The Express.
London, England, 1860-05-01 00:00:00

(Stamped Id. AdditionaL)

of emorderation, through party feeling
an ill-coisaidered estrange sroutdijlass,, thresTering TWO upon
those institrioas which had so long reconciled liberty with
order, and blended in one harmonious whole the various
classes of an ancient and illustrious community. Let the
house view with respect these just and noble apprehensions
and let not the strange end anomalous spectacle be seen of
a reluctant parliament forcing upon a still more reluc-
tant nation legislation so devoid of merit and so full of
danger to its constitution. (Cheers.)
Mr. HODOKINSON said that only twelve months
ago hon. gentlemen opposite supported with • moat
singular unanimity a bill which differed from the present
one in but two points, the reduction of the borough fran-
chise, and the omission of what were called the " fancy
franchises." With regard to the former of them, he would
remind the house that the late government had appealed to
the country on that issue, and the right hon. gentleman
(Mr. Disraeli) had distinctly admitted that the decision was
against him. Nay, the right hon. gentleman had even
declared that the borough franchise must be lowered, and
lowered in a manner that would not " keep the word of pro-
mise to the ear and break it to the hope." (Cheers.) If this
who already possessed the franchise were thus in favour of its
extension, no one would deny that those who had it not
were anxious to be admitted to the privilege. How then
could it be said that the public were apathetic! People, it
was true, did not clamour for the fulfilment of a pledge
which they had no reason to think would be evaded ; and
while the public knew that both they who occupied the
government bench and those who ought to be occupying the
opposite—(laughter, the front opposition beach
from the see chair to th e Sergeant-at•Arros being
absolutely empty)— were equally pledged to reform, they
had no reason to suspect that that pledge would not be
honestly redeemed. (Rear, hear.) Rut i„ unfortiusately

letomalliounds wOnlei not be exceeded, the laZgusge out
of doors would be such as speedily to convince honour-
able =sleben dtheir initials. (Rear, bear.)

Yr. HOPWOOD thought the apathy which was felt on the
subject of reform was proved by the absence of petitions. On
the subject of wine licenses 2,305 petitions, signed by
211,352 persons, had lately been presented, and on the
subject of church rates there had been no fewer
than 10,986 petitions, with 794,015 signature* •
but the total number of petitions having reference to this
bill was only 96 ; and the total number of petitioners only
33,766. (Hear, hear.) He believed that if they could poll
the country through, it would be found that the majority
against any alteratioo in the constitution was enormous.
He asked, did the working class wish for this bill! He
had never met with more than one working man who oared
for it. . _

Mr. CALRD said that when he beard the speech of the
bon. member, and more especially the speech of the noble
lord the member for Leicestershire, he almost regretted that
the hoe member for Birmingham had already spoken in
the debate, and could nut defend himself. But
looking at his long life of public spirit and
political disinterestedness, he (Mr. Caird) thought
the hon. member required no apology or defence.
Ha considered that the speech of Sir E. B. Lytton was
more brilliant than conclusive. He did not believe that
thin bill would endanger any principle of the constitution.
By the census of 1831 there were 4,800,000 inhabited
houses in the United Kingdom ; the number of the present
constituency ma 1,200,000, about lin 4 ; and by the pro-
posed addition of 400,000 it would still be only 1 in 3
a long way from universal euffrage. In England the con-
stituency was 1 in 20 of the whole popuhitiou ; in Scotland
and Ireland lin 30 and lin 34 respectively. By the pro-
, posed addition the constituencier of Scotland and Ireland
would only be brought up to the same numerical
tion as the existing constituency of England. KT '
.
assumed that the whole of those to he added were working
men ; even if this were so, the number of the old conntitu-
entice was as 3to 1 against them. He had been surprised
to bear objections on the ground of democracy from the
other side ; for kat year they had made it a merit in their
bill that it largely extended the franchise. A recent return
showed the occupations and pursuits of the whole of the
inhabitants of Edinburgh, which showed that while 4,000
new householderswould be added to the constituency
nearly 10,000 would still be excluded. Of those to whom
the franchise would be given only three-fourths could be
said to be of the working class; foe amongst them were
booksellers, architects, clerks, commercial travellers,
sculptors, stationers, teachers, inspectors, photographers,
I and others. Of common labourers only 113 would he en-
franchised by the new bill, while 1,027 would still be ex-
cluded. He should be glad to see the lodger franchise
added to the bill in committee. Much had been said in this
1 debate about the fitness of the people for the franchise. If
101. was considered the criterion of sufficient intelligence
for the franchise at the time of the Fteforin Bill, surely,
with the diffusion of education since and the great advance
so=ower, which required intelligence in every one
with it, the occupiers of til. houses were now
equally intelligent as a class with the 101. householders of
1832. (Hear, bear.) He disapproved of giving the county
franchise to the mere occupation of land; there
ought to be a provision, as in the Scotch bill,
for the occupation along with the land of a house
of at least N. value. He had to complain of
the injustice with which Scotland had been treated
in the redistribution of sesta. (Hear, bear.) The union
had now lasted a century and a half, and it could not be
said that there was less intelligence in Scotland than in this
country. There was no justification for overlooking the
large counties of Lanark, Ayr, and Perth, and the cities of
Dundee and Aberdeen, in allotting additional members.
The county of Lanark was three times as populous and five
times as wealthy as East and West Cornwall together.
(Hear, hear.) In England no county had less than two
members—many had three ; in Scotland no county had
more than one. Dundee and Aberdeen were much inure
entitled to two members than many boroughs in England
which now enjoyed that privilege and were to retain it.
He had no wish to see our institutions Americanised. but
_ _

