The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-10-05 00:00:00

THE NEED OF LIVN REFORM.

If there was any one subject upon which men of all shades
of politics, outside of the louse of Commons, were agreed, it
was the need of law reform ; hut one of his friends was de.
leaded, not without ridicule, when he showed that the legal
advisers of the Government are well enough paid for us to
expect that they should cease to give most of their time to
private practice ! and Sir George Jew'. Solicitor-General
to a Liberal Administration, applauded when, in answer to
another, he told them that law reform was Impossible,
because the people did not want it, and that the Court of
Chancery was perfect. As they had been long since told,
Nightr g's consistent in the human race.
Except the Whigs in getting into place."
A more popular Government would well pay its servants,
but require them to make provisions for themselves, as
uthersilid.

(After referring to the Education Bill for Scotland, Sir
(buries proceeded to remark on the restrictions on the im-
p 'dation of foreign cattle, which caused the high price of
root, although the speaker considered that English game
in servotion and Highland deer forests were responsible for
some portions of the evil

CLASS LEGISLATION.

It was often said that there would be far less class legit'.
lotion than there is at the present time if only all classes
were represented in the House of Commons—that is, retire-
raented at all, without regard to the number of representatives
welch they ought to have. What was needed was not merely
that all men should be beard, but that they should be heard
in proportion to their numbers, and the amouist of happiness
or misery which would be earned by any decision that might
he takeu in regard to their affairs. An example of what he
meant was aeen in what had occurred in reference to the hours
nf polling, in total disregard of the views of the inhabit-
ants of the large towns, and especially of those of them
who wetted all day lone, at places far distant from those
where they had to vote. /le instanced several proofs of
the want of public spirit its the House of Lords, and said
that both tionihs habitually diaregarded public convenience
by the short duration of their reseim. This ens evidenced
not only by the long vacations they took, but by their
sacrificing public business to elevate pleasure, as in the case
of their ailjoisrnmeht for the Derby. ith such evidence of
class pewee in Parliament and out, how could it to wondered
that taxation questions, local and Imperial, were solved
ha a class sense. Whet hope could there be that locsl
taxation and county Government would be fairly dein
with next year, when it was a fact that, although a
Radical Government had been is office for four years, it had
not touched the rooted feudalism of English county
government, enmbrous and ihalicient as it wOaf Should
they suffer nomieated lords-lieutenant, nominated magis-
trates, and nominated sheriffs to rule the unheard peasants,
and tax them. too. He doubted Mr. Gladstone's power to
beat the squirearchy, Liberal and Tory ; and, sinless the
squirearchy were beaten, the reform would be marred. The
progremme of the conference of the leaders of the London
Numeracy which met lately under the presidency of
Mr. Morley was free schools, free Church, free land.
free trade, cheap law. He asked how we were going to get
free schools from rich men, free Church from two Houses
of State Churchmen, free land from landowner., cheap
law from lawyt re, free trade—which meant less taxes—from
officers and placement lie was not one of those who flattered
the populace by talkilig of the demuralisatlou of the rich or
great. lie thought there was a profound political de-
moralisation, a terrible lack of public spirit, in all dames
and in all countries II improvement, however, was to
come, it must heeds come from below and, mail improve.
[tient came, all must be content to share the blame. What
I mean, then (Sir Charles continued) by ease legislation,
is the legislatian of a ruling clam which is partly a land-
owhine class, eatl partly a mill owning class, and very gene-
rally a ililetanti class, I' a class "too floe for its work ; " mei I
van that I run persuadel that had our Government been less
ex.auaive, awl more popular, we should neither have had the
Alabama three-end-a- quarter millionstopay, nor Ireland made
puesiele to hold without tinned force. What, then, is the
lure? Tolled it we must first discover where lies the root
of the moet pressing evils. Some say it is with the
peerage, some find it in the monarchy. Let us look twice
before we leap. In Great Britain we are at this moment,
politically speaking, ins transition state. We have • Honse
id Commons posseswd of all the realities of power. but
indefinitely obstructed as to time by a land-holding
I pper House, and Itself connected with laud as to
the majority of its member; although in part democra-
tically elected. The Government is a cumbersome re-
public, administered by landowners, through inconvenient
and obsolete fictions; a republic of which the Premier is
the head, not for any fixed period, but en long only as he in
turn is content to be the humble slave of a fluctuating
majority of wallow-nem or landowners in the House of Cm.
mans The monarahy, although cumbersome, ant likely to
become—se all fletiens at some time in their exieteuce will
become—dangerous, is for political purposes administered
by a commissioe, which we call the Cabinet, and representa
oely the majority of the House of Commons. The House of
Commons is elected under democratic forms, and by a
tolerably wide suffrage. How, then, is it that we suffer
all the evils of class government? The Peers, being
neither democratically elected, like the Commons, net
Powerless like the Monarchy, some people at once
assume that it must be the Peers who aro the authors
If all evil. Alatilith the House of Lords, they say ;
and the cry has often been raised within this city. The
cry has been raised, indeed, at times by those who, with the
conservative solemnity of arm, now reprove others for raising
the standard of radical reform. Mr Roebuck has lately
begged at Sheffield that his former constituent, would forget
the errors of his youth ; yet I know not why they should to.
fuse to remember when he stands up for the Lords that once
uPon • thee he wrote—" The Lords have a direct interest in
fleecing the people ; all persons who have a similar interest
s illy round the hords, and for this reason the House of l'eers is
the most powerful of the sinieter interests now existing in this
country." Reform the Peers or put them away is the cry that
new each year sees raised. To begiss eith, the thing is much
more malty Pahl than done. I have never seems reform of
the Lords suggested which would not either strengthen
them or corrupt the Commons, or do both these things,
hesides, we need an immediate remedy applicable to
the existing state of things. Suppose that you expel the
bishop, from the Lords—suppose that you elect life Peers
—the House of Lords will still continue to be a house
Cl roma landowners anti of State churchmen, so far
as the majority of its members are concerned. You
never can work election—which means selection for merit
—by the side of hereditary right; you never can work
nomination—which means jobbery --by the bide of either.
It seems then, to me, that reserving our future action, and
sleclering boldly our personal views as to Ilm ultimate
term which tile Federal Government of Great Britain
and Ireland, hi our opinion, should assume, those of as who
are diasatiefled with the exieting constitution of Parliament
should, for immediate reforms, turn our attention rather to
the Lower House than to the Upper House or to the Crown.
I have made no secrete? my opinions, and I know that they
are those of many here. I believe, with Lord Brougham,
Shot "when a people becomes wise enough to mesh! splitting
Into parties and fighting for who shall be king, they are wise
enough to govern themselves, and the great use of monarchy
ts at au end." But i have, en the other hand, never ceased to
say that the majority of the people of Great Britaiu believe
thatthe reformswhieh they desire are compatible with the Ho-
minid,: form of Government. Whether they aro right, or
whether the pure Republicans are right, time and the peace-
lal development of our united countries alone can show
hut while political education is progressing as rapidly as at
pres-et, I think that the btaunchest of Republicans need
slot fnme or fret "because," to use the words of itabert
Buchman, a Glasgow poet—

