The Express.
London, England, 1861-04-12 00:00:00

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LONDON, FRIDAY, APRIL 12.

Tree false Liberals who have betrayed Reform
in the House of Commons are really too thin
skinned. Without fulfilling their contract they
keep their seats, from which no one can
dislodge them till a dissolution of Parliament.
Why, then, can they not be content with
this, without setting their confederates in the
Press to fall upon men who, having neither
changed their opinions nor forfeited their word,
go honestly about the work which others have
abandoned 4 The reason lies on the surface.
They fear that motions like those of Mr. LOCKE
Xnso and Mr. EDWARD BAINIs may make it
difficult to renew the old swindle the next
time they are driven to revisit the hustings. To
talk about the indifference of the country to Re-
form may do very well in clubs and coteries, but to
break with the cause, to be ranked with its ene-
mies, this is too dreadful even for the most reac-
tionary ol House of Commons Whigs. The in-
tolerable annoyance which Mr. Bainzies Bill has
given to these gentlemen comes of this, that it
puts one more obstacle in the way of imposture.
It is a touchstone, and we may judge of its
efficacy by the outcry of the traitors. As the
Bill wag offered simply on its merits, it could only
be rejected for their sake. It may do for Sir
Joni; R•IIDEN to say in the Home of Commons
that he votes against the Bill but not against its
principles, but wo take leave to doubt whether
the hon. baronet deceived even himself by this trans-
parent absurdity. From the sharp test proposed by
Mr. DAINFII there was no escape. To pretend
that the resolution of the Govertunent not to touch
Reform this session makes any difference to the
duty of private members when a serious propo-
sition like that of Mr. BAINII is brought forward
is mere idleness. Ministers, we know, must keep
their places at any sacrifice. Mr. DISRAELI hav-
ing condemned them to die of a lingering con-
sumption, refuses to repeat the blunders which in
former sessions have stood Lord PAL/MINION in
good stead. They on their side consent to avoid
every topic which marks the difference between
Liberal and Conservative. U they are but per-
mitted to struggle through the session it is all
they ask. It is an ignominious accom-
modation, but " Ministers are not geese." The
individual member is in a different situation,
his existence sloes not depend on instant success.
Accordingly, Mr. Bitvrit asked nobody to jeopar•
dim anything last Wednesday. If all the members
of the House of Commons who entered it as Re-
formers had voted for it, it would have been
carried ; but whether carried or defeated, it
endangered no interest. The excuses put for-
ward on behalf of pretended Liberals absent on
the division, or voting, like the Member for the
West Riding, on the wrong side, have therefore
no shadow of reason ; and we have a right to say
that all the sincere Reformers in the House of
Commons either voted or paired for Mr. DAIMON
Bill.

This sifting, of course, is not pleasant for our
reactionary friends; but we cannot comfort them
with the hope that it is the last they will have to
undergo. Repeated divisions had demonstrated
the political rottenness of the House of
Commons. Its hypocrisy and cynicism had
been exposed quite far enough to disgust the
country, and to diminish more and more every
year the interest taken in its doings. But the
full extent of the mischief still needed to be
probed. As long as party interests disguised men's
opinions it was difficult to ascertain the true
character of the mass of our public men. Mr.
STANSYCLIN in a speech which recalls a noble
period, when brevity, directness, and weight of
thought were among the merits of parliamentary
eloquence, told the House on Wednesday that in
the present session it had made amazing progress
in anti-Reform tendencies, and was growing
alarmingly familiar with its own vices. This wit-
ness is true. It was absolutely necomary that
somebody should raise • standard of public mo-
rality, and restore the shaken confidence of the
nation in the possibility of integrity in public
men. This is all that is wanted to secure the suc-
cess of Reform. The pretence that the nation at
large has changed its opinion on the question of
an extension of the suffrage is not worth a thought.
The course of modern civilization has only one
direction, and it is not because • petty portion of
the middle class is disposed to ape the exclusive-
ness of the aristocracy that we are to be persuaded
that that direction is altered. As education and
social prosperity are diffused every Government
will have to admit an increasing proportion of the
people to a direct participation in public
affairs. The safety of the State must
be founded on the concurrence of all the
citizens who are not disqualified by ignorance,
dependence, or crime. Oligarchical selfishness
may stumble at this doctrine, but a time is coming
when in England we shall be as much disgusted
with the notion of connecting political liberty with
a mosey qualification as we are to hear that in
Carolina social freedom depends on oolour. If
political prudence is allowed to prevail, if the
lessons of history are to afford practical guidance,
statesmen will render this change safe by making
it gradual. The Bill of Mr. BAINILM was
well adapted for this purpose. True, there is no
special virtue in a fit. qualification any more
than in any other figure, but the practical
effect would have been to accomplish quietly a
change which would probably satisfy the country,
like the last Reform Bill, for some thirty years to
come. The panorama of popular progress which
Mr. Mantes unfolded ought to convince the most