he could not shut his eyes to tho amazing progress of the
United States in population, commerce, shipping, and rail-
ways. Though there was no established church
there, there was a church of some kind for every
3,600 inhabitants. The population was upwards of 17 mil-
lions ; but the annual public expenditure was not more
than 244 millions. True, the manners of the people were
rough—(hew, hear)—or appeared so to Englishmen i but
they were independent, and every one had his political
right.. In the present state of our alliances on the conti-
nent it would be well to remember that we had Anglo-
Saxon brethren on the other side of the Atlantic. (Hear,
hear.) He must protest against the working of the demo-
cratic institutions of America being made any argument
against granting their rights to the people of this country.
The defence of our national liberties was entrusted to the
lowest class of the community ; and their duties were most
gallantly discharged. Why then should their political
rights be refused to the best of those classes! (Hear.)
Mr. B. COCHRANE said it used to be an annual custom

to call tiseaiiiii7ionof the house to the state of the nation,
bat on this °maiden he thought the attention of the nation
ought to be called to the state of the house. (A laugh.)
People onside the house should really understand what
were the real feelings of hon. members with regard to the
bill—Dot merely their language in the house, but what
they said in the lobbies. The opposition had been taunted
with not bringing the question to a division ; but if hon.
members would lay their hands upon their hearts and de-
clare that they would vote according to their con-
viction and feelinp, they would come at once to
• division, and they would have en overwhelming
majority against the bill of her Majesty's government—a
bill upon which every epithet of contumely and ridicule
had been east—which conceded without conciliating, and
interfered without prevailing ; which satisfied no one out
of doors and no member in that house. All who had spoken
agreed iu saying that the bill was not a final settlement of
reform, but merely an instalment. He fully concurred in
the opinions expressed by the right hon. baronet the
member for Hertfordshire (Sir E. B. Lytton) in the bell-
haat speech which he made the other evening, and which
would be remembered se long as the English lan-
guage endured. (Hear, hear.) But if an agree-
ment were distinctly come to, that the present
bill should be considered as a settlement of the
question for twenty years, he thought, vicious as that bill
was, it would be desirable to carry it. (" No, no," from
the opposition benches.) But when they were told that
it was only an instalment, and must soon be followed by
another bill, in his opinion it would be an act of perfect
insanity to yield to the wishes of its supporters, and carry
a measure fraught with so much evil. It reminded him of
the fable of the man who besought the wood to give him
• handle for his hatchet, and when the request was com-
plied with, began to cut down one of the finest and tallest
of the trees. As he proceeded. an ancient oak bent over
to a noble cedar, and whispered "cue concession
has ruined um all." (Hear, hear.) That was the position
in which they would stand if they passed the bill of the
government, or rather he should say of the hon. member
for Birmingham. He bad himself always Meted on the
busting. that he opposed a reform bill because he believed
that the present system worked well. It might not be per.
fect, but it had existed for • very long time, and there was
no desire on the part of the public for • change. If they
once abandoned a IW. franchise, he did not see why they
should stop at •W. or a 4/. franchise, or why they should
not even adopt household, or even universal suffrage.
He did not me any advantage in being treated by the hon.
member for Birmingham with hoturnopathic doses of re-
form. If the present franchise was not exactly the thing,
they should rather bear the ills they had than rush to others
that they knew not of. It was impossible not to look
with great pity upon the Treasury bench. It was souse
mincing the matter—the whole thing was in • regular fix ;1
and how the government would get out of it he really did
not know. (Laughter.) He had no fear of the working
I classes, who, be believed, were deeply sensible of the
blessings they enjoyed under. the free constitution of
England, hut be dreaded the influence of those who con-
trolled their movements. There were some men who it
-
Bummed 50,000, and even as many as between 200,000 and
300,000 of the wading dares, sod bowing the political

