,
involving, as it must inevitably do, a certain amount
of defection amosgst the rank and file of the hitherto
oompact Conservative party. In the warm of the
pest week the explanations which have been given
in Parliament touching the Ministerial changes, and
the answe., to questions anent Reform, have disclosed
a singular phase in the history of the Derby-Disraeli
Ministry. We gather that last autumn Lord Derby
wrote to Mr. Disraeli that he thought the time had
merle for an extension of the suffrage in "no niggard
spirit," and, when the Cabinet met, Mr. Disraeli,
nothing loth, was prepared with a comprehensive
ethane, as was rumoured at the tinth—being nothing
lees than household suffrage foe boroughs, checked by
plurality of votesi.e.,a supplementary franchise bawd
on the payment of locome.tax. All the members of
the Cabinet seem to haye accepted it, eactept General
Pell, and he was induced to waive his objections. A
' Reform Bill was drawn, bet the figures were not
Ailed is. It was resolved to proceed by Resolutions
to in, House, and they were drawn up in general
terms, so that the Government might not be irre-
vocably committed to • certain coarse. Mr. Disraeli's
language, in moving them, waa studiously value,
and it was surmised that the Ministry had no fixed
policy in the matter. But the fault, it appears, lay,
not with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, hut with
the increasing opposition in lb. Cabinet itself to Om
scheme be was to graft upon them. Public opinion
oondemned proceeding by Resolutions, end they
were withdrawn. What was to be put in their
piece? The Prime Minister honestly dellred to

settle the question of Reform on a permanent basis ;
but the household suffrage plan wee not feasible in
fans of the trio of Ministerial malcontents. So •
comprise was hastily agreed to, and put before Par-
liament ; it was, in (sot, the eoheme of the minority,
based on aSe rating borough franchise. But this
proposal wu no more favourably received by the
country than was the mysterious first scheme
by the Cabinet, and even Lord Derby's staunchest
supporters cried out against it as not con-
taining the eletneute for settlement. Reduced
again to a serious strait, his lordship resolved
to "revert to his original policy," and was
supported by • majority of the Cabinet. The
minority, consisting of the three secretaries already
named, determined to resign rather than assent to a
scheme which according to Lord Carnarvon, would
revolutionise the borough representation and invest
the working classes with a preponderating influenoe
in the Government of the oountry, and, according
to General Peel, furnished seCurities Which Would
soon be knocked away. The defections in the
Cabinet have now been filled up, and a Reform Bill,
=taccording to the "original policy" of the
ry, will be laid before the Rouse of Commons
next Monday night on the following Monday the
Chancellor of the Exchequer will move the second
reading of the Bill, and, if it ges into Committee,
be will ask the House to consider it from day to day.
Upon this Bill the Government have resolved to
stand or fall, and we trust that Reform, which has
been so disastrous to political parties may now be
regarded by all as a national question, and that a
combined cordial effort may be made to pleas the
representation of the people on such a basis, that
while the working classes may have their proper
share in the Government of the country, they will
not be accorded that supreme influence which
might endanger the progress and prosperity of our
beloved country.