The Press.
London, England, 1854-04-15 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

alter the character of the transaction. By the
reduction of the balances in the Exchequer
the Bank was placed under the necessity of
being prepared to advance six millions; and
the evidence fit Mr. aVEN, as quoted by Mr.
DISRAELI; proven beyond question what might
be the effect ark Such an operation, under cot-
tan cirlamstanees, upon the commercial into-
rests or the country. But we are satisfied to
rest the ease upon the opinions expressed by
Mr. Toosus BAntwo. He reminded the CHAN-
CELLOR of the EXCHEQUER that he was pursuing
a course which would very soon involve the
country in those very evils which Sir R. PEEL
had imposed the income tax to correct ; and
he further, with just severity, designated the
keystone of Mr; GutesroNE's system of finance
to be, " not to provide by means of the in-
coming revenue for the engagements he had
to meet, but to meet those engagements by
subsequently accruing revenue and deficiency
bills.
Again, therefore, we say, these are the ope
rations and this the financial system of the
paragon Finance Minister.

MR. SIDNEY HERBERT'S
CONSISTENCY.
WE have no right to expect consistency in
Peelite. A man who has faith in the saying,
that to confess a change of opinion is only to
acknowledge that he is wiser to-day than he
was yesterday, will be naturally anxious to
show his increasing wisdom by being as in
constant as a weathercock. But such incon-
stancy is still reconcilable with that respect
for facts which no gentleman ever willingly
violates, and we, therefore, ascribe to short-
ness of memory, and not to wilful misrepre-
sentation, the statement of Mr. SIDNEY Hsa-
BERT on Tuesday night, that bis opinions on
Parliamentary Reform had never changed. He
is reported to have said:—
He must advert to the supposed change which it was
said his views had undergone with reference to parliamen-
tary reform : he recollected but once ever having delivered
any opinion of his own on the subject, and that was in the
year 1848, when he spoke after the noble lord the member
for the city of London. He then offered his humble tri-
bute of admiration to the doctrines which the noble lord
had held, and he gave his entire acquiescence to the views
which the noble lord bad expressed about parliamentary
reform. To those views he still adhered, while he for one
had never feared parliamentary reform. ( Cheers.) He
wished to see the basis of their representation enlarged :
he wished to see those who were enemies without the pale
of the constitution converted into friends within. He
wished to say that his opinion upon the subject of parlia-
mentary reform, so far from being changed, had been
greatly strengthened of late, and he gave his cordial assent
to the proposals contained in the present bill ; still hoping
that the time might speedily come when the noble lord
might be able to carry that measure, or some other mea-
sure equally effective, and thus finish the great work of
parliamentary reform with which his name and fame were
indissolubly connected. (Cheers).
We do not wish this gentleman for a
moment to understand that we consider his
views on any subject to be worth the trouble
of much inquiry ; for of what value can be the
opinion which is continually vacillating—
Conservative to-day, and Radical to-morrow ?
But, as it happens, we have by us a passage
from a speech inserted in Hansard delivered
by him in 1846. He then said:—
I am not one of those who wish to see the Constitution
of this country rendered more democratic than it is. I
cannot think the public mind wishes it to be more demo-
credo than it is. I think late events have rather shown
that the mantles of despotic kings who disgraced the world
have fallen upon democratic rather than upon temperate
or mixed Governments I have no ►wish to see the
aristocratic element weakened in our Constitution,
Now, we think that, from respect, not to con-
sistency—which we imagine Mr. S. HERBERT
cares nothing at all about—but to fact, he is
bound to show that the above passages are
reconcilable with each other, or to acknow-
' ledge—and he may do so with a good grace—
that, from the frequent oscillation of his mind,
he has quite forgotten in 1854 the sentiments
he held and the words he spoke in 1846.

THE INROADS OF DEMOCRNCY IN THE
UNITED STATES.

