The Press.
London, England, 1858-01-16 00:00:00

THE PRESS, JANUARY 16,1858.

not be worked up into feeling enthusiams about
Reform. A great leading organ has repeatedly
endeavoured to damp the discussion of the
less it has come
wishes of the
wgotten that Par-.
(ocial as well as itg
nservatives insist
-nection, Oleic
wealth, their
dierents in the
le learned pro-
iequate share of
representatives in Parliament, in that case
they are contending for social as well as politi-
cal rights. " Society "in England is far more
complex than the mere political constitution.
One can master the " Constitution" in the
text-bcoks, an I in the speeches of illustrious
statesmen ; but English " society " has in-
stincts and habits peculiarly its own which
cannot be embodied in an Act of Parliament
The query " How will it work?" is the test by
which Englishmen strive to decide upon the
merits of a new scheme; and the main diffi-
culty of the present Cabinet in dealing with
Reform is to devise some measure which
would be accepted by their supporters in re-
demption of the Premier's pledge, and which
would not, at the same time, be so anti-Con-
servative as to bring in the risk of a rejection
by the House of Peers, and by all that is
honoured and influential in the collective
community of Englishmen.
When the Bill of Lord GREY'S Cabinet was
agitated in 1831 and 1832, the question of
" How will it work?" was often asked. The
Liberals, of all shades, answered that it was a
glorious measure, and would regenerate Eng-
land. Two years afterwards a great change
came over the opinions of many amongst
them, when they beheld the English Parlia-
mentary Dissenters working in vigorous con-
cert with the Irish Repealers for the over-
throw of the Established Church. A prodigious
reaction set in, and at the dissolution in the
winter of 1834, although there was a small
majority in favour of the Liberals, yet the polls
throughout the country were singularly close.
The experiment of the Grey Reform Bill
proved this conclusion satisfactorily—viz.,
that if the great institutions of the realm be
in real danger, the national feeling is so tho-
roughly sound and loyal that a reactionary
and defensive movement is certain to be
aroused, which in its turn must become the
popular passion of the time. The Monarchy
and the Church were in real peril from 1833
to 1841, in days when the unnatural " Lich-
field-house Compact" was degrading Parlia-
ment and endangering the empire. But after
Mr. O'CONNELL had paid the penalty of his
misguided politics, after Chartism had been
exploded in England, and Young Irelandism
crushed, and after the great mass of the Eng-
lish people had become alienated from great
democratic movements, in consequence of the
dire events which had followed the continental
conspiracies in 1848—after these changes had
taken place, another result of the working of
Lord GREY'S Bill of 1832 was then made
visible. The nature of that result demands
attentive consideration.

Amongst the ablest opponents of the Grey
Bill, the late Mr. CROKER was particularly
distinguished. Unlike Sir ROBERT PEEL, Mr.
CROKER had studied the question for a long
time, and his mind was familiarised with all
the eventualities dependent on Reform. In
opposing the Bill, Mr. CROKER contended that
the measure would either work a revolution,
or else that it was calculated to secure an
ascendancy for the Whig party. Sir ROBERT
PEEL, on the other band, seemed puzzled in
dealing with the measure. His mind was
without 'Jeep convictions on the subject., and
a counter Reform Bill was proposed—" too
late." In leading the reactionary movement
against the Whigs, Sir ROBERT PEEL earnestly
counselled the Conservatives to depend on
their social influence, and, imitating the
" Agitate, agitate, agitate " of Lord ANGLESEY
at a memorable crisis in Ireland, Sir R. PEEL
desired the Conservatives in Iti3s to " Regis-
ter, register, register." Experience has proved
that Sir ROBERT PEEL and Mr. CROKER were
partly right and partly wrong. When Sir

whole question, but neverthelei
01), even in opposition to the 1
Tinto awl of the Prime Ministei
Let it net, therefom be forgoi
liaraentsry Reform ink its social
politic4l aspects. en Come
that their grest pc dal cone
landed estates, and copmercial
gentry, and their nimerods an
Church, the Universitfes, and th,
fessions, should receive an ade(