The Express.
London, England, 1851-12-30 00:00:00

TO LORD JOIC RUSSELL

MY LORD,

LETTER VIII.

There were strange things said during the de-
bates on the Reform Bill in the House of Peers.
When a hundred thousand men at Birmingham de-
clared that they would pa no more taxes if reform
WAX denied to them, Lord Eldon reproached the law
officers of the crown for not prosecuting those who
assented to the resolution. The idea of a hundred
thousand state traitors ! That would have been a
state trial worthy of Lord Eldon. When the citi-
zens of London petitioned for the bill, another noble
lord comforted the house with the assurance that
they did not represent the middle classes o f the
country. " The opinions of that class," he said, "are
quite opposed to such a measure, as some very respect-
able tradesmen in the fashionable streets assure mc."
Fancy collecting the opinion of the middle class of
England at Howell and James's or at Swan and
Edgar's! The Duke of Buckingham, patron of a
dozen rotten boroughs, took upon himself' to describe
what would be the constitution of the house when
the Reform Bill passed:
" If this measure is carried," said his grace, " we shall
have to look for purity of election to the sweeps of Saffron-
hill ; fur honesty of deportment to the sweet shades of
Tower-hill; for elegance of expression to the classical
language of Billingsgate ; for statesmanlike subtlety to the
ingeniousness of Nlarylelsone. Why, my lords, this 101.
clause is so low, that it will give every beggar in London a
vote. The majority of electors will be found where the
cholera is most prevalent, and the candidate, in collecting
their' most sweet voices,' will have to proceed in the march
of plague and pestilence."
It is something, I must say, to the credit of the
Reform Act, that language of this sort, so insulting
to the people, is now but rarely heard, even in the
House of Peers. At this time, I believe, such ex-
pressions could not be used without rebuke ; in those
days they elicited "loud cheers."
Another favourite observation of the period was,
that the Reform Act would open the door of parlia-
ment to a class of individuals who were unfit to be
the associates of " my lords and gentlemen." As the
old stock of officials have always been (in their own
opinion) the only men who could carry on the busi-
ness of the country, so the old borough nominees
believed that they were the only fit and proper per-
sons to be the representatives of the feelings of the
nation. Hence, in a great measure, the struggle
that was made to arrange the constituencies so that
" property should have its proper influence:" both
parties agreeing to construe " property" in the sense
of the largest landowner's estate.
If property had its proper influence at this time, I
should like to know, my lord, what would be the
constitution of the House of Commons? How many
members would Manchester and Glasgow have in
proportion to the property their constituencies re-
present? What would be the legislative shore of
that borough of Marylebone, which the Duke of
Buckingham so much despised, but which contains
at this moment property assessed at more than twice
the value of the county from which he takes his
title? In the proper sense of the word it is any-
thing but " property " that is at present represented
in the present House of Commons. Encumbered
estates are represented, just as park walls used to be
represented; but it must be a new Reform Bill that
adjusts the representation of Great Britain to the pro-
perty or the population of the nation.
One would not so much complain of the represen-
tation if there was anything about the constitution
of the House of Commons that was elastic in its cha-
racter; that could be made to adjust itself to the
varying circumstances and requirements of diffe-
rent periods; that admitted representation in
proportion as new interests developed them-
selves and required to be represented. The
Reform Bill, I believe, was intended to pro-
duce this, but it has not done so. N 1 hen
one sees a population changing their own con-
dition, it is natural to expect that the representation
of that population will also undergo some change.
Doubtless this would be so, did the House of Com-
mons represent the people. And it is one of the
strongest proofs that it does not represent the
people that there has been no change in tho com-
position of that house equivalent to the change which
has taken place in the occupation of the peop'e
themselves, or proportioned to the extension of our
commercial and manufacturing interests.
Despite the changes of the last twenty years,
the peerage and the landed aristocracy exercise as
much influence in 1811 as they did in 1832: the
manufacturers in parliamer.t have increased, but they
have only encroached upon the places of other traders ;
and the representations of the landed proprietary
and the commercial community remain exactly as
they were, and just as if there had been no change
whatever in their relative positions in the country.
I append the calculation from which I draw these
deductions, and which has been framed with some
we and a tolerably general knowledge of members
of the house. I have classified as " landowners" such
men as Mr. Heneage, Sir Wm. Joliffe, Mr. C. Whit-
more, Mr. S. L. Fox, and Sir James Buller East. Among
a manufacturers" I have classified Mr.Kershaw, Mr.
John Williams, Mr. Muntz, &e.; among "mer-
chants and bankers," Mr. Glyn, Mr. Grenfell, Mr. T.
Baring, &c. The class who may be represented by
Mr. C. Ross, Mr. Hayter, or Mr. G. C. Lewis, I have
designated as " officials •," and such members as Mr.
C. I'. Villiers, Mr. Roebuck, and Mr. Cardwell, I de-
scribe as "independent politicians." The other clas-
sifications seem to need no observation, except that
among the "doubtful" I have placed one or two
members who owe their seats purely, I believe, to
local influence.
BONOVON MEMBERS OP ENGLAND AND WALES.
Elected u 1832. 185'2.
Sons,brothers,andrelativesof Peers 63 156 64 158
Landowners
Manufacturers and Traders 27 48
82 88
Merchants and Bankers
Officials
Independent politicians
Lawyers
Army and navy 2B 10
Doubtful (say local inflame')