IN a former article we explained by what
extraordinary securities the framers of the
American Constitution attempted to guard the
States from the dangers of unmixed demo-

craey ; and we will now, fro)
IiEeRE'S work, show by what I
securities have been weakene,
extent, abrogated.
Although it was admitted "
" branoh of the Legislature
" dirently from the people,
Justice STORY, " there still 11
" serious question, by whom al
" ner ' that chola(' should

ultra-democratic theory that
equal, and are therefore entitled to equal p
ticipation in the governing power, was univer-
sally rejected. The question was decided to be
entirely one of expediency ; and, as if to
affirm this doctrine emphatically, the separate
States have altered and are continually altering
the qualifications of voters; and even at first
"no two States fixed the qualifications of
" voters upon the same uniform basis." The
question was much discussed whether unifor-
mity was desirable, and unanimously answered
in the negative, on the express ground that
diversity, by securing " a representation of all
" the various classes of society, would ensure
" the permanent protection of ' public liberty
and the private rights of persons and property.
But, says Mr. TaEMENHEERE, " a grave depar-
" ture from the theory of the Constitution, as
" it existed in the eyes and expectations of its
" careful and prudent founders, has taken
" place in the gradual lowering, throughout
" nearly all the States of the Union, and the
" entire abandonment in two-thirds of them,
" of those qualifications for the exercise of the
" franchise which existed when the Constitu-
" tion was adopted." The basis of representa-
tion being thus enormously extended, and
elections recurring every two years, results
have ensued similar, only on a greater scale,
to that which we witness in our metropolitan
boroughs.
In a prosperous commercial country, where
constituencies are large, persons with fixed
occupations, except on occasions of rare ex-
citement, will not and cannot give up their
time to the details of political contests ; there
fore a class has sprung up who make it their
professional business. Mr.TREMIMEE RE quotes
from the New York Herald, of May 20th, 1852,
to show how ordinary elections are " worked "
in the commercial capital of the model re-
public :
The following is a faithful and exact description of the
system :—A lazy fellow, who hates to work for a living, and
encouraged by the success of ward politicians, who have
grown fat upon corruption and the spoils of office, devotes
his energies, day and night, to the acquisition of influence
in the ward in which he resides. He spouts—he brawls in
the bar-room, and affects public virtue of the highest
order. He is a patriot of the first water, and " a clever "
fellow to boot. He treats the rowdies whenever he meets
them, and makes them his fast friends.
We need not continue the description : those
who have had any experience in the elections
for our metropolitan boroughs will at once
recognise the gentleman. He acquires influ-
ence, and sells it to
the agents of Fillmore or Scott or Webster . . . •
perhaps in the interval of taking a recess to " get a
drink," . . . . and the matter is made " all riglht."
Then the citizens proceed to elect their
representatives. We again quote from the
New York Herald of the same date :
Look at the proceedings on Thursday last, in thetnine-
teenth ward—voters carried to the ballot-box in scores of
waggons, from various localities ; and, in other wards, hun-
dreds of democrats voting for Scott or for Fillmore—men
ignorant and steeped in crime—picked up in all the pur-
lieus of the city, and purchased at a dollar a head, and
some, it is said, so low as fifty cents, to deposit in the
ballot-box a vote they had never seen. This demoralising
process is playing fearful havoc with our institutions, ren-
dering them, to a vast extent, not only a nullity, but per-
vetting them to mischief—to bad and corrupt legislation—
and to the maladministration of public justice. The judi-
cious grieve at these results; but what can they do to
arrest the progress of the evil?
By the " ballot-box" secrecy is in no degree
implied ; voting in America is open ; but this
is a branch of the subject to which, on a
proper occasion, we may recur. At present
we only call attention to the circumstance
that large electoral districts were preferred in
America, because it was said that in these
" nothing but real dignity of character can
" secure an election ; " " whereas elections in
" small districts may be conducted by intrigue., '
Such was the opinion of Congress in 1789 ;
but the experience of the United States has
not, according to Justice STORY, supported the

SATURDAY
Ira Mr. TREMlSN-
tendencies those
ed and, to a large
that the popular
should emanate
yet, says Mr.
remained a very
and in what man-
be made." The
all men are born
lAd to Pallid nar-

II

APRIL 15, 1654

NEW YORK.

