The Press.
London, England, 1854-02-11 00:00:00

FEBRUARY 11, 1854.

Tie Nese Reform Bill. An Abstract of the Leading
Clauses of the Measure, itc. With a Prefatory
Notice by the Hun. W. F. Campbell. London :
Ridgway.
Ms. CAMPBELL, a Whig in politics, late M.P. for
Cambridge, and son of the Chief Justice, has done
good service to the Conservative cause by this
pamphlet. He comments truly and sharply on the
inconsistency exhibited by Lord John Russell in
surrendering at discretion to the Radical party in
1851, ater an oppo:ition of eighteen years' standing,
and without any visible external cause for the change.
Equally pointed and just are his remarks on the
recklessness of the Minister who thus drew in ad.
'lance on public credit:—
" The late minister, in February, Ism , before he was
defeated by Mr. Locke King, had adopted a course at
variance with the principles of statesmanlike reserve.
Unasked, and unprovoked, he had engaged himself
definitively to reopen the Reform Act in 18.12. To
reflecting men it was apparent that he had done this with•
out authority from others. The resignation which imme-
diately succeeded might serve to vindicate his colleagues.
But he continued to remain before the. world engaged to
legislate at large upon a given subject, at a given time, the
expediency of touching which, at the period he thus
assigned to its disturbance, no human foresight could
establish. Whether war hung upon our coasts and famine
desolated Ireland ; or peace and plenty were secured to us ;
whether parties were inclined to discord or to anion;
whether trade was prosperous or sluggish; whether riots
hidto be suppressed, or order was remarkable ; whether
Consols were below 50, or above par ; the Prime Minister
bad pawned his freedom and discretion on the topic upon
which it was most essential to retain it. He had also,
unwarily perhaps, by this fatal step revived the agitation
daring which he had before proclaimed the inexpediency
of touching the Reform Act.
" it happened that events brought out the rashness of
his pledge in so clear a light that history seemed to be re-
solved to shape her movements for its punishment.
When the time came for framing an amendment of the
system upon which our laws and liberties are founded, the
country was alarmed by a catastrophe in which Europe
was involved. The sense and energy of Englishmen were
concentrated on defence. The press awakened the com-
munity. Security was bought by apprehension. It be-
came the duty of a Government to cherish patriotism,
while the Government was pledged to rouse internal
animosities. It became the duty of a Government
to
watch a potentate without, while the Government was
pledged to fill the House of Commons with distraction and
acerbity. The public spirit of the minister required him
to guard the Channel and the coast ; his private dignity
impelled him to fling confusion into every town and every
county in the island. No man supposed that had he
counted on the coup d'etat and its result he would have
pledged himself to rip up the constitution in 1852. He
had the signal disadvantage of being felt to act from a
sense of what was useful to himself, instead of from a sense
of what was due to the society he governed."
For this imprudence—if, indeed, it were no worse—
n speedy retribution arrived. The statesman so
eagerly grasping at popularity sacrificed—none knew
why—his most pliulax colleague ; and within six
weeks his own fall ensued
" There still remained among his colleagues a man of
infinite resources, ingenious mind, and competent expe-
rience. He had never been an echo to the parliamentary
ventriloquism by which the minister transferred his voice
through Mr. Fox Maule to the ranks of his opponents.
He had untied knots and baffled combinations. He bfd
risen in the school of Mr. Canning, and of Europe. Be
had studied modern constitutions, as well as being among
the men who moulded the Reform Act. His tact, lustre
and authority might serve to extricate the State from the
emergency to which a course of errors had reduced it.
Whatever scheme he could have offered, its use and power
were defeated. The minister destroyed his succour when
his distress began to overflow."
Mr. Campbell might have added that the game thus
played by the Whig leader in '5l was only an exact
repetition of that policy which ten years before drew
from Sir James Graham—then a Conservative
Oppositionist—one of the most stinging invectives
recorded in parliamentary annals. Of that memorable
speech the most offensive passages were those in
which Lord John was accused of bidding for an
agitation in the hope of propping up 'a falling
Cabinet. Sir James spoke of pirates setting fire to
the vessel which they could no longer defend—of
maniacs whom it was needful for the public safety to
coerce, when they carried in their hands the means
of doing mischief. Sir James has reconsidered his
views, and Mr. Campbell might appropriately have
reminded him of them. The writer, though sub.
joining an analysis of the Reform Bill, does not
comment on its details. Like Lord Grey, he rests
his case on the impolicy of internal change at a
moment of foreign embarrassment.

The Laws of War, Commerce, and Shipping. By 11.
Byerley Thomson, B.A. London : Smith, Elder,
and Co.
WHEN the French Plenipotentiary, treating for peace
with Lord Chatham, demanded indemnification for
the ships which had been seized before war had
been technically declared, the great Minister re-
plied, <6 The cannon has settled that point; and, in