The Press.
London, England, 1854-02-25 00:00:00

170

Honourable Member always was, " Only admit
" the theory to be just, and I will very soon
" prove that its application will be practi-
" cally beneficial." The theory on which
Mr. COBDEN and his allies have founded their
demand for reform is, that representation
should be in proportion to numbers. Starting
from this point, many discrepancies have
been dwelt upon, and many harangues have.
followed on the superior claims of large con-
stituencies as compared with small. But an
examination into the statistics of the con-
stituencies in the aggregate demonstrates that,
arguing from their own premises, the results at
which Messrs. COBDEN and Baicarr should
arrive are exactly the reverse of what they
would wish. At present the constituencies
may be fairly stated to be divided into three
distinct classes—counties, small boroughs,
and cities or large towns, each of these hav-
ing a separate and distinct character of its
own. Now, if we assume that boroughs con-
taining less than 10,000 inhabitants may be
considered small boroughs, an analysis of 465
constituencies will give the following results
69 counties, or divisions of counties, with
a population of 9,770,000, returning 144
members.
114 cities and large towns, with a popula-
tion of 6,660,000, returning 206 members.
72 small towns, with a population of
480,000, returning 115 members.
It is probable that the advocates of the
Reform Bill would contend that the small
boroughs are more akin in their character to
the counties than the towns, and therefore
could not be considered as adding to the
strength of the urban element in our repre
sentative system ; but, even if we admit this,
if to the 69 counties we add the 72 small
towns, the results would not support the claim
of the towns to increased representation. The
counties and small boroughs, with a popula-
tion of 10,250.000, return 259 members ; the
large towns and cities, with a population
of 6,660,000, return 206 members ; whilst
the proper arithmetical proportion would
be 169 instead of 206 members for the
large towns and cities. These statistics and
calculations are not taken from a Conserva-
tive but from a Liberal organ, and they clearly
show that, if representation should be in pro-
portion to numbers, the county constituencies
are entitled to 115 members more than they at
present possess. Indeed, Mr. DISRAELI has
elucidated and demonstrated the claims of the
counties in a manner so convincing that one
of our Liberal contemporaries candidly ad-
mitted on a recent occasion that the argu-
ment of the Right Honourable Gentleman had
never been grappled with, because it could
not be answered.
Such being the case—the theory of the demo-
crats when applied to statistics leading to a con-
clusion exactly the reverse of that which they
intended to advance—it was obviously necessary
to evade the difficulty they could not overcome.
For this end the Reform Bill is ingeniously
framed. Of the 63 seats which are to be
disposed of in England, 46 are ostensibly
to be allotted to the counties. But, whilst in-
creasing the number of county representatives,
the county constituencies are also increased
by the creation of franchises which will en-
tirely revolutionise the character of the rural
constituencies. Thus, a salary of 1001. a year,
an annual income of 101. from stock, or the
payment of 2/. in direct taxes, or the posses-
sion of 501. in a savings bank, or being a
graduate of any University in the United
Kingdom, the occupation with or without land
of any building of the clear yearly value of 101.
—any of these constitute a qualification, and
confer a vote for a county. What interests
have these electors in common with the coun
ties ? The proposal to create them is an ob-
vious attempt to evade surreptitiously the lo-
gical consequences of the numerical theory.
For, instead of increasing the number of
eounty members, while leaving them to be
elected by a county constituency, the author
of the Reform Bill first floods the counties
With an urban and democractic .constituency,
and then adds these seats to represent the
newly-enfranchised. It is obviously for
that provision for enablin)

SATURDAY,

recognised profession. Even if no actual
increase takes place, we may feel sure that
future Ministries will not be very solicitous to
do the public work with the least number of
hands. The very nature of the plan renders a
diminution in the number of officers impos-
sible ; for such diminution would be taking
the bread out of the mouths of men who,
relying on the Government promise, have
passed the appointed examination.
But, again, what is the nature of the work
for which an intellectual or literary test of
ability is thought desirable ? To talk of the
civil service as a united homogeneous body is
simply absurd. Where is the community of
feeling, or sense of professional union, between
the educated head clerk of a great department
in Downing-street, and the postman, the letter-
carrier, the messenger, or the exciseman ? But,
if the latter and larger class is to be excluded
from the working of this bill, what becomes of
the Ministerial vaunt, that a profession em-
ploying 18,000 persons is now for the first
time thrown open? If a literary examination
must be passed by every candidate for me-
chanical or routine employment, the plan is a
mere piece of pedantry pushed to the verge of
ridicule : if its operation be confined to the
offices, comparatively few in number, where a
higher and really intellectual qualification is
desirable, then its extent has been absurdly
exaggerated, and the vast administrative
reform collapses into an arrangement by
which the Secretary of State will be saved
the trouble of choosing his clerks. We look
in vain through the report of Sir CHARLES
TREVELTAN and his colleague for any definite
details on this subject. All is vague, plau-
sible, undefined. To criticise so cloudy a
scheme is at first sight difficult; nor have we
the slightest assurance that Ministers under-
stand the details of their own measure, and
still less that they estimate its consequences.

MANCHESTER AND SALFORD
EDUCATION BILL.
Mn. ADDERLEY and Sir JOHN PAKINOTON on
Tuesday last acquired an additional claim to
the gratitude of the country for the practical
measures they have proposed for its benefit.
Education, perhaps the most important, and
certainly the most difficult, question of the
day, was discussed, especially by the Right
Honourable Baronet, with a force and power
which commanded the admiration of the
House, and will arrest the attention of the
community. The immediate occasion of the
debate was the Manchester and Salford Edu-
cation Bill, the second reading of which was
moved by Mr. ADDERLEY. The history of the
measure is singular. Although its operation
is intended to be confined to a particular
locality, its subject matter is so large that it
was originally introduced as a public bill, but
being technically, according to the rules of
Parliament, a private bill, its introduction was
successfully opposed on that question of form ;
and now, on Tuesday last, the objection was
reversed, and with the like result. Introduced
by Mr. ADDERLEY as a private bill, yet admitted
by all to be in its nature a public measure, Mr.
MILNER GIBSoN had the somewhat doubtful
honour of moving the following amendment :
" That education, to be supported by public
" rates, is a question which ought not to be
" dealt with by any private bill." The amend-
ment was carried and the bill was lost.
There are several educational plans now
before the country, but in principle they may
be resolved into three—the voluntary system,
which, as we have had no code of penal laws
prohibiting education in England, has always
existed, and means, in effect, to leave the
masses in their ignorance ; the secular system,
which is to levy a general rate for the support
of schools, from which religious instruction
shall be rigorously excluded ; and the third
is the denominational system, by which a
general rate is proposed to be raised and dis-
tributed amongst existing schools, so that
there would be no interference with the reli-
gious instruction at present received by the
people. The last is the principle of the Man-
chester and Salford Education Bill, and the