The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-04-30 00:00:00

SIR E. B. LYTTON, in his elaborate:and magnifi-
cent dissertation on abstract politics last week,
took the House of Commons into a region of high
philosoithy, where but feW of those he addressed
:seemed to feel easy". amid .the associations that
'surrounded them. The only way in which any
'attempt could be merle, however feeble, to damage
the effect of his monitions, was to reject altogether
the Application of first, principles, and put the
maxims of political science at once out of court.
In our view, the question whether Reform is to
be argued on first principles affords the most
eatisfacibry point on Which to. place the contest
bet Ween the advocates and-the- Opponents of the
present bill. That it removes it from the influ-
ence of mere party considerations is not the
smallest-of its practical-advantages.
If there be such a thing-as political science—if
there be. a "law .of consistent Tgrowth by which'.
states progress, and a law of one-sided develop:
raent by ,which: they decay or. are destroyed—if
there be an antecedent necessity, backed by history
1 as well as books, and illustrated by experience as
:Well' stgly reison—if legislators and statesmen
are not Merely blind leading,:or led,by, the blind,
by a capricious fate rather 'than directed
by a Piciii-idence 'which' works according to
rules, then it is evident that the question of
_remodelling-theinaohine-of government-is -the one
Of all others to which' these la-Ws 'and maxims
and :antecedent reasons: are Capable' of being
applied. True, their application 'to:any particular •
instanCe may be difficult; • it is especially at 'a
juncture like the present, *here :it may be often
.mistaken and often exaggerated. The maxims
of philosophy, whalier.' political or other, are
deposited in
.books as. well as circulated "on the
public stage ;.'they are the property of isolated
students as well as of practical politicians.. We
do well therefore to ;guard ourselves against that
fanciful and theoretical application of them, which
a nearer acquaintance with .praCtical- results and
conditions would modify and Correct. Yet there
is some danger -from : limited knowledge and
partial experience'; and .nothing can be truer
than that the constitution of a State is not to be
given over• to the rule of thumb. The danger
is, in fact, infinitely greater. in the one case than
the other. For while the student politician may
impede, and delay.
.reforna—an inconvenience
always open to remedy,
,and in course of time
sure to be remedied; the mere innovater runs the
,risk of turning reform to revolution, and of
taking a step which, once taken, can never be
retraced.

Now these seem obvious truths, yet the fact is,
that almost the sole answer to the philosophical
objections which this bill inevitably suggests is,
that philosophy runs great risk Of being unprac-
tical ; that its teachings are •often. fancifully
applied, or sophistically misapplied; that any
measure may be so artfully associated- with the
tendencies that may or may not be developed by
it, as to bring it under the lash of theoretical
objections. That old systenis . may be always
reduced or expanded to an ideal of wisdom,
or right, or safety, so that any change
proposed shall be made to conflict with it in
such a manner as to seem unwise, unlawful or
unsafe ; and all winds up with the sweeping and
decisive assertion that philosophers are nine times
out of ten nothing but obstructives, dogging the
heels of every reform, or hanging about the
chariot wheel' in its.progress.' We are continually
told for instance—and it is :the strongest point
with our-modern professors of the rule of thumb,
the concoctors of the present bill=—that whatever
-is said now might have been, and in fact was,
said in 1832 , that the warnings against intro-
dacing into the Constitntion principles alien to
the spirit of it, were just as rife then as now;
that the prophecies of political disaster were just
as solemn and just as sincere, and seemed to the
prophesiers just as certain of fulfilment. Well,
ths is a plea not to be contemptuously rejected.
It is pr*r to be used as'a Warning not to allow
ourselves to be imposed upon by modes of general
reasoning, without inquiring as to their treal
bearing upon the particular question at issue.
But there is always a general way of meeting it,
ant in this instance a particular way as well. It
may always be asked, - even admitting that the
rea;oning was once falsely or mistakenly applied,
can there never be a case where the application
ma; be legitimate and truthful? Nay, is there
nota presumption that the reasoning which went
wid? of the mark and missed its aim at the first
step in the progress, may .00i1le closer to the point
at tie second? That if it went above the head.of
the Reform Bill of 1830, it may really strike.
at he heart of the bill of 1860 ? If you go on
developing the Constitution on one side of it, and
-in me idea of it, surely you must some time come
to E point whirs, may fitly step in,
and pronounce her veto; where prophecy may -lift
up ter voice, unfold the ehait of the future, and
clairi to be believed ? Reasoners are not always
to bEdespised as mere verbal theorists, philosophers
as bEbblers, prophets as dreamers, men of a conser-
vatit turn as enemies to the idea of progress and

ceedings may be taken against the President.
0 vorr .0 mares :P
•
One of :the • most interesting tonics of the day
is, what ever is to be:ddn,s with this troublesome
little Reform Bill of Lord John Russell's ?
Nobody seems to care much whether it passes
`a.
second reading and g0,,,5. into CO:Mmiitee or not;
lurid yet nobody desires very ninth to see it put
• under the table.; blit then, or course, something
must,be done with
_it. TU•great and only difficulty
is, what ought to , be
.done and .:Who is to. do
One thing olear„, that unless... something
is .done, and done nuickly too, that :little.
bantling--Must die for \-Vant of breath. 'When
we-- speak -of -its want of breath, we. ' .
ot:
overlook the fact that , enormous amount of
breath-has been spent upon it. .We have hid
enough of talk about it:.from- both., sides of the
House.; bat the effect of it all has been to knock
ite.evin breath almost entirely out of it, so to
speak. " Grand-papa Russelix as he has been
terMed from his relatiOnshiii to the '3'2 Reforta
Bill, of-which this is said to be the natural
off-
spring, -has repeatedly done • his little best to
recommend the little :thing, but he has not
noceeded in securing for it a single admirer
or nneon.ditional supporter on either side of the
House. It has already-. had several hair-breadth
escapes from instant death, brought on chiefly by
its • own want, of :vital. energy ; and, as it now
stands, its future historris a matter of the most
perfect uncertainty.': The House of 'Commons and
the country—Will feel everlastingly grateful to the
man who shall arise and prove his wisdom and
courage by satisfactorily-'disposing„ of this "little
billit'--withouf farther waste of,precions time, or
more protracted trifling.- The pkofeSsed object of
the measure is one which all desire to see accom-
plished, and would long ere new_have been safely
attained under Lord. Derby's administration, had
not the present incompetent coalition frandnlently
conspired for its Overthrow: They would not
allow others to carry a Reform Bill, , and now,
for:: such an,undertaking, they, themeelves seem
incapable or unwilling, if not partly bOth.
A protracted and bloody fight has taken plane
in-Naples-between the royal troops and the insur-
gents, in the coursed which thaly hundreds were
slaughtered on both sides ; and. , the town of
Carini, where the struggle took place, after hav-
ing been pillaged, was set'ori fire. It is too much
for-us -to attempt fUlly to realise in our own
minds the,awful amount of misery, even worse
-
than death, briefly summed up in these few and
insufficient ,words. What a terrible reckoning
awaits these tyrants'_. :How the heart bleeds
when': Nt'e think fOr moment of these poor
oppressed Neapolitans.