The Express.
London, England, 1865-01-20 00:00:00

THE

premed wiah, could authorise a court clkinedle to
becur so serious • responsibility. J/Mlllll6waven
this oertainty would constitute • etas:dent grotto&
for action is still an undecided point. The
Meares of the Rozau says that be should hesitant
to take an infant from its mother "in any one ;"
but, however this may be settled when an exam-
ple of the kind shall arise, we do not see that any
fault can be found with the law ao far as it has
been declared.

IT was generally remarked at the time, that Mr.
Bat oar's speech at the Birmingham Exchange was,
for him, unusually mild ; some even called it
tame. That which he delivered before the general
body of his constituents on Wednesday, at the
Town-hall, will restore him his old reputation.
There was • fiery glow of passion and • vigour of
denunciation about it which seemed to belong
rather to • peat stage of our political life than
to the indolence and apathy of these times. In
fact, but for one circumstance, we should be in-
dined to blame it as mistimed, coming as it
did like a thunder-clap in a clear sky. There is
no great movement afoot just now which it can
assist, and we do not think it was Mr. Baton's
intention to begin one. The discrepancy is ex-
plained, however, by •ilosices which recur at
intervals in the course of his remarks. The speech
at the Birmingham Town-hall wee a counter-
blast ; it was • reply to the speeches of the
Tories in South Devon. Whether it was worth
while to give so much importance to the prattle
of the Devonshire squires may be doubted. Lord
CHURSTON, the Earl of Devon, Sir LAWRINCS
Pars, and the other spoken at Torquay pro-
bably meant nothing serious, but finding them-
selves in • position in which they were expected to
talk, they uttered the thoughts that were upper-
most In their minds. It will be the fault of
Birmingham Resit, however, if it is ever ruled from
Torquay.
Having to take the Devonshire speeches for his
text, the strain and quality of Mr. BRIGHT'S ser-
mon might be predicted. It is very remarkable that
the persona who are foremost to press the question
of Parliamentary Reform on public notice, should
be those who do not conceal their dislike of the
subject, or the joy they would feel if it could
only be fairly shunted into some siding of the po-
litical highway. There is no great stir made by
the unrepresented classes themselves. No power-
ful agitator has taken the field. No great orga-
nisation' appeal to the public. The language of
popular members to their constituent' contains
little hope or promise. Why, then, are we troubled
with the subject again and again, and how is it
that those who have been at infinite pains to per-
suade theniaaves and us that reform is an ex-
ploded fallacy, should obtrude their misgivinp and
alarms, just as it seemed as if they had enemata
Let it be observed that it is in the midst of the
completed political stagnation the nation has ex-
perienced for the last thirty years that Lord
DavoN declares the progress of what he calls De-
mocracy to be most alarming ; and that Earl Gaze
tells us that though the current of opinion is jamb
now against reform, it will not always be so ; that
even without distress the cry for reform may re-
vive ; and that if schemes foe increasing the in-
fluence of the people in the Howe of Commons
continue to be met, as they have hitherto been, by
mere resident* to all change in the constitution
of Parliament, we may expect that sooner or later
they will be adopted.
It is just because it is so evident that this ques-
tion will grow in importance that we deprecate
any premature attempts to settle it either by the
factitious agitation which once deeply disturbs the
public mind, or the arts of politicians who would
put off the people with an empty shadow. The
unrepresented will lose nothing by waiting pa-
tiently for their opportunity. All the influences of
the age are visibly at work for them, and we are
more concerned to see them advancing in all the
qualities which make up the character of the true
citizen than to see them inflaming themselves
with passion in the endeavour to seize an
hour or two earlier than they would otherwise do
a privilege which is their reversion by the surest
tiller On this account we most regret the tone of
the greater portion of Mr. BRIGHT'S speech, which
would have lost nothing in force if the considera-
tions he presented to his hearers had been con-
veyed in more moderate language. When inten-
tions so radically hostile to the great body of the
nation as those proclaimed at Torquay can be ex-
pressed in gentle language, it is • pity that a
nobler policy should bear the outward appearance
of jealousy and At the same time it is not
for those who advocate hard things—such as the
permanent exclusion and proscription of five-sixths
of their countrymen—to complain if their conduct
is described in hard words.
The manner in which the remarks both of Mr.
SCNOLRYIELD and Mr. BRIGHT respecting the main
features which must appear in any satisfactory
Reform Bill were received at Birmingham, should
have its lesson for thee" inventive gentlemen
who never tire of constructing electoral puzzles
in the form of schemes for the extension
of the franchise. Mr. SCHOLLTIELD deprecated
any measure of " ingenious contrivances."
" What they wanted was an extension of their
" franchise within the boroughs and counties, and
" a more equal distribution of electoral power—
" the transfer of seats from insignificant places to
" places of greater wealth and population." This
is what Liberals have always asked for, and what
Liberal Ministers have repeatedly promised. Mr.
CHART.= BUXTON'S unhappy proposal to make
wealth nakedly and avowedly the source and
measure, as well as the mark, of electoral power,
has been put forward only to be speedily with-
drawn. Earl Gust's plan of • cumulative vote
is still, we believe, recommended to the public.
Lord Gast advocates the principle of giving to
every elector se many votes as there are members
to be elected by the constituency to which he be-
longs, with the right of giving all these votes to a
single candidate, which he may not do at present,
or of dividing them, as he may prefer. The pro-
faned object of adopting this rule is to secure to
minorities • fair opportunity of making their opi-
nions and wishes heard in the House of Commons.
According to Earl ORS; to omit to make such
a provision for the representation of minorities as
he recommends, would be " flagrantly unjust."
He must have studied the British Constitution
for many years who has discovered that the defec-
tive representation of minorities is one of its weak
points ; but Lord GREY is a very clever man. His
plan is one for giving a decided majority at the
poll to • candidate who may have the fewest sup-
porters, and it will be a long time before any en-
thusiastic call is made for a Reform Bill based on
that principle. Of course there is a reason why
these various schemes are brought forward. Their
authors feel that an extension of political power
to the people is not a contingency which depends
on the arts of political organization, or the
eloquence of platform speakers, or the clamours of
great public meetings, although these may accom-
pany it as signs : they know that it is in the pro-
gress of events inevitable. And we venture to
think that, believing this, they would show more