Your lordship will see from this that during the
last 20 years no sensible alteration has occurred in
the composition of the peoples' chamber. Strangely
as the times have altered ; eventful as have been the
political occurrences of the interval ; fierce as has
been the struggling for civil and religious freedom,
for corporate reform, for church reform, for justice to
Ireland, for free trade—whatever may be the ques-
tion of the day, however frepnently ministries may
change, or whoever may be victor, the House of
Commons, in its great essentialities, remains the
same. How is this to be accounted for? How, but
by supposing that there is behind the curtain
of the state some power which controls the main
aspect of the power. And what can that power be
but the influence of the peerage and of the landed
proprietary of which the peerage is composed? That
power holds in its grasp the whole of the county and
nearly one half the borough representation of the king-
dom: we observe it not only maintainin g its ascendancy,
and even gradually improving its position. This
occurs, too, at the very moment when it is complain-
ing of " ruin"—of its own subversion and almost an-
nihilation!
Curious as the foregoing table is, a still more
striking and startling fact remains behind. This
table shows you the state of things at the present
time compared with 1832. But what will your
lordship say when I tell you that, going a little
further back, namely, to the ante-reform parliament
of 1830, the comparison demonstrates that no
sensible alteration was occasioned in the representa-
tion of the country by the passing of that bill, and
that consequently one of its great objects and pur-
poses was ineffectual ? My lord, strange as it may
seem, this is really so. From lapse of time, and want
of the intimate personal knowledge which is essen-
tial to its preparation, I am unable to give so com-
plete a tabular view of the case as the foregoing, but
the result of an examination of the lists of the bo-
rough members of 1830 is this. Thera were, no
doubt, a larger number of peers relatives and land-
owners in parliament ; but then your lordship will
remember that there were more boroughs. There
' was, also, a larger proportion of military and naval'
officers, and a larger number of officials, and
fewer independent politicians. But the real test
is the number of " merchants, bankers, and traders"
returned to the House of Commons by that par
liament. I find, my lord, that there were 87;

and you will observe that there are at this time 88 !
I do not know, indeed, but that I am much below
the mark in putting the number at 87. Were I to
follow the classification published at that time, I
should place it higher; for I find in an account
compiled, I believe, originally for the Spectator
newspaper, the following statement of the mercantile
and trading men having seats in parliament in 1830:
33 are Bankers.
62 are connected with the East Indis Company.
34 are connected with the West India trade.
61 are engaged in Trade and general Manufsetnres.
It is clear to me, however, that in this account
some members who were both Bankers and East
India proprietors, or otherwise, are reckoned in each
rapacity; but if I only took the East India and West
India merchants, I should get 96 for my figure, or 9
above the estimate I myself have given you.
The truth then is, my lord, that the Reform Bill has
not answered the purpose of equalising more fairly
the representation of the great classes of the nation.
It has not answered the purpose, either, of opening
the door to the best men of all parties interested in
the business of the state. The door of parliament is
as close barred as ever to men who are not of the
aristocracy or of the rich. And the reason is that
one half of the borough representation still is a
monopoly, and only a " representation" by the fiction
of a name.

