The Express.
London, England, 1850-07-15 00:00:00

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• .5 .• LONDON =IDOL
irress..9"—Emalla~Msss►.No.

LONDON, MONDAY, JULY 16.

Tni Irish Franchise Bill was read a third time on
Friday lest in the House of Lord', and it now awaits
its final esatinx* by the Hones of Commons. The
last stage was fitly passed in the Chamber of Peers,
is nearly unbroken silence: for the incoherent utter-
ances of the Marquis otWnerntem are as unworthy
of comment se they appeared to be of wield= atten-
tion. Nobody else eves pretended to my a word. The
ministry seemed but too glad to hurry through the
formal humiliation imposed on them; and the opposition
was too well s ttiAed with their work of mutilation
and mischief to deem any farther expenditure of
words tignisite. The neonate has been sent down to
the Commons in so altered a condition as to leave no
doubt on the minds of Lad &termer and his friends
that it will be rejected is a rage, or that shabby com-
promise of the prieciple of the bill will be offered,
which, whether agreed to or not, would effectually
destroy all the irate and merit of having made a fair
fight for their ivies in the eyes of the people of Ire-
land. The Lords think their gams now sure. Is

it so?
If there be wisdom and temper in the House of
Commons, the insidious scheme can be easily frus-
trated, and we confidently trust it will. The bill, as
it now stands, is a mere caricature of a settlement of
the question. As each, it is not sasceptible of argu-
ment. Neither a 151., nor a 12L, nor any other test
above an 8/. qualification, is worth a word in refer-
ence to the principle of the ministerial plan ; and
for the obvious reason that no each rating
would afford • semblance of political equality be-
tween England and Ireland. So far, therefore, as
that fundamental and essential condition is involved,
it signifies nothing what the amount of the Lords'
amendment m be. It is clear that no
cobbling or patching in a conferenceperfectly between the two
houses could in this vital point effect anything, but
that on the contrary it would only cover the whigs
with the suspicion of insincerity, if, alter bringing in
a measure ostensibly to redress the national balance
of electoral privileges, they were virtually to abandon
what they seemed to contend for, and to take their
stand upon some intermediate ground from which they
are sure to be driven with scorn.
No compromise we hope will be proposed; none
we are sure will be ritified by the people of Ireland.
Short of equality, full, perfect, and unqualified, they
will and they ought to be contented with nothing.
A 121. compromise would be a mere cheat—
a pretext for saying next year, when the
English and Scotch suffrage comes to be
reformed, that Ireland hots recently hid an electoral
change, and need not so soon ern be disturbed.
A 121. joggle wool no doubt please every
teary in whig's clothing who is afraid to say openly
bow heartily he hates and fears any reel ad-
vance to popular power. A 12/. thimble-rig would
snit to a nicety all the mean and timid friends of the
Irish church monopoly ; for it would serve pre-
cisely the turn of those who like to be called
liberal, while at heart they are devoid of one
courageous or generous sentiment regarding
sect or race. But in the nostrils of the
Catholic and Presbyterian people of Ireland such a'
compromise would stink. It would be understood to
be a wretched mockery of enfranchisement,—• cor-
rupt bargain,—a national fraud. It would not pros-
tically give for the present a county constitaameyl
with which any free-hearted man could rest retuned ;1
and it would nevertheless serve as an excitee for doing
nothing really effectual for Ireland when the wants'
of the other parts of the empire come to be
dealt with. Between the gross numiers at
121. and at 15/., there is, we believe,
no very important difference. If, therefore, the choice
lay between the two, we should certainly urge the
friends of justice to Ireland rather to acquiesce in
what for the present is lead plausibly fair, rather
than by any compromise relinquish complete partici-
pation in the coming measure of general concession.
Ireland wasjockied by Lord STANLnr at the Reform
Bill. She will be jacked again, if those who watch
over her interests do not take care. For her
there is no real hope or chance of adequate .
justice from the imperial legislature in this
affair of franchisee, save in the exaction of the plain
and simple condition that the same suffrage should be
conferred on both nations by the same bill. If any
other scheme is propounded henceforth, it will bear
upon its face the mark and brand of national prefe-
rence and injustice ; and if next session any other
project is propounded, we warn our Irish brethren in
time that their claims will be thereby jeopardised.
Meantime, however, what is to be done ? Bad as
the bill has been rendered by the Lo s,
rd ought it
to be thrown away ? Can Ireland afford to
play at brag with such a political gamester as Lord
SisteLze ? What is the condition of Mayo at this
moment? Oat of a population of at least a quarter
of a million, it is notorious that there are not 300
persons qualified to vote Is this representation ? le
it not an indecent burlesque upon the very idea?
Who can tell how many county elections may take
place in Ireland before the "United Kingdoms Re-
form Bill" shall be carried ? Even a 151. rated quali-
fication would be for the interval, better than what
now exists. Lord STANLEY and his friends know
this well, and therefore they are going about openly
chuckling at what they deem the certainty of the
present bill being lost this year. Is not this some
reason why the Hones of Commons should weigh
well the consequences, eve they contribute in any
degree towards that result ? Dignity, pride, and the
point of senatorial honour are excellent things 'tis
true; but there is no dignity in being done ; and
nothing is more apt to be mistaken in a popular
assembly for high spirit than a parade of poiitical
sentimentalism.

Wno would have expected that the most grievous
fault, the most embarrassing obstruction in the way
of the working of the French representative system,
should In a total oblivion of all politeness? This might
seem a mstterof small importance, bad not French his-
tory itself amply shown that the respect and forbear-
ance due from a majority to a minority is a duty of
the most vital kind, and one, the contempt and neg-
lect of which leads, more than any other cause, to
civil war, proscription, and blood.
We read every day of tumult and violence in the
French National Assembly, and when we corns to
examine the caste, we find that it proceeds not so
much from the acts or the measures of government,
bad and reactionary as these are, but from the most
gratuitous insults and provocation, addressed by
ministers and the leading men of the majority to the
republicans. What profit or advantage there can be
in this mere gratification of spleen we cannot
imagine. A republic was established as the
result of the revolution of February, 1848,
and this revolution was mainly, nay, altogether,
owing to imprudence, unskilfulness, and utter want
of courage in all the governing and influential parties
and classes of that epoch. Tney bowed to it,
swore to it, installed it, allowed an enormous
proportion of the population to come to feel conscien-
tiously and legally an allegiance to the republic. The
l'resident was skated u its chief, to govern in its
name. And yet a minlster,—the very minister ap-
pointed to uphold the law and constitution: called
a minister of justice—he gets op in his place
in parliament to denounce the very principle of the
government, to :insult the republic that he seesest
and invoke the restoration of the old monarchy. Never
was uttered a more complete appeal to anarchy and
civil war, or a more treasonable insult to the National
Amiably. The President of the Assembly, however,
listens with an acquiescent smile, and never stirs
until this ministerial apostrophe has aroused the ire of
the liberals. No sooner do these siren their
nataral.their inevitable, their expected disapprobation,