[T VOPENCE.

opinions of one of them, he cartandy did fear the way in
which he would exercise his power at • critical juncture.
The opinions expressed by the hon. member for Birming-
ham were much overlooked in that house. (Laughter.) He
knew perfectly well that his views expressed in
that house were not overlooked, but those he ex-
pert
inoutanodt
..chtrorsof were entirely overl
was tutedt. Mry.
ct personages. He did not, as was said of
the month of March, come in like a lion and go out like •
lamb ; he came in like a lamb and went out like • lion. (A
laugh.) He (Mr. B. Cochrane) confessed, however, he could
not understand whether the hon. member was a wolf in
sheep's clothing in the house, or a sheep in wolf's clothing
out of the house. (A laugh.) He found from • collected
edition of the hon. member's speeches, "revised by him-
'elf," that in 1858 he said, " How can I reconcile a free
representation of the people in the Howe of Commons with
the inevitable disposition which rests in a hereditary
House of Peen ? Now we must decide this question.
Choose you this day whom you will serve. If the peers are
to be your masters, aa they boast that their ancestors
were the conqueror; of yours, serve them. (Never.) But
if you will serve only the laws, the laws of your country,
the laws in making which you have been consulted,
you may go on straight to discuss this great question of
parliamentary reform." So that the hon. member argued
that there could be no free representation of the people
without the abolition of the House of Peers.
Mr. BRIGHT said the hon. member had finished the ex-
tract with words which he (Mr. Bright) never uttered. He
only asked for fair Oay from the hon. member.
Mr. B. COCM.A.NE said he merely stated what he be-
lieved to her the internee to be 'fairly drawn from
the hon. member's speech. The hon. member proceeded to
say, " I am not deg to attack the House of Lords."
(Mr. linatirre—" Read- it, all.") (Laughter.) In another
el the ace speech the boa. member (Mr. Bright)
add, " There is another kind of peer which lam afraid to
touch upon—that creature of —what shall I say ?—of mon-
strous, nay, even of adulterous birth—the spiritual peer."
(" Hear, hear," from Mr. Bright.) There was no mistaking
that. Having touched up the House of Peers as
• body the honourable member alluded to the great
territorial families of England. "What has been
the fate of those enthroned at the Revolution,
and whose supremacy has been fur so long a period undis-
puted among us ? Mr. Kinglake, the author of au inte-
leather book on Eastern travel, describing the habits of
some acquaintances which he made hi the Syrian deserts,
rye that the jackals of the desert follow their prey in
families like the place-hunters of Europe. I will reverse,
if you like, the comparison, and say that the great territorial
families of England, which we enthroned at the Revolution,
have followed their prey like the jackals of the desert."
The hon. gentleman further said that the love of the
" liberties of Europe," " protestant intereeta," and the
" balance of power, were neither more nor less than a
gigantic system of out-door relief for the aristocracy of Eng-
land. Such was the language in which the peers of Eng-
land were spoken of by the hon. gentleman, and when they
were called on to pass this bill, they ought to remember
that the hon. member for B. only regarded it as an
Instalment which would enable ' to go lower and lower
in the franchise till he overturned the church and the aris-
tocracy. of the country. The honourable gentleman also
mid in a speech which s not tained in
the book from which he quoted, butte
which he
saw reported, that he foresaw the day when •
conflict would arise between the upper and the lower
classes. And after the Reform Bill passed what was to
come! They were to attack the established church and
the feudalism of the aristocracy.
Mr. BRIGHT said he had no recollection of having ever
said anything of the kind. (Hear, hear.) The hon. gentle-
man might amuse them with something better than
imo&mg • speech which lie never delivered. (Hear.)
Mr. WI CINE could only say that he copied them
from a report said to have been delivered by the hon. gen-
tleman. Me was only happy that his intercourse with the
ministerial bench had moderated his views. But he would
ask whether the whole tone of the hon. gentleman's
speeches was not calculated to excite the feeling of the
country against the upper classes. (Hear.) Having referred
to other parts of Mr. Bright's speeches, the hon. gentle-
man proceeded to say that he believed the noble lord
wished to pees the Reform Bill, but the subject was re-
garded with such perfect apathy and indifference by the
country that there would be no advantage in paring any
measure. But, if lassoed, lie believed it would turn out to
be not • question of reform merely, but a question affecting
the financial interests of the country, and that the new
parliament would endeavour to throw the whole burden of
taxation on the property of the country. He believed that,
if the members of that house voted accenting to their real
convictions, there would be • majority of two to one
against the second reeding. If he had the opportunity he
should record his vote against it. (Cries of "Move.") He
believed the measure to be inefficient, insufficient, and
I fraught with unknown evils to the constitution of the
country. (Cheer..)
Mr. POLLARMATRQUHART said that the last
reArm bill did more good for Ireland than all that
had been y done from the time of Strong-
bow to George TV. He believed that all concern
dons to the people a ere beneficial if the people
were fit to receive them. (Hear, hear.) They were
not now standing in the comparatively dark times of
1811, when William IV. was afraid to go Into the city—
when the Swing riots were taking place—and when
the word "radical" indicated a low, vulgar, impudent
sort of person—when, in fact radial and black-
guard were reckoned almost synonymous. (Laughter.) A
much better feeling prevailed at the present time.
The principal objections which had been made to the bill
had been made against the extension of the franchise to
the occupiers of W. houses in towns. It was generally ad.
mitted, however, that the operative had improved in intel-
ligence' good feeling, good conduct, and respectability,
within the last eight or ten years. (Hear, bear.) Social
science had made • great advance among the operative
classes, and they now felt they had no interest in attattoki
capitaland property, and that any such attempts
only react upon themes:dem. He believed the Tears that
they would preponderate in certain constituencies were un-
founded ; but supposing there should be a preponderance of
the working clauses, he thought, by allowing them
to have even 80 or 100 members in parliament
_

