Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-02-04 00:00:00

SattgclAy , February 4, 1860.

temporary ally of Lind JOHN RUSSELL, and of
whom Lord Jai*. IttissELL is willing to make
temporary allies. But, at-;the same time, Tro are
to believe that the currents-of feeling, running
beside this unanimity, are of the most
•
divergent character. They are the men apparent un
whose-
logical plan of 'Reform is- at directest issue with
the prdetical suggestions of Lord JOHN RUSSELL,'
but who calculate every surely, that a patched-up
alliance will prepare the way for a . full elabora-
tion of their model schemes. lhe chaMpions of
a theory which is, surely intended and expected,

sooner or later, to work an organic 'change in our
Representative system, have a claim upon our
notice ; and it is not a wholly unnecessary thing,
that their tentatiVe'movements 'should be watched.
The recent proposition about an increase in
Parliamentary Representatives. for' South Lan-.
CP.Skire, is an anticipation of the mode in; which,
extreme theories are to bear down the wisdom and:
moderation of the Legislature. Cannot: the
Union leave the Whole measure and its detaihi At;
the :hands of a reforming Parliainent This
special aniciety is to much an indicatieh that
some principle is involved in the demand which
the country is not yet prepared for. This is but
the carrying into practical: effect of that system
Which is really at the bottoni of all Mr. BRIGHT'S
opinions and suggestions ; 'asYstem which splits
the national unity into fragments, and makes out-
er:it a multitude, not Of different, and, at the
same time, connected' interests, 'but of conflicting
and competing interests. Logic rosy poSsibly
seem to be all on one side, when we are told, that
if representation ought to be proportionate to
ProPertY, and that if it were so in 1814, Lan-
cashire should now have 50 members instead of
26. But, then, the Representative system is not
a plaything-scheme exercise the' 'Wits, of stu7
tents and arithmeticians, but simply a practical,
Method for securing good government. And the
meaning of the Lancashire RefOrm Union's rea.-
s'sning• is just this : that the large towns are to
govern the country. It might seem imprudent
for these' theft-sighted experimentalists,, thus, on
the eve of a Reform' measure, to embarrass the
question with a theory :so long faniiliar to us,
which has been so`often looked through and
thb3ugh, and which the good sense and patriot-
ism Of the country had .deliberately rejected and
condemned. We want England for the,tnglish,
and not :for the manufacturers of large towns:
Tile notions of these men are ineensistent with
t 4 'whole theory of free goVeriiment. The defi-
nition of ,despotism, under which it challenges
II:16st surely, the disapproval both of the moralist
and the, philosopher, and which most pointedly
expreises its true nature, is: that of unbalanced'
Power—the absence off, -constraint and counter-
Poise. It is at this day of enlightenment, and,
at this time, so faverirable to calm opinion, that a
knot nf Lancashire eXperimentalists,,who are not
Yet well up in their political primer, advance, as
0: basi.s of future change, theories of unbalanced:
Popular'poWer, and recommend the adoption,of a
principle, which, if once adopted„ cannot cegfie
its influence till the bottom of the scale is arrived
at, and there- is nothing, more to lose, because
there is nothing left to retain. We say this
theory finds no favour with. either the *average
wisdom of Parliament, or the average sense of
the country ; but it, is a matter, perhaps, of some.
anxiety, that it shOuld be- prominently advanced
at such a critical moment as the present, and ,
Presented with confidence on the very threshold I
of the Legislature.

But dismissing so obvious, and yet so necessary
a comment upon the principle which is at
the root of this Reform Union's representations,
suppose we follow them into the details of their
statistics,. certainly we shall not discover any
more likely, joint of agreertient or approval. Even
conceding the premises which the Unionists start
with, we should much prefer ,their taking , a
broader view of the question they have thought
proper to raise. It may be all very well to corn
pare Lancashire with what it was in 1814, or
with what Other counties and districts'in England
now are ; but
.are these
_statisticians forgetting
this one...notorious fact,—that taking 'nunibers as
tie rule of proportion, the manufacturing and,
trading have a great_ preponderance in the. repre-
Bentation over the agricultural and country
classe4? 'We cannot, therefore, allow these 1)61.-
B°ll4 to direzt,their view to any one part of our
Present system to the exclusion of all or any'
ethers. This eXClusiveness and one-sidedness is
the fruitful origin of crude and dangerous expe-
_
rinlents. The appearance of logical inference,
secured by the • omission of an important parti-
cular, deceives, the men of some conscientousness
and smie reason. It also 'serves as a cleak,
under which may be safely and successfullY
'Sued the deSigns of the selfish and the unsound.
It 'is not too much to ask, that those,who pretend to
a fitness for reforming the Constitution should in-
elude a comprelienstve view of a system, as
ex-
tended in its details as it: is nice in its relations
and dependencies, in the number of their qualifii•
,tions: This is what England asks; and with