The Express.
London, England, 1859-04-16 00:00:00

Ins express.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.
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Malabo ryr. nod to az die Mos, 10, Boa,mia-rtragt,
by Tin cl as lie day at publicadas.

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O AAL Mr. rot Ma. C. Marbs...—PATTIM TIMM CLAT
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BRITANNIA.
Tine lErmose, MRS BNOTN or. The Idled Loimes.—
THE THAI 011,0TBRINI OF NORMAN DY.—WILLIAM THAT
MARRIED INMAN. Kral lams.—Ad TON MAID OF MIYICO.
NM Lyda Qvueliat

MOB NAT= AT LONDON ILIDNS.

LONDON, SATUAZIAT, APALL 18.

ffm.r-trrrien philosophical Reformer, in mortal
terror that an " ugly rush " will be made from
below, shriek from any real extension of the fran-
chise amongst the working classes, but sine.
something must be done, they urge the plan of
" graduated right of suffrage," and " plural voting,"
the number of votes possessed by individual electors
being measured by the index of taxation.
The whole scheme is utterly impracticable.
The higher literature of Reform is not only
above experience, but incapable of being
reduced to the low level of actual life. It seems.
. . . _

moreover, to exert a sympathetic influence
ea all who study it. The contempt of the
tangible and the real belonging to the their,
riste who move in that serener air above the
din of practical politics is evidently contagious.
Even at a moment like the present, for example,
when the country has to decide practically on the
question, a disciple of philosophical Reform amongst
our weekly contemporaries looks with sublime
but characteristic indifference on 'all definite sug-
gestions,

on every proposition that assumes a poi-
dyes and practical shape. " Lord JOHN Ressam.'s
" proposal," says our contemporary, "of a 031.
" franchise_ in boroughs may possibly admit about
" the right proportion of working-elan voter,—

Of it Mai admit 1111 oyenrlelming nun.
. .

" ber." Nothing could well be easier than
to determine with some approximation to men-
racy which side of this alternative is the true one
bat the reader is left to take his choice. A propo-
sition on which Parliament is dissolved and the
country involved in all the turmoil and responsibi-
lity of a general election is too trifling to be dis-
cussed by a merely speculative reformer. Other
advocates of plural voting frankly confess that
the scheme is not likely to sesame any" sobstantive°
shape. This is certainly a prudent confession on the
part of philosopbical Reformers who come forth to
encounter the Demon of Democracy with a lath
sword and a pasteboard shield. As the danger is
imaginary so the =cacao( defence are, and are likely
to remain partly abstract and theoretical. The fair
ideal of a graduated suffrage is not likely to be de-
graded byanyvnlgar contact with experience. To rin,
we mast confess, it has no great Dewey l but as
*eery crow thinks its own chick the fairest, so the
authors of plural voting no doubt have a paternal
affection for their scheme. Their utmost paternal
are will, however, be unavailing to preserve it
teen a speedy and untimely end.
Any system of plural voting involves at the outset
_ .

some test of worth or merit, according to which the
votes should be distributed. Two such tests have
been proposed—intelligence and property ; the for-

mer by Mr. I. S. Mitt, in his "Thought, on Par-
liamentary Reform ;" and the latter, amongst
others, by the Economist and its friends. Mr.
MILL suggested an educational test in the shape of
a competitive examination, votes being assigned
to a certain number of marks. Probably no one
ever seriously entertained this scheme except its
author, and as he has now practically renounced it
we need not stay to prove that it Is ludicrously
impracticable. The second test is that of pro-
perty and position as measured by taxa-
tion. Of this scheme Mr. MILL justly eays:
" It would be regarded as nothing better than a
" trick for rendering a concession of the suffrage
" nugatory; it would be for ever, or for a long
" period, discredited and depopularised ; and would
lose all its chances of serving as a permanent
" barrier against the class legislation of manual
labourers." Other and minor advocates of the
scheme admit that the practical difficulty of deter-
mining the amount of individual taxation is all but
insuperable. Supposing the scheme a good one,
these are a specimen of the difficulties which would
effectually prevent its adoption.
The plan U., however, utterly bad. It is not

a project of Reform at all, but simply •
device to arrest its progress. So far from
netting the fair claims of the working classes,
it goes directly to destroy all chance or hope of
their eefranchiseme?t. It would be a practical fraud.
If individuals or classes are not fit to possess the
suffrage, the straightforward course would be to say
so at once, and refuse to grant it. But it is alike
impolitic and unjust, while professing to glee the
suffrage to a class whose claims are recognised and
allowed, to hamper it with conditions which render
the gift wholly " amatory."

THE other days County Coed Judge died in the
west of England. Who is to fill his place? In
such cases this question has seldom been asked
of late, because the CHANCELLOR has been sensible
enough to make a reasonably fit appointment.
At all events, during Lord CHANWORTII.B regime
there was not a single case in which he forgot
his duty is his desire to do • private favour. But
Lord CHELMSFORD, since his elevation, has been
more daring in his patronage than any Chancellor
within the time of legal memory. After the
HIGGINS sad Master-in-Lunacy affair most men hoped
that the CHANCELLOR would not allow private views
or personal motives to influence him in his distri-
bution of rewards. Especially was this to be expected
in judicial appointments, such as County Court
judgeships, in which so many interests are con-
cerned. If the sums is question are small, the
number of suitors is large ; to which we malt add