In the Hit I have given above there is an
entire absence of one class, and that the largest
amongst us. There arc at the present time in the
House of Commons many excellent and independent
minded members, who possess, and deservedly pos-
sess, the confidence of the working classes of the
country. It was anticipated that tho Reform Act
would give the more respectable portion of the work-
ing classes some share of representation. That was
intended by the promoters of the bill ; or if they did
not intend it, what was the meaning of the 101.
franchise? Now, my lord, any one who knows the
large towns of England well knows that among the in-
dustrial classes in many of those towns there is to be
found as large a share of intelligence and political
capacity as is to be found in any community. From
my own knowledge of the House of Commons, and
of the town of Birmingham, I would undertake, in
four and twenty hours, to produce a man from the
Birmingham workshops, who, on any subject of
debate in parliament, would put to shame and confu-
sion most c I the " honourable gentlemen " -who usually
rise to address the speaker before half-past ten. This
intelligence, too, is growing: it is at this very
time applyiug itself to subjects which not many
years ago were usually supposed to be confined to
the range of higher minds. Look at the philo-
sophical and scientific publications now produced
at the lowest prices, and which find a ready
sale in the manufacturing districts. Mark the
information upon foreign affairs recently exhi-
bited by the people during the progress of
Louis Kossuth through the large towns of Eng-
land. What class was best informed upon the Corn
question ? I answer, the working class of Lan-
cashire. Where will you find most information
(wrongly or rightly directed) on the difficult ques-
tion of the Currency? I reply among the manufac-
turing artisans of Birmingham. My lord, we mare
talk of the devotion of our aristocracy to the peoples
interest; wo may prate of the intimate association
there is between the middle classes and the la-
bourers; wo may find reasons very satisfactory to
ourselves why Mr. So-and-so should sit for such apiece
in preference to any one else; but I ask you is it
not a reproach, does it not prove that the Reform
Bill has not answered the purposes for which it was
designed, that during the 20 years that have elapsed
since it became the constitution of the country, not
a sinyle trod:lay Malt has jininil his way into the
House of Cummmts!
Take the world through, and I doubt, my lord, if
there is any popular legislature of which the same
thing can be said. I believe, for my own part, that
the constitution of this country contemplates that the
artisan class shall be represented as well as any other
class; and though some of the " Lord Fannvs " might
faint at the idea of seeing a healthy looking black-
smith walk up to the table of the house to take the
oaths, Ido not believe that your lordship's good
sense and constitutional principle would be affrighted
at the apparition. When we consider the great pre-
ponderance of artisans in many of our towns, it
seems strange that no one of their own class should,
on any occasion,havc been selected toattend the House
of Commons upon their behalf. Bold as some may deem
the view, I think the constituency would be 'highly
• to be admired that did send such a men. But
perhaps these are topics which may more pro-
, perly be considered when we are looking to
another branch of the subject. In treating, how-
ever, of the effect the Reform Bill has had upon the
representation of the nation, I could not overlook
a fact so glaring as that no single member of the
great working class, to whom it was proposed to give
a share of the representation, has ever yet found his
way into the house.
My lord, were I to tarn from a consideration
of those who are not in the House of Com-
mons to the survey and contemplation of those
who are, 1 think it probable that my won-
der and surprise at the working of tho act of
1832, would be in no slight degree augmented.
As one who has had some experience of that house, I
must candidly confess I think its composition very
capable of improvement. When my mind reverts to
some of the debates which I have heard —when I re-
the vision of some of the scenes that I
have witnessed—certainly I do not feel entirely con-
vinced that the House of Commons is either the most
intellectual or the best behaved assembly in the
world. But, my object is not to disparage honourable
members. I shall have fulfilled my design if I have
succeeded in correcting your lordship's notions of the
constitution and representation of England; and in
demonstrating to you that the representation of the
people is neither what it ought to be in proportion to
the interests of the country, nor what the nation con-
templated it would be under the Reform Act.
Your Lordship's most obedient,
RUNNYMEDE.

