The Express.
London, England, 1867-08-09 00:00:00

THE LORDS' AMENDMENTS IN THE COMMONS.

Assuming that the acceptance of Lord Cairns'
amendment with regard to the representation of minori-
ties is a triumph of knowledge over stupidity, and that
Mr. Bright presented the spectacle of • sincere man
hopelessly entangled in the false oonclusions of his own
reason, the Times reviews the proceedings of the Com-
mons last night with general satisfaction. With
regard to voting papers, the more the details of
the plan are examined, the more odious are they
made to appear, and the Times agrees with Mr. Mill
that it would have been better to defer reform altogether
if it were necessary that voting papers should be an element
of it. But they are gone. The unwise provisions for
throwing university residents into the constituencies of
university towns have also gone. The bill itself—a bill,
as the Chancellor of the Exchequer truly said at the be-
ginning of the evening, of greater scope than any which
has been submitted to parliament for years—remains
assured and purified.
The Daily Rem concludes a review of the debate with
observing :—Thus one only of three important alterations
introduced by the House of Lords into the measure has
been accepted by the Moose of Commons ; and how many
sessions that will survive is open to question. There re-
main now for the consideration of parliament only matters
of secondary importance. The Representation of the
People Bill has virtually passed both houses ; for the peers
will doubtleu be toe well pleased with their ono victory
to insist on the provltions which the Commons have re-
pudiated.
The Post remarks that any doubts which might have
been entertained that the real object of the experiment of
minorities was to neutralise the general effects of the en-
franchisement effected by the bill, must have been removed
by the candid avowals of those by whom the obnoxious
amendment was made. Arguments, however, had no
weight with men who were prepared to follow Mr. Disraeli
into any lobby into which he might be pleased to lead
them.

The Herald and Standard very much regret the rejec-
tion of the voting papers clause. The Herald assumes,
however, that the Lords will accept the bill in the shape
in which it le returned to them. One of the amendments
upon which they laid most stress has been accepted ; and
as for the voting papers, if the government, whose child
the plan was, is content to sacrifice it, their lordships will
ktrdly peril the bill by insisting upon retaining it.
The retegraph reproaches Mr. Disraeli for not having
had the courage to oppose the amendments of the Lords
from the first. The house caught from him the spirit of
servility and, like him, missed the chanoe of purging the
bill and contenting the people. Thore is now nothing for
it but to begin anew the effort to reverse this bad vote ;
since the great towns were never wont to sit patiently
under a prodigious wrong.
Whilst strongly condemning the course taken on the
minority representation, the Star says the results on the
other subjects were well worth having, and the spirit shown
' by the Liberal members was worthy of their principles and
of the great interests which it was their ditty to defend to
the last moment of an arduous session.