Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-04-16 00:00:00

THE NORTHERN TIMES SATURDAI, APRIL 16, 1859

can be no doubt; but that these would consist
generally of the working classes we utterly deny, for
the proposed franchise is not a questiun which ap-
plies only to the £6 houses, but also to those at £7,
£B, £9, and up to £9 195., all of which are at present
excluded by the £lO franchise, and all of which
would be admitted, and in nearly equal proportions,
by the £6 franchise, so called." And after an elabo-
rate enumeration of the statistics of town rentals,
the Liberal, or rather Radical writer comes to this
conclusion,—" Only 21,725 bona fide working-men
would be admitted in the whole of the boroughs of
England and Wales. In this way Lord JOHN RUS-
SELL now proposes to redeem the promise made in
his speech against Lord DERBY'S Bill to enfranchise
'many hundred thousands of the working classes,'
by enfranchising 21,625 ! This is certainly homoeo-
pathy in Reform, and no mistake, and will certainly
entitle his lordship to the title of the hommpathic
Reformer !" Certainly, if this be all, it would seem
to have been very needless to provoke a dissolution
of parliament for the sake of it.

Far more consistent is Mr. BRIGHT. He seeks an
extension of the suffrage so large, so comprehensive,
as to be a worthy cause of even the giave expedient
of a dissolution. His measure disfranchises and re-
distributes some 80 or 100 seats,, giving them to
larger and more popular constituencies; it includes the
£lO suffrage for counties, and the establishment of
the borough franchise upon a basis like that of the
already-existing municipal franchise, giving the vote
to all who are rated at not less than £3, or occupy-
ing to the value of not less than £4 per annum, with

the ordinary twelvemonths' residence, and also to tl

cupiers of apartments if they pay not less than £lO
The ballot, of course. Here, then, we

per annum

say, there is something worth the sacrifice and the

turmoil of a dissolution

But Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S scheme is so very little
more comprehensive than that of Lord DERBY,—so
very much the same, indeed, as Lord DERBY'S had
a chance of being developed into, in Committee,—
that the more closely, we repeat, one institutes a
comparison, the more one is struck with the need-
lessness of a dissolution of parliament on account of
it. Looking at Lord JOHN'S toils and troubles, and
those of his followers, through so long a debate,--
his and their laboured efforts to present something
great as a substitute ;for the small affair of the
Ministry's,—one is forcibly reminded of the well=
known line of HORACE, of which it does indeed
afford a most amusing illustration, Parturiunt
montes nascetur ridiculus mus ! The mountain is in
labour, and a ridiculous mouse is brought forth !

insure with them, in payment of their yearly
premiums, and their willingness to have it taken for
granted that they are perfectly satisfied with the
condition of the insured in every respect. We
never hear of their disputing it then, and returning
the money, or declining to receive any more, on
account of alleged "intemperate habits," or anything
else. So long, we say, as the money keeps coming

in, year after year, they "ask no questions"
make no inquiries ; all is quite correct,—the money
pours in, and that is the main chance. It is only
when they are called upon to make good their
engagement—to fulfil the object for which the
yearly payments were made—that they begin, for
the first time, to suspect, to enquire, and to demur ;
and then, eventually, to refuse to pay the policy at
all. And this, we maintain, is most unfair. It is
their duty to make such diligent inquiry at the
first—before accepting the life for insurance as to
render it unnecessary to do anything of the kind
hereafter. The engagement being once entered into,
all its conditions should be held as finally settled
upon. There ought, in fact, to be a law enacting that
such Companies shall not be allowed to dispute the

'—they

payments of their policies, upon any plea whatever,
when once they have been granted ; and there will
have to be such a law, as a security to persons who
insure. Such trials as that we allude to show the
urgent necessity of such a law. But, in the mean-
time, the conduct of such Offices as refuse to pay any
of their policies that fall due, must be exposed and
reprehended. The Press may in this way

cause c

>erve tl:

"the

our part, we shall avail ourselves of every oppor-
of doing so, under a conviction that we

tunity