" . . . the tinsel order stand;
A little longer yet."
The hon. baronet went on to say that half the members of
the House oh Commons were elected by much over two mil-
lions of electors while the other half were elected by much
under half a ndhllcn. There was, therefore, no security that
the opinion of the country would not, on any given occasion,
be falsified in the house. The franchise in the town. was wide
enough to admit the great maj Orly of grown men, and that
In the counties was likely soon to become law ; but of
what avail to equalise the franchise, as long as such
'lnference in the weight of votes continued. Having mm-
dunned a money franchise in the counties, because there was
a monopoly ,o 1 intelligence reducible to a money test, Sir
Charles concluned by saying that the day would come when
tt will be inexplicable to our successiors, bow any le;islature
would deny to grown-up Inhabitants, and still more to house-
holders and tampay-ers, the right to vote.
A vote of thanks to the hon, baronet for his address
was carried amid cheers, and waving of hats and Cllll5l.
In adcnowledging the vote. Sir Charles said, though
many of the statements he had made hail been ques-
tioned in the press, he undertook to say that no asser-
tion he had made in any of hi, pubic speeches WO
been successfully cuntroVerteii.

SHIPWRECK OFF LIVERPOOL AND
LOSS OF ALL HANDS.
A most lamentable shipwreck has occuriel near
Liverpool, attended by the loss of all on board. About
five o'clock on, Saturday evening the distress flag was
observed to be hoisted at the Rock lighthouse, at the
entrance of the Mersey, and it was soon known that
a large ship was in a dangerous position in the
neiAlionrhood of Formby. The new Blighton and
Liverpool lifeboats were at once got ready and pro-
ceeded in search of the distressed vessel. They
were, however, unable to find her, and returned
to port. The fact of a distressed vessel being out.
tide was cord:limed by the arrival of the Isle of
Man pteamena, Svaeldl and 31ona's late, Captain's
Liven and Hill both reporting that when coming in
through the Queen's Channel they observed a large
ship, apparently ly gat anchor near Porto, Point, in
a vvry dangei ous position, and quite out of their reach to
reader any asaistance. The crew of the Bteacu tug
?ivy Cross also observed thesame vessel, and described
hfst se a large Tassel of about 1,000 km, On Sunday

morning one of the Dublin steamers on her passage
through the channels also observed a large ship lying on
her beam ends about the spot already indicated; and
on Sunday afternoon a boat having the name "Nu-
zorese,
Liverpool," painted on her stern, was washed
aahare at Southport.
On Monday, however, all doubts as to the name of
the creed and the fate of the crew were cleared up, as
at about eight o'clock in the morning the body of
Captain Brewer, of the Nazorcar, was washed on
the Formby beach. The ill-fated vessel left the Mers'ey
on the 22nd September for Havannah, and must there-
fore have encountered the full force of the late severe
gale. The general opinion is that the Nazarene was put-
ting back when the disaster occurred, having become die.
abled, for repairs, as the vessel when first sighted was
evidently to a certain extent unmanageable. The
Nazarene was a vesael of 815 tons register, built at
Sundei land in 1854, and owned in Liver,ool by Mr.
W. (levee, but dispatched by Messrs. Thomas King feud
Son. When the vessel left the Mersey she had on
board a crew of 17 men, under command of Captain S.
Brewer.