A MAGISTRATE CONVICTED OP TRESP.tSS.—A
good deal of interest was created at Both on Saturday, by
the hearing, before the county magistrates, of two cases in
which a couple of justices of the peace had ranged them-
selves against each other as complainant and defendant.
There was a full bench of magistrates, Major Blathwayte of
Dyrham-park, presiding ; and the court was crowded'hy
respectable persons who took great interest in the proceed-
ings. F. T. Allen, Esq., of Grosvernor-house, one of the
borough magistrates, and a member of the Western Circuit,
was summoned, together with his servant, Isaac Bence,
for trespassing
.upon lands in the pariah of Bathampton, on
the 23rd inst., an pursuit of rabbits ; the complainant being
P. C. Sheppard, Esq., of the Manor-house, Bathampton,
and one of the magistrates for the borough and county. On
the 23rd inst., Mr. Allen and his servant were out shooting
rabbits upon Hampton Down, and as they were passing
through a wood, they were met by Mr. E. Sheppard,
brother to complainant, who at once charged Mr. Allen with
trespassing, and said that he had heard two double shots.
Mr. Allen replied that he had only had one double shot, and
that the path in which he was then standing was a public
one. An altercation ensued during which it was alleged
that both gentlemen called each other liars, when Mr.
Sheppard, who was greatly excited, and the first to use
the offensive epithet, holding his gun up with both hands
threatened to strike Mr. Allen on the head with it if he re-
pftted the expression. Fortunately; however, no actual
breach of the peace took place, and the gentlemen sepa-
rated. Mr. P. C. Sheppard subsequently took out a sum-
mons against Mr. Allen for trespass; and Mr. Allen caused
• cross summons to be issued against Mr. E. Sheppard fbr
an assault. Mr. Allen, it appears, was allowed by the late
lord of the manor to shoot rabbits on the Hampton estate,
and he has continued to exercise the privilege occasionally
without seeking any formal renewal of it from the present
owner, Captain Allen, from whom Mr. Sheppard has se-
cured the right. After a private consultation, Major Math.
wayte expressed the regret felt by the bench at having to
adjudicate between two of their brethren, but added that
as the case had unfortunately been brought before them
they had uo other course than to administer justice strictly.
They considered that a case of trespass had been proved,
and therefore fined Mr. Allen 40s. and costs, and his ser-
vant Is. The charge of smolt, which consisted in the
threat used during the altercation above noticed, was then
gone into, and the magistrates, considering the charge
proved, indicted upon Mr. Sheppard also a fine of 40s. and
costs.
PUTNEY BRIDGE. Among the improvements
called forth by the increased locomotive propensities of the
age, we note one which is likely to be productive of much
convenience and advantage to the public.l I The old, un-
sightly, inconvenient, and dangerous bridges on the Thames
have one by one given way to more safe and elegant struc-
tures. The bridge across the river from Fulham to Putney
still remains a serious obstruction to the navigation. For the
requirements of a century ago the existing bridge was
doubtless sufficient ; but the enormous increase of the
traffic, more especially of steamers, calls for a bridge less
dangerous to vessels and passengers. To effect this object
a company has been formed, with the view of obtaining an
art of parliament conferring the necessary powers. The
new company propose to construct a handsome iron bridge.
; —Glob*.