theory. The experience of our own country
corresponds with that of America—it has
often been noticed that the members returned
by the metropolitan boroughs, in intellectual
combined with other qualifications, are below
the average standard of the representatives of
Great Britain ! But., still, great and manifest
as are the dangers arising to America from
such a Government so elected, some security
was originally provided, by giving to inde-
pendent judges the power to veto acts of
Congress fundamentally affecting the consti-
tution. But, says Chancellor KENT, the
" progress and impulse of popular opinion is
" rapidly destroying every constitutional check,
" every conservative element intended by the
" sages who framed the earliest American
4. constitutions as safeguards against the
" abuses of popular suffrage." This eminent
man traces one by one the progressive stages
of destruction, and forebodingly augurs that it

is matter for grave reflection ; and to counteract the
dangerous tendency of such oombiued forces as universal
suffrage, frequent elections, all offices for short periods, all
officers elective, and an unchecked press; and, to prevent
them from racking and destroying our political machines,
the people must have a larger share than usual of that
wisdom which is " first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and
easy to be entreated."
But, if the judiciary is independent, some
security against bad government yet remains.
Even this the ultra-democmtical party, day by
day increasing in strength, have in a great
measure swept away. In more than two-
thirds of the States the judges are elected by
popular votes and
.for short periods only, and in
some cases during pleasure, and judges have
been cashiered for pronouncing just judg-
ments. Men of education and honour will
not devote themselves to a profession in which
the highest offices only lead to a choice
between degradation and ruin at the will of a
predominant faction; and, when the judicial
bench is filled with the corrupt parasites of
present power, " where," asks Mr. TRE-
MENHEERE, " will be the remembrance of the
" fact that in the declaration of independence
" one of the principal complaints against the
" Sovereign of this country was that he made
" judges dependent on his trill alone for the tenure
" of their offices and the amount and payment of
" their wages r

AMERICAN SYMPATHY-MITCHEL IN

"LniEn.tr." writers, now tolerably reconciled to the
French alliance (it was long before they became so),
often talk of an Anglo-American league against the
despotic powers of Europe as the surest safeguard of
freedom. Many persons not prone to entertain wild
theories applaud this notion and believe in its prac-
ticability. To such we recommend the study of the
New York Herald of March 28, received by last
mails. It is right to state that the journal in ques-
tion circulates 60,000 copies daily, or one-fifth more
than the English Times. Though not very scru-
pulous as to facts, nor especially delicate in its
references to individuals, it exercises probably greater
influence over American opinion than any other
organ in existence. It is, therefore, a fair index of
the state of public feeling on a question of foreign
relation. And what is the language of American
democracy while England is arming against des-
potism? That of sympathy? Let readers judge.
They know already that the notorious JOHN
MITCHEL, the forsworn convict, who disgusted
even southerners by his interested panegyric of
slavery, has addressed to his emigrant country-
men a manifesto announcing that "England's
" weakness is Ireland's opportunity," and calling on
them to use the advantage thus presented, collect in
a body, and invade Canada. Of the absurdity of the
project we say nothing. If it-s author's brain he not
turned by vanity and political fanaticism, he is most
likely bidding for Irish contributions, as many similar
patriots did in 1848, much to their own pecuniary
advantage. And, as a Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
used to say when assailed with letters threatening
his assassination, " Those who really mean to do
" such things don't talk about them." Any way, the
attempted plot is unworthy notice. But not so the
mention of it in the leading American journal. The
editor, truly or untruly, ascribes its origin to an
eminent abolitionist, who wants Canada annexed as
a counterpoise to the slave State of Cuba. " The
" position of the world," he writes, " is favourable to
the execution of a plan for the separation of Canada
" from Great Britain and its absorption in the Union."
And yet more plainly :
" There are many reasons why his scheme is calculated
to command public favour at the present time. The gene•

THE PaESS.

