The Express.
London, England, 1851-05-27 00:00:00

DENNIARK AND THE DUCHIES.

- A letter front Berlin nays:—
it.' oppression of the inhabitants of Sthl,swig by the
Danish soldiery is very loudly complained .1. The Angles,
lately ordered to doff their hats lowering them to the level
of the thigh, resolved to gn IsLeheasted. Immediately an
order was published. that every cis Wan ou meeting a mili-
tary psrsou must halt and make front till the latter 11.1..e11.
A mars lately returned from the Holstein army had mail, his
ohl military cap, which h.• wore at his labour ; a hint Wild
given him that such a vestige of the insurrectiou would give
umbrage, and he at once laid it aside; but the matter had
been r. ported, and the nest th.y he was haul,' up and re-
c‘siv,sl 1.4 blows with the stick, producing s,vere woands
and contusions! At Bremen an edict has beam published
prohibiting all political unions, end empowsring the e..urts
to suppress offensive journtas and forbid the puhlishs rs and
printers of the same the further exercise of their trash,.

NATIONAL
REFORM ASSOCIATION.

Yesterday evening, the fourth monthly ani,r, of
this association took place at the London avern, to hear a
lecture by Mr. C. J. Bunting, uu operatiie. of Norwich, on
" Prevalent Objections to the Lafranihisement of the
Working Classes." Alter tea and coffee had bet u writs!,
the chair was taken by Sir J °sit ca WALM 11.1 A the pre-
sideut of the association.

The CHAIRMAN, in opening the prat'. Ahura slid he
had received a letter from Mr. W. J. Pox, M.l'., UllO
was unavoidably absent through a :severe demaatic
affliction. Mr. liunting would be pkaawal to find him-
self supported on that occasion by souse who might
well be called the pioneers of popular rights. (II ear.)
Ile congratulated the audience on their presence; he feat
no doubt they would go away instructed and improved. and
would carry that instruction and improvement to ,then
who had not the privilege of brill • plWent. Ile looked to
those present, and to all refonneterto become more energe-
tic, mote determined. and to unit.• more closely
and mere
.compactly in aid of the great ob-
jects of this ii-suemtion than they had hitherto
done. (Hear, hear.) The time had enne• wheat they must
exert themselves. The sniuieter had stated, iu his plum in
parliament, that he we, ready to give au excision ne tlw
franchise ; and the amount of that extension depended
upon the people of this country. In the presamee of those ilscro
aseembled, he would not obtrude any opinions of his own,
further than what he believed absolutely eeseutial to the
benefit and advancement of the eau, in which the y were
associated. Ile would give place to others, mid le mild at
once call upon Mr. Banding to wider:se them. (Cheers.)
Mr. BUNTING was received with loud demonstrations
of applause. After bespeaking the inalulg lace of the
audience, on account of the difficulties with which his elms
had to grapple, hr .aid that he had advocated the templet°
entrant:hie...anent of the people, but felt it no inconsistency
to support the objects of this association. lie had entire
confidence in the mea by whom this tuovemmat was eon-
ducted, and the attenatit to extend the franchise to three mil-
lions of men was an important step in the right direction.
The first objection to the enfranchisement of the working
ela-ses was its incompatibility with a proper delir-
race to the rights of property. This objection
assumed that the working classes were on unpropertied
class. The fact was they were made so by taxatiam; ;and
the present constitution of the House of Commons was a
direct violation of the rights of property. (hear.) The
objection assumed that the present representation was one
of property; but hew wan the fact? Monitor, riled At
10,000 f, returned as in any members as Liverpool, rated at
laa akin Were the property repreeentation to be carried
out, Liverpool ought to have 160 members if Bonham had
two. There were in the House of Commune 33d menabers
representing boroughs rated at 0,210,010/., while other
places rated at 70,400,0001. were represented by only 32t1
members; consequently thirteen-fourteenths of the rated
property wax entirely at the mercy of the remaining one-
fourteenth. (Cheers.) The second objection, one re-
garded by the opponent, as their stronghold, was
this : that the moues of the people were not sufficiently
intelligent to be entrusted with the frauelliae. 'this he
denied, and appealed fOr proof to the triumphs of art and
industry in this empire. It was said the affairs of govern-
ment were of so complicated a character that the working
classes could not pessibly cuter into them. At the risk of
incurring the imputatiuu of vanity, he must deny the asser-
tion. All the great and beneficial changes made of late
years iu legislation—catholic emancipation, parliamentary
mud municipal reform, and free mule—had ',prang from the
popular demand, and were irrefraguble proofs of the ability
of the working classes readily to cumin...he:nal politioal
questions. Enfranchisement would do fume to remove
the difference in intelligence between a town and a
rural population than any education that could be de,
rased. In the late excitement against papal aggressien, the
good sense of the people had been couillently appealed to
by even Lord John Russell; and even those who thought
the working classes unlit for the franchise had penetrated
all the narrow lanes and obscure alley, iu the city to obtain
their signatures to petitions against the aggreseiens of the
Pope. (Cheer.) But thn.working clients were not answerable
for their own want of intelligence, if suck existed. The taxes
on knowledge which operated !0./much to their disadvantage
were not of their imposing. A further objection woe, that
a large proportiou of the working claws were too in-
different to the obligations of morality to be entrusted with
the franchise. In the absence of soy praxese test, he would
assert that immorality was confined to no class, and was
certainly not greater in the lower than iu the higherclasacs.
Low lodging-houees, penny theatres, and the cheap licen-
tious literature, were referred to in support of this objec-
tion ; but it should be remembered that licentious publica-
tions were not the production of the working classes, and
that the sale of these works received an impetus from the
tax on newspapers. (Hear, hear.) Thu revelations of
bribery committees proved that it was not the working
these., only who were open to bribery ; nor hail they nay
club. tor encouraging that kind of political alemoralimtion.
(Cheers.) The ballot would remedy this corruption; end
let thaw who objected to it as un-English, beware how they
gave occasion for its use. The next objection, and one very
strongly urged, was, that the working classes manifested
great indifference to the obligatory character of the
Christian religion. If there was any truth in
this allegation, the reason must be Nought in
the fact that the paid teachers of Christianity
had trampled upon those principles of universal brother-
oa! which were inculcated by their great Master.
(Cheers.) But he denied the truth of the assertion, and,
• among other things, referred to the existence of Sunday-
schools, which were generally supported by the working
classes. Another objection was the absurd political
theories welding amongp, the working classes. pf
this were true, those who excluded the people from
the franchise took the most certain method to per-
petuate those absurd theories, for curb was the invariable
effect of persecution. He denied that extravagant political
notions prevailed to any extent among the working classes.
, Another objection was, that the working classes had
shown a disposition to resort to physical force in aid of
their claims. But a cause ought nut to be condemned for
the errors of some of its supporters, or the most righteous
and just causes ever advocated must have been deprived of
their triumph. (Hear, hear.) In this enlightened coun-
try there was no fear of any appeal to violence ; the
mind of the nation was abundantly sufficient to re the
triumph of just principles. (Cheers.) Besides the character
of the people was wholly opposed to physical demonstra-
tions; and it might safely be asserted that the working
classes generally were unacquainted with the preliminaries
to the discharge of a musket. (Cheers, and laughter.) Thu
attempt, in the majority, of cues, would be more dangerous
to themselves than those against whom it was directed.
(Hear, hear.) Again, it was objected that they ought not
toolveressmuelth
ffromtalel
an impulse to the democratic principle as
w
chiement of the working
classes, and that a mere representation of numbers would