TILE THREATENED ENGINEERS' STRIKE.
To-night the Amalgamated Society of Engineers
intend to hold a public meeting in the city, and there
seems little doubt that the question of " strikes"
will occupy a considerable amount of public atten-
tion, until the serious existing differences between
the engineers and their workmen are arranged.
Let us offer a few facts to the serious conekkra-
lion of the leaders who are preparing, and the
dupes who may have joined, the industrial coup
it flat threatened in Manchester. Before the
Amalgamated Society of Engineers carry their re-
pugnance of overtime and piecework to the threat-
ened extent of stopping work on and after New
Year's-day, they will do well to reflect upon the
cruelty and injustice which a persistance in the
course indicated by their manifesto must inevitably
occasion among the great majority of their own
body. The worst brunt of the contest must indeed
fall upon the weakest members of the very class
whose interests the " Amalgamated Society" pre-
tend to advocate. The employers can take care of
themselves. Encountering the " Society" with its
own weapons, a large body of masters have combined
for their own protection. The heads of between
eighty and one hundred manufacturing firms in Lan-
cashire and London have declared their determina-
tion to stand or fnll together, and have resolved
that, immediately upon a "strike" among the work-
men of any one of them a concertaneous suspen-
sion of business should ensue, and the whole num-
ber should close their doors and dismiss their hands
—amounting in the aggregate to nearly one hundred
thousand—without further warning. Harsh as this
proceeding would appear, and innocent as may he
the greater number of the victims included in the
sentence, it is bat the natural retaliation for the
blockade with which the engineers have threatened
their establishments. Otherwise, as Mr. SIIARP
urged at the late meeting of manufacturers, the
masters must be sacrificed in detail through the in-
fluence of a "small but noisy class of agitators," whe
have begun by poisoning the minds of the employed.
in the hope of ultimately succeeding in dictating
their own terms to the employers.
The various laws which have from time to time
been placed upon the statute-roll nnder the title of
Combination Acts, border closely upon the clam
of sumptuary enactments whose operation, during •
trial of many centuries, has always proved either
injurious or futile. To prescribe how the rich man
shall spend his money, or the poor man his strength
—to fix by legal ordinance the limits of outlay, or
the severity and the reward of labour—has, at in-
tervals, often been a subject of ambition to law
makers, and prompted them to enact laws which
modern political science has ranked in the list
of legislative absurdities. Such interferences with
individual free agency have, indeed, been 1011 g since
pronounced unendurable in this country. " Violent
or void," even from the beginning. they caused much
oppression by their enforcement, or much immo-
rality in their evasion ; and are now contemp-
tuously tossed away, to be new trimmed, new
fashioned, and turned inside out, by tho or-
ganisers of labour of the Loris BLANC school.
It has thus happened that all the lacy', some of
them dating back to the reign of EDWARD 1., by
which the working class were tied flown to " the
market rate of wages," or else more specifically fix-
ing, by an arbitrary standard, how many hours shall
he the day's work, and how many pence sterling tho
day's pay for labourers, artifieers, and handicrafts-
men in their various capacities,—have one and all
fallen into early, if not immediate. desuetude. The
celebrated Wages Act of Enwann 111., passed in
1350, in order to stop the 'hie in the labour market,
cansemient upon the depopulation occasioned by the
dreadful plague of the two preceding years, shared
the same fate; and an act passed seventy years later
—which may he called the first combination act—
making it *felony for labourers of certain classes to
" confederate or combine" together for the purpose
of raising wages above the statutory rate, turned out
in practice scarcely more efficacious than its prede-
, cessors. Legislators who thus try to fetter the
'free element of human toil, are sure to be baffled is
the attempt. As well might they endeavour to chain
the waters. The natural law of supply and demand
will always override the law of parliament.
Extremes, however, lead too often to opposite ex-
tremes. The frequent and oppressive interferences
with the operatives sanctioned by the legislature
during past centuries have now resulted in accord-
ing them the widest license, and in the with-
drawal of all legislative protection from their em-
ployers. As summed up to the act of taco, the
sweeping nuige of meaning assigned to the terms" con-
spiracy and "combination," as well as the penalties
affixed to those offences, were no doubt unwarranta-
bly rigorous against the workmen. But the severi-
ties which that act legalised could hardly have oc-
casioned greater wrong or more cruel sufferings to
the operatives themselves, than have been expe-
rienced by them during the incessant stokes that
have followed its abrogation. The committee that
sat in 1t424 were doubtless able to till the pages of
their report with many narratives of tyranny and
greed among the masters. Still the interval was a wide
one between providing the workmen with protection
against their employers,or, by inducing the legislature
to repeal the existing Combination Act, having them
without a still more necessary protection against
themselves. Yet this was the course adopted, and
the result has shown the development of evils worse
even than the misery of the employed, the ruin of
the employers, or the widespread stoppage and dislo-
cation of trade. Bad as these may be, they are sur-
rin flagrancy by the distrust and hatred that
e ed
been inspired between the respective classes,
and the crimes with which multitudes of the mis-
guided individuals implicated in the "strikes" have
blasted a career of previously innocent and honourable