rat war in Europe, the present condition of England, said
the singular doubt and uncertainty which overhang the
greatest portion of the Old World, render the present mo-
ment peculiarly well adapted for such a plot. There is not
a little significance in the fact that the British Ministry,
as related in a letter to a contemporary, are expressing a very
lively anxiety about our opinion respecting the war. They
are actually looking to this country fur the ►coral suap.►rt
which a public meeting in New York could efford them.
They must feel very little confidence in the justice of their
cause or the strength of their army when they could conrt
such an ally as a mass meeting in the Park."
We are not aware that such an alliance has been
courted by any except a very inconsiderable section
of the community ; and we commend to the attention
of that section the reception which their demands are
likely to meet with. This is the union of freemen—
the band of brotherhood—which is to put down the
Czar and establish the triumph of constitutional
government over despotism. This is American sym-
pathy—confederacy with Russia to humble Englan
European freedom sacrificed without compunction,
that a new territory may be added to the Union through
the agency of a piratic aggression!
We may be told that these views are entertained
by few persons, and that the ravings of a parcel of
fanatics or fools are not to he construed as the
expressed will of a nation. And this, to a certain ex-
tent, is true. We are ready to believe that not many
American politicians seriously contemplate an armed
attack on Canada. The danger would occur to all—
the dishonour, we hope, to some. But is it not a
strange comment on the " liberalism" of democracy
that, while the hare contemplation of a treacherous
attack on the United States would rouse one honest
burst of execration from cud to end of this country,
such piratic projects as that of MITCHEL are in
America popularly, publicly, favourably, discussed ?
We own that the difference of American feeling towards
England and of English feeling towards the United
States (we speak not of diplomatic civilities, hut of
the unbiassed impulse of the masses in each country)
is to us not less perplexing than painful. Is it envy ?
A great and growing nation should be beyond its
reach. Dislike of our institutions? But no conti-
nental country resembles America in its government
so nearly as ours does ; and yet towards no conti-
nental country is a similar jealousy displayed. Com-
mercial rivalry? There is room in the world's
markets for both. On remembrance of past wars?
But those who succeed have no cause to bear malice ;
and even France has forgiven Waterloo. On the in-
fluence of refugees of all nations—lrish included?
In this there may be something; yet the solution is
partial, the fact meantime remaining certain.

REAL ESTATE CHARGES.

IT is not many weeks since the House of Commons
rejected by a large majority Mr. Locitz Krina's bill
to assimilate the laws regulating the descent of real
property to those which affect personalty in cases of
intestacy. That bill was thrown out Lecause it
would infallibly within a calculable period have
destroyed, by subdividing the land, the territorial
element which exists so largely in the constitution of
England. Baffled in his attempt to storm the
citadel, Mr. LOCKE KING is now proceeding to sap
and mine the outworks that defend the order to
which he belongs. A bill, introduced by him, has
just been printed, providing that, "where no inten
" tion to the contrary is signified in the will, the heir
' or devisee of mortgaged real estate is not to he
entitled to have the mortgage debt paid out of the
personal estate. The bill also proposes that when
the testator has directed land in which he has an
4 estate of inheritance to be sold for payment of his
" debts, or for the purposes of his will, such land
" shall (unless his will signifies some other inten
" tion) be deemed to be converted into personal
" estate, and, if or so far as not required for the pur-
" poses mentioned in the will, shall be divided under
" the statute for the distribution of the estates of
" intestates."
Now, in the case of mortgage debts it is obvious
that if the owner of real estate so charged makes a
will lie must do so with a knowledge of the existing
law ; and, if he does not negative such an intention,
desires to discharge mortgages out of personalty.
The proposed change might inflict great hardships
in particular cases. For instance, if the possessor of
a small estate in land of which he was justly proud,
and which he desired to retain in his family, died with-
out expressing any intention on the subject, leaving
considerable personalty which the law straightway
divides amongst a numerous family, would it not be
hard that the land should be sold if it happened to
be mortgaged? Mr. Corms' is fond of saying, "Now,
to take a case in point." We will do so the
imaginary instance we have suggested might occur in
his own family. Mr. Cosnrw might mortgage even
the sacred territory at Midburst if he could make 15
per cent. with the borrowed money ; he might leave
behind him 100,000/. and twenty children, of whom the
eldest might desire, but be too poor, to purchase the
little patrimony, whilst the others, taking a strictly

