Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-07-30 00:00:00

questionable, anal it is certain that the fact upor

which. it is ba

I has a very opposite effect on the

controversionalist of the nineteenth century. But if

we were to apply it to our present purpose, we
should say to the depravers of the British Constitu-

tion, Go into the Election Committee-rooms of the

House of Camino]Ls any, day this week, and learn

what must be the inherent strength of the system
you defame. If Mr. BRIGIIT still disbelieves in the

vitality of the Constitution, we beg to remit him to
the tribunal which has just sat in judgment on his

brother-in-law. Nay, if that brother.in-law himself

has imbibed the notions of the great political unbe-
liever, let him reflect on what must be the

unconquerable elasticity of the system, which is able
to endure Such as him and his myrmidons, and yet on

the whole thrive

so well. Mr. BRIGHT is accus-
tomed to speak of the English Constitution as an

intangibility. It would be strange if that which he

has been unable to "'see or to feel," he should stumble

on in an Election Committee-room ! Who know

requires a thorough sceptic to appreciate the force of
the reasoning. If the spiritual adventurer at Rome
had been a Protestant, concerned to draw a contrast

between his own form of belief and Popery,
the experience of Roman corruption would
have strengthened the ' controversial aspect
of his faith. When placed in the midst of

the w, akuesses or the crimes of its rulers, it is a
different thing to compare one form of religion with

another, from comparing religion in the abstract
with infidelity. Mr. BRIGHT holds, with regard to
the Constitution, the position which the mere sceptic
in religion held with regard to Roman corruption.
The habit of faith had to be wrought in him, and
the most unaccountable causes might do the work.
He was entirely removed from the analogy of ordinary
states of mind. What to others seemed a law of

contradiction or caprice, was to him a syllogism of
logic. Credendum est quia imposSibile. To us who
believe in a progressive Constitution, and its
adaptability to changing circumstances, the recent
revelations of the Committee-room may prove only
the existence of serious defects in our present electoral

system, and of some results not very satisfactoy to
the reform settlement of 1831. At all events, they

give us a painful impression of the non-perfectib4ity,
if not of the English Constitution, certainly of huinan
nature. Mr. BRIGHT, however, may learn to put
this and that together ; to compare needs and
appliances ; the inherent capacity of administrative
systems, and the imperfections of their adminihtra-
tors. He may learn how the latter condition comes
obstinately athwart the dreams of Visionaric
hoW powerless is the most perfect. theory t

tide of human weakness and corruption

Hein

learn that the Enoolish Constitution, being the

provisic

elaborated, is—simply the best under the circiim-
i
stances. The best, that is, not absolutely, as Wing
embodied perfection, but in its capability,of b ing
I
fitted to the circumstances by whose assimilating
power it has been gradually formed
very high reach of knowledge , ; - --
highest we propose to him. He may complain that
his faith is taxed too lightly. , But all we ask of iiim
is, that he would. charge the.. fault to human nature

This is not a

and yet it is 411 c

rather than to forms of government. This unpre-
tending principle really contains the gist of 'the
matter. Mr. BRIGHT'S theories are based either
on the perfectibility of human nature, or on

the power of political schemes to reform it

British Constitution is based

monest apprehension of Christianity, one would
think, might teach the political dreamer that will(
the first is absurd, the second is even imnions. Thp

....fauua. l Ile
first Christian Rulers of England acknowledged the
inefficiency of human methods to correct the .in-
wrought' tendency of humanity, when they paid
homage to Revealed Religion by the establishment
of a Christian Church. And we feel bound to cede the the merit of consistency to Mr. BRIMIT'S thedry,
who, in aiming to destroy the national profession
of religion, commits to political- systems the regeile-
ration of the human race. )

•
Now, we consider. both pessimism and optimism,
with regard to any administrative framework devised
by the wit of man, to be nothing short of fanaticidm.
We admit, therefore, the presence in our Constitu-
tion of a liability of conflict bet:Ween its
dive se
elements. We admit that this conflict ,often duces disagreeable complications. As ConstitutiOn-
alists, all that we deny is, that the corrective of this
evil lies in the elimination of every element but ote.
Mr. BRIGHT would take away the top .and the
middle, and leave us only the bottom. Perfection,
he tells us, lies in the base; and that, not as a source
and spring, but as an absolute and contained quan-
tity. The sap does not extend; the growth and
superstructure stifle and encumber it. He would
take" away the upward strength and beauty of the
tree, and leave only the bare and naked root spread-
ing its unfruitful branches in the soil, but affording
neither fruit nor shade.
All we tell him, therefore, is, that the desolation
he would hall peace would -be only destruction ; what
he would call harmony would be_ only confusidn.
But in the passing ordeal, how stands that particular

" interest"

...
vigour and life of the body-politic ? It is precisely
w./41 1:,4 now
in which he wishes to concentrate all the
the democratic element in the Constitution which i,,s,
popular branch of our
now' being
tried and , found wanting. It *. tp:,
inundatting England with tal,s, of cA'i'tion, and de-
stroying even BRIOUTE.AN..dreaw, of political purity.
Mr. LEATiA*, lylk(4 ftge'r.‘(,s scattered bank notes
Government