wader their influence, the house would do a great
deal to put down agitation and humbugs of all
sorts. (Laughter.) If the legislation of the country had
nee bees in error ever 16:100 1842, the working CINISeII of
that time had some sort of reason to complain of the tax-
ation upon the neceemriee of life, for the whole course of
legislation alms had been to take off the taxes on those
neeemaries. (Hear, hear.) The working men of that time
also complained al what they called the restrictions
and monopoly of the peels, and • great many taxes had
since been done away with, the infliction of which had
rendered it almost impossible for them to purchase news-
papers. When the house considered these things, it must
be allowed the working classes had not been so altogether
Be In their grievances as was sometimes represented.
it a very wrong assumption to say that one
elme was always to remain in the state in which it
was. He trusted he should not be deemed too
sanguine in indulging the hope that the lower classes
and middle CLAM might run so much into each other that
any sort of clam legislation would in time be looked upon
as an absurdity. It was not fair to draw a comparison
between the political state of this country and that of
Australia or the United States of America. The
amorists and the Americans had not yet had time to form
a dam which would have any great preponderance to coun-
ting' whet in common language might be termed the
rowdy element. (Laughter.)- He frankly owned he would
willingly have seen the re-distribution of seats car-
ried • little further than it was at present, but ho
admitted the existence of difficulties, which rendered
it necessary to make some sort of compromise.
He firmly believed that by the results which would flow
from this measure we should be the envy of all the nations
of Europe by the rational liberty it would give to the
of this country, and he had great confidence se to
results.
Mr. DU CANE, professing that tho speeches he had
heard from the ministerial side of the house had somewhat
bewildered him, and after adverting to the antagonistical
arguments employed by the supporters of the bill, said,
considering these contradictions and complications, he
wanted to know who it really was who hail got the question
into such a dead dock, and what benefit the country had
gained by affirming Lord John Russell's resolution last
year. He did not say that it was impuisible to erect a su-
perstructure of reform upon an slender a foundation ;
but ho said that this bill was the most dangerous and
ons.sia,cl the house ever had to deal with, un-
settling everything and settling nothing, and in its conse-
quences revolutionary. He pointed out what he considered
would be its in onus effects upon the county constituency,
in which a preinanm would be oxen:hest by house oc-
cupiers, while in the boroughs 330,000 would be admitted
at the low franchise, outnumberiug tho other classes of
voters, whereby the franchise would be shut up in • tar-
rower compass than by the bill of last year. He urged
strenuously what he regarded as a most important branch of
the question, and which, he said, had not been sufficiently
considered—the danger of making the working classes, who
had shown themselves in the late strike so capable of
organisation and combination, • preponderating element in
the constitution, when about to inaugurate • constitutional
change which was to be only the prelude to further
changes.

Ir. CLAY begged to deny that the majority of the
electors in the borough of Karylebone would he or were of
the working dames, but the majority was composed of
persons who had shown that they might be as safely trusted
with the franchise as any other class in the country. The
reason why be voted against the bill of the late government
was becatuto it oonteined no clause for lowering the
franchise in boroughs. The improvement in the condition and
intelligence of the working clans,. wee acknowledged all
sides, and he thought that their time was now come for a
reform bill. lied the bill of last year lowered the fran-
chise in boroughs only a little, it would have been accepted