The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-03-24 00:00:00

of the sourest and hungriest quality, and the
Rouse is invited to graft thereon its own more
genial fancies." The great objection of all, in
the ministerial journalist's eyes, appears to relate
to " the sort of people" the bill will enfranchise,.,
" The debate," it is remarked, " drags on, but we
hope before it is finished to learn from either
friend or foe something more of the character,of
the class with whom we are invited to divide the
political rights and government of this great
Empire,"—nay, not to divide with them the
kingdom's political rights and government, but
to let them take them into their own hands alto-
gether.

The "Manthester school," as we all know,
make no pretensions to humanity, when it is " all
in the way of business" that practices which the
commonest feeling of. humanity must condemn
should yet be had recourse to. One must not
expect any of that " school," therefore, to pay
much heed to even the leading journal, when it
declares, as it did yesterday, that "the dullest
imagination must be moved by the tortures
inflicted by '
grasping traders and ruthless,
parents
on
it re the young, the delicate, and the sickly ; and
quires •no philanthropical wisdom to teach
us that a persistence in such a system is not only
a disgrace to a Christian land, but a national
impolicy which will bring with it a heavy retri-
bution." This is said with reference to the Bill
for Limiting the Hours of Labour of Women and
Children in Bleaching and Dyeing, which passed
to a second reading so triumphantly in the House
of Commons the other day,--a measure which is
MMMost determinedly opposed by the magnates of .
anchester; notwithstanding that it has been
Tendered'neeessar by discoveries of cruelties and
oppression towards girls and children, of which
further, declared, that " if they do not rouse
society. to rescue these girls and these children
from their living death, then do we as a nation
deserve
and the worst that the world can say'of us,
an hour of just punishment will inevitably
arrive."