. .
industry
Our police reports a few days since presented an
example of the melancholy demoralisation which a
"strike" seems inevitably to induce among the work-
men engaged in it. For some time past it had be-
come matter of public notoriety that the men em-
ployed upon the establishment of Messrs. MYERS,
who are great builders and contractors in Lambeth,
had " struck work." Into the causes of disagree-
ment we need not enter; they were essentially frivo-
lous, and we rejoiced to hear a week or two w
that a compromise had been effected, and the
men were gone back to their work. Both employers
and workmen had of course lost much by the tempo-
rary stoppage of business. The former, having
heavy contracts on hand, endeavoured to prevent
their building operations from coming to a total lock
by engaging what new hands they coud pick up on
the moment; while the old workmen, on resuming
their employment, treated these interlopers, as they
called them, in a manner which exemplified how sin-
-1 core was their own regard for that "justice to the
workman" they had just been so loudly invoking
against their principals. The evidence offered to
Mr. ELLIOTT, the presiding magistrate at Lambetk
Police-office, discloses a course of mean and disgrace-
ful brutality, perpetrated towards men whore only
fault was that of having ventured to take wages and
do work in au establishment where the regular
hands were " on strike." Their clothes were wan-
tonly destroyed, their tools purloined, blocks of wood
—and, in one case, at least, a more dangerous
were pelted at them, and they were
pointed out in the street as " black sheep°
for contumely, if not for more practical injury,
among their fellow-workmen. Ono man who at-
tempted to defend himself when assaulted, and took
up an adze in self-preservation, was overpowered and
shamefully maltreated. In the end, one and all of
the new comers were so injured or intimidated, that
they were forced to leave the service. Mr. MYERS
appears to have been kept much in the dark as to
the disorderly proceedings in his own workshop, and
the warning he once gave in a elffee-shop in the Bel-
vedere-mad—a place of resort for the men—that
he would prosecute any who dared to intimidate or
ill-treat any of his employes, was totally disregarded.
His foreman was evidently in league with the old
hand., and when the injured men came to him with
complaints, offered them no redress, but simply re-
commended them to succumb to tho petty tyrants
I around, and quit their employments forthwith.
All this is very discreditable to the workmen of
the metropolis—for the acts were too methodical and
too long sustained for us to doubt that the conduct
pwsned towards the "interloping" hands at Mean.
MYER3' establishment was part of a system, and
sanctioned by the secret self-constituted code of
" workman's *law," which, WI wo know from other
symptoms, sways almost to a degree of terrorism the
destinies of vast multitudes among the operative

Glasses both in London and the provinces. There
arc tribunals and juries judges, aye, and execu-
tioners,—of whom the law of England takes no
eognismee, thoui.:i their senttr.ces are carried intol
effect, among particular classes, with even greater ,
stringency than those of the legally constituted tri-
bunals.
Let us hope that wiser counsels may. obtain among
the members of the Amalgamated Society-. Nothing
has yet been interchanged but hard word!' ; it is in the
power of the engineers to limit the hostilities to missiles
by which, according totbe proverb, no bones have been
broken. The initiative now rests with them. May
thev, —before taking the 'crimp, step they have threat-
ened,—calmly weigh the responsibilities they oe in-
curring, and consider whether the object in view is I
just and important enough to warrant them in corn- !
promising so gravely the livelihood of multitudes of ,
their fellow-workmen in various branches of employ-
ment,
who must necessarily be involved in the same
fate, even though repudiating the folly which has
prompted the suicidal act.
Much, we admit, may be urged in favour of the
abstract right of combination among the workmen.
Masters and capitalists, it may be -aid, can combine
and associate freely in their enterprises, and thus
care) many points respecting labour, and wages,
against their men, if the latter are not allowed to pro-
tect themselves by similar association. But in practice
it is ciidcut that the operatives have not as yet
learnt bow to wield this weapon without injury to
the community, and, most of all, to themselves.