331)

commercial view of the case, might find more pro-
fitable investments for their money, and thus the
hereditary domain might fall under the dominion of
a game-preserving aristocrat, and a cock pheasant
might crow where a Cobden has slain the slain in
recounting his triumphs.
The second branch of the bill is insidious, for it
may with some plausibility be urged that if a testator
leaves land to be sold for the payment of bequests
he does not desire to retain it in his family. But
this is a fallacy : the testator desires to bequeath
certain specific sums of money, and nothing more,
otherwise he would direct certain lands to be sold
absolutely, and the produce to be divided rateably
amongst the devisees. If the change proposed be
trivial, still it will impose a fresh obligation on testa-
tors under the penalty of a new and arbitrary dispo-
sition of their property ; and such minute variations
are more likely to inflict injustice, by leading to mis-
takes, than an adherence to known and existing law.
The general question we have discussed before, and
shall not recur to now, but we have deemed it our
duty to call attention to an insidious measure, which
is, in principle, precisely the same as the previous
bill which the House rrkjected.

ROUTES TO AUSTRALIA, ETC.
A LETTER addressed to the Postmaster.Geueral has
been published recommending the route to Australia
rid the Panamese isthmus, as against those by the
Cape and through Egypt, Ce3lon, and Singapore.
The respective merits of these lines were fully dis-
cussed by a committee of the Commons in 1881';
and, though the circumstances of Australian coloni-
sation have since that time materially altered, the
physical peculiarities of each line, of course, re•

;man the same.
That rid India has one great merit. It is a little
the shortest (in this respect the difference is not
considerable), and it is already served as far as
Singapore by the existing communications with Cal-
cutta and China. This was formerly more impor-
tant than it is now, for in 1851 the gold-diggings had
not reached their present extent, and it seemed cer-
tain that the conveyance of mails to the antipodean
colonies could not be made to pay. Emigration and
gold have effected a change here; but the faults of
this route are manifest and grave. There must be
one transhipment at Alexandria, thence a land jour-
ney through Egypt, a second embarkation, another
at Pointe-de-Galle (Ceylon), possibly a third at
Singapore. No merohandise could be carried along
a line so artificially obstructed. Even to paneengers,
travelling as the wealthier sort of emigrants mostly
do, with a large amount of luggage, the inconve-
nience was thought serious. And the change from
ship to ship, not all being of one size or built. on the
same plan, leads to quarrels about accommodation,
attended with much annoyance and confusion. By
adopting this rule something would have been guinea
in postal speed, but a great (leanest in comfort,
cheapness, and commercial facilities.
The Penninese mute seems to us equally fanity.
It involves also the necessity of transhipment at the
isthmus, besides a very long line of navigation across
a sea little traversed. Coal is not easily ptocurable at
Tahiti ; its cost must be heavy, and the distance tea
versed between the various stopping places is enor-
mous. Still it is fair to add that matters have to
some extent changed ;inlet, the report of 1851 was
homed. In the committee of that date, as we well
remember, only a single voice was raised in favour
of the Pacific or Panatuese route, nor was any divi-
sion taken in its favour. Since then the voyage
from England to Chagres has been reduced to
nearly one half of what ;t was, and large screw
steamers have replaced the smaller vessels originally
intended to be used. Still the obstacle of a tran-
shipment remains insuperable, for many years must
elapse before Sir C. Fox carries out his gigantic pro-
ject of a ship canal through Darien. Till then the
Pacific line will be useless for goods, and nearly so
for emigrants carrying out heavy luggage. For
mails, or lightly-burdened passengers, it may pay,
but these alone will not render a packet-service re-
munerative.
Many faults have been found with the Cape route,
nor do we deny that some exist. The time originally
allowed appears to have been underrated ; the obsta
cies regarded as less serious than they have proved
in practice. This is matter of regret. But by an
other line can the emigrant avoid the evils of a
transhipment, and by none is he passed so rapidly
through the unhealthy tropical zone. This last.
point is of some mement where women and children
are concerned. If the Indian line be selected, two-
third' of the voyage must be performed under a tete
pleat sun; with that. by Panami even more ; whereas,
in going out by the Cape, the voyager crosses the
line almost at right angles, and the rest of his course
is through a high southern latitude. We retain,
therefore, unaltered our conviction that on all
account: Pailiament and Government exercised a
wise discretion in rejecting both the Indian and
ranaraese routes in favour of that by the Cape.