ItEPO4OI in Parliament has become a stale subject ;
and the Whigs, who have "traded upon it, at one
time and another, through • such a long course of
Years, will
soon, it is evident, find it of no further
avail. as political capital. The difficulty which
Ministers find in getting a sufficiently numerous
attendance to constitute a House, during, the
debate Oa 'their miserable measure, is but one,
tb°llgn by nO means the. least significant, of the
Signs there are of indifference about, if not of
earinee* 'with it. The fact is, that something of
the kind has been rendered necessary—not to
meet
-z. any real want, not to supply any actual
defect, but to remove out of the way, if but for a
a question which they have made trouble-
amlie and erabarrassing, not only to their political
taPP"ente, but to themselves. We dare say, if the
;41.1411 Were only known, that Ministers have, from
_e *St, found this subject of Parliamentary
Reform one of the greatest difficulties they have
P
dto deal with in their Cabinet Councils: The
?Mier himself, it is notorious, is most decidedly
"vier* to it—the Chancellor of the Exchequer
tilnelY last year recorded an opinion upon it which
oblige they have, from party necessity, been
nuhged sure
bring forward Completely contradicts,
1I-while the Home Secretary, it will be remem-
'red, about the same. time, objected to' any
Reform measure at all, as altogether unnecessary
a4d uncalled for. But they could not upset the
Ministration of Lord DERBY, and form them-
4eives into a Ministry in its place, without giving
Pledges to the Radicals, in return for their sup-
Part, Which they find themselves under the
troublesome obligation of making an attempt to
redee
Jai—a redemption, however, -that is only
t° be accepted as an instalment of that full
alnount of concession to the democracy of the
eou
-14'7, which if is the object of the Radicals, by
such 'means, eventually to obtain. They do not
hesitate to declare, that,:as a Reform Bill, they
coder the ministerial measure a petty and
Paltryone,—.only it goes -a step or two ‘‘ in the
right direction,"--that is, in the downward demo-
cratic course,--and they accept it, therefore, as an
advance, though they think a slow one, towards
the end they have in view, of in time completely
rePublicanising the institutions of the country.
It is highly significant of the character of
such a combination as that by which' the Whigs
have again bees placed in a position to deal with
this questig4 p f parliamentary Reform, as a
Ministry; to.loiik back upon the means which they
did not 8°!'n14!1.9 MPloy, or tp l?eecrae parties to,
witktint ehbjeet Alii94o 041 y, of course,
45 a Pretext for their ONVR recovery' of office. The
last genertZl election May be said to have decided
file 411Ostion, whether a sound, constitutional, and
P°4serlial4Fft measure for improving the repre-
sentation of t,14.e peel* in Parliament was to be
carried through the Legislatur hy fiord DERBY,
or one of a radical and revolutionary kind tq
brought forward by Lord JOHN RusELL. Those
laelna, it is now proved, wpm based in falsehood
and fraud. The falsehood was practised, by
tailing and disseminating the lying report, thqt
LOrd
--Elm( and his colleagues had determined
to Fain their majOrity at the general election by
bribery and, corruption ; the fraud, by those very
Men who invented the lie, having. recourse
L.:14 bribery and corruption themselves! The case
been thus clearly and truly stated :
.14 spirious coin passed current for the time.
.111-tti„ ana*erepl, The elections took place
-44 were 0-41,-T, and the West Cio36-PPW4e4 this
..._4ation had knownfor many years had to secede
nel office and' give place to the wretched- C6:.1
ti9a4binet. Still the proof of the great lie was
P 4 slow n
cgr iqsr Falsity, like the Whigs, is
diteult to be removed Wilen pee planted.
There is always some muck of interest
:Preading fibres nurture in every direction., But
ee *We was struck into the soil, the axe rained
its sturdy blows at the root, and the unwieldy
talcias was at length toppled over, and now it lies
Vie° us a withered, sapless trunk, only fit for
e fire of criticism. The Conservative vindi-
ation is complete, comprehensive, and final. The
sharpest tests have been applied to probe the
imputed dOrruption. Petitions were showered on
Petitions, not only to unseat Conservatives, but to
61Pclee the shameless bribery they were said to
tk.r? "Perpetrated. The result is only what'might
t9;Wcto4. Barely two Conservatives
were
unseated ; and in each tk6Fg. Gases the
awn of the cenmiitee was founded on Ter..
11FR4qll l 4 1 f iicp: Thirteen Von
rvave moxibery stood the ordeal- and
expense of petitions, and came out of the
InYPetigation triumphant." So much for the
C'nseryatives in the ordeal. Now let us see
how the Whigs themselves fared. In one word,
the tables were soon comPletely tirned 4R911 file
hypneritical sehemers. It was not oaly that, as
the inveatigatiens pmeeeded, the Conservative
Flirty Was triumphantly acquitted of bribery and
corruption, but that the Whigs were proved' to
have been guilty of it to a most alarming extent.
ft T 4 very purists themselves were proved to be,
tnui, gp4 4nearest hLiberals were
ho Ten
unkennelled after having been proYP4 piq of
the most flagrant corruption. Only eight sua-
eeeded in retaining their seats, and this, as must
be admitted, was mainly owing to the tact and
'kW of the managing solicitors and counsel:"
atlek are some
Of the recorded results of the
-e1 es before 00(4014 .9911114 4te e
the
of Commons. mid what, then, has been
-*general issue of the whole ? Why, that " the
gain of the Constitutional party in the House
,l)fnlqrnia'by the petitions on both sides is just
7e4t7-#lpe--:.1 prptfy gratifying effect of the
leet(rtal probation!!
Such facts as tilese deserve to be borne in mind
Li considering the subject of Parliamentary
Ile. form in the hands of the present Ninistcy7
It
is °WY, as we have shown, by means of gross
Venality and trickery that they have acquired the
PPortunity of dealing with it as a Government.
The twenty-three seats that were fraudulently
Wteeted -by them from Lord DERBY'S party,
ht have secured the passing of a really safe
444
14aN' etreettad measure of Reform, and thereby
e settled the mischievous question for a long
*nne to come. Whereas now, if any Reform Bill