The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-29 00:00:00

4
77 -
.14, S 8114.
• • 40' • 1110

LONDON, SATURDAY, OUT. 29, 1864.

The apathy's): our leading politicians with regard
to the great question of Parliamentary Reform is
not, it seems, to last undisturbed for ever. Man-
chester is mindful of its old reputation for energy
and public spirit, and is seemingly prepared to in.
augurate a movement which shall convince the
recusant leaders of the Liberal party, that fine
words and empty promises will not always pacify
the people. Last spring a Reformer's Conference
was held in Manchester and a National Reform
Union was formed. The members of this associa-
tion are now bestirring themselves, and held a
meeting on Tuesday evening for the discussion of
affairs. It is proposed to hold reform meetings
fortnightly throughout the winter, though whether
this intention will not prove too burdensome when
put in practice remains to ba seen. But supposing
the number of meetings to be reduced one-half,
which we should consider would be more in accord-
ance with the present necessities of the else, there
will atilt be a geat deal glins.d. Statesmen will
learn that the great body of the community arc not
so indifferent to the state of Parliamentary repre-
sentation as they try to believe. There has, it is
true, been of late but little agitation in the matter,
but that is rather from the reaction caused by dis-
gust at the proceedings of the proposed Reformers
than from any actual wish to keep things as they
The Whigs have so completely enacted the
Firt of the dog in the manger of the old fable that
people have been puzzled where to turn for Re-
firmers and how to act. It took COME, time betora
the English public could believe thatits keg trusted
leaders meant to betray their trust, that the states.
put themselves
men and politicians who had ta wily a

are.

in the van with the war cry of Reform had not the
slightest intention of carrying out their professions
when the power and the opportunity were in their
own hands. Bat men were now becoming
thoroughly convinced that it is idle to hope or ex-
pect substantial reforms from Lord PaLmEnsToN's
Government, especially if they wait for them to be
spontaneonsly given, and the wise folks of Man•
chester are determined for their part not to lend
such inaction the countenance of their silent acqui•
escence. Accordingly the members of the National
Reform Union assembled a few evenings since in
the File Trade Hall, at Manchