The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-07-17 00:00:00

SATURDAY, JULY 17, 1875.

REPRESENTATIVE REFORM.

When household suffrage was granted to the
boroughs during the session of 1867, and this
was followed up by a Redistributon of Seats Bill
in 1868, most people believed that the question
of Representative Reform was laid at rest for at
least a generation had elapsed since a previous
settlement had been arrived at, and the basis
laid down in 1832 lasted for five-and-thirty
years. Yet he would be a bold man to predict
that the arrangements made in 1868 would con-
tinue up to the end of the present century.
Indications are gradually appearing which show
that although many inequalities in the represen-
tation NN ere redressed seven years ago, many still
exist. Of course there are no longer those
glaring anomalies to which Earl Russell called
attention nearly sixty years ago, when mere
mounds of earth returned members to Parlia-
ment, while such places as Mencheater and
Birmingham were without a voice in the
Legislature. Still, the electorialrefetei associa-
tions tell you that grievances of a very substantial
character continue to exist, that the little towns
enfranchised in the mien of Edward 111. enjoy
• privilege which is 'denied to many a rising
centre of industry. The shadows of the past
still cling around the associations of the House
of Commons, and these are sufficiently power-
ful to exclude from consideration more than one
of the busy realities of the present.
But the topic which is forcing itself forward
just now is not so much the re-arrangement of
seats as the extension of the franchise. By the
Reform Act of 1832 the suffrage in towns was
given to householders of a £lO rental, and in
the counties to occupiers of a £5O rental. The
gradual advancement of intelligence created a
demand for a reduction in the amount of these
qualifications; and Reform Bills were introduced
by Lord John Russell in 1852, and in 1854, to
effect this object. Neither of these measures
came to anything, however, and the Russian and
Chinese wars intervening, the question slept
until 1859. Then, as now, the Conservative
party were in office, and the present Prime
Minister brought forward a Bill for the reduc-
tion of the county rental qualification to £lO,
thus bringing it level with the franchise in
boroughs, which it was not proposed to touch.
Upon this the Ministry was defeated, Parliament
was dissolved, and the Liberals returned to
power. It was, however, s;:en that in the life.
time of Lord Palmerston nothing could be done
in the way of Reform, as it was called by the
Liberals, or of Revolution, as it was phrased by
the Conservatives. But no scoter had Lord
Palmerston been laid in his grave in Westmin-
ster Abbey, in October, 1865, than the Reform
League was upon the alert and in December
of that year obtained a promise from Lord
Russell, the new Premier, that a measure for
the amendment of the laws relating to the re-
presentation of the people would be laid before
the House of Commons in the ensuing session.
Its provisions were accordingly explained by
Mr. Gladstone early in the sessions of 1866. By
it the borough qualification would have been
reduced from £lO to .11, and the county from
£5O to £l4. But while the Conservatives
objected to this as revolutionary, the more Rd-
vanced Liberals stigmatised it as inadetrile ;
the necesities of the OCCRE3iOD. Between the two
hostile fires the Bill was destroyed, the Govern-
ment was defeated, and the Conservativei were
once more in power. They cut the Gordian
knot with respect to the borough franchise by
deciding that there should be no hard-and-fast
line at all, that every householder who paid his
rates should be entitled to vote in Parliamentary
elections. At the same time the county quali-
fication was placed at a £l2 rental, and at that
figure it still stands.
The inquiry is now addressed to the House
of Commons—" Why retain a hard-and-fast line
in the counties when you have swept it away in
the town?" There are vast nteebers of house-
holders under the :£l2 limit who, residing out-
side the boundaries of boroughs, have votes lot-
neither county nor town. These people ask,
naturally enotteh, why not assimilate the county
to the borough franchise, as Mr. Disraeli pro-
posed in 1859, -1110 with this difference—that
Mr. Disraeli would have had a £lO rental quali-
fication all over the country. The opponents
of household so ffeage in the counties, on the
other hand, declare that the ease is very different
from that of the towns. The mechanic in a
town has opportunities, through the aid of
literary institutions, of improving his mind after
the labour of the day is done. The daily news-
papers are in the reading-room, and he
becomes well acquainted pith the topics of the
day. Not so with the tiller of the soil, whom
it iS now proposed to enfranchise. He has no
chance of belonging either to working men's
cubs or mechanics' institntes. Often enough,
in the town, the artisan who is the most intelli-
gent of a gsoup devotes a portion of his meal
time to reading aloud to his fellows. But for
the agricultural labourer there is no education
of this kind. Even if he he able to read, the
nature of his work renders it impossible that he
ean have many associates, and his means of
procuring literature are not those of the toiler
lit the town. The opponents of county house-
held franchise say: " E,lucato Hott2e first, and
givo him the frauchise afterwards !" Its sup
por-ers say: " Give him tlpl franchise as a
mean: io his education." Between these, Pat-
liameet b ,fore many years have elapsed will he
called upon to prononnee But it is admitted
by statesmen on both sides of the House of
Colin:pone that the grau,iog of hOUS.4IOICI blif•
f •fe to the connties would eonfer such a pee-
p n lerauce of political influence upon Cr,
ra I constituencies, tioit a reimangemen
of the borough representatio, .v. (mid be absolutely
ee ':".s I 1 ; :
is one great reasee ‘klly the
Howe of Commons is SO reluctant to take the
att-t- u,..
A Reform hill must be the work of
gw, or three. sessione
This was the cgs ill
1830, 1831, ;led 1832; atual aeian ill 1866. 1867,
and 1868. No wonder that honourable gentle-
man sle iea from 1 e ~kin such a formidable task
in hand' wrou'eb which it is sought t
dwis.frnitriet:h Isla% oirtit.7,,eepri've of one of its in en"' hers°,
de- e telv to ronin..., returned two, will fight
its ancient privileges, while
" Pinceg 110%v unrepresented, but ;assessing
undoubted c:--iirw, st.renijously
which,strive to se-
cure their rights,f allowed then to "slip,
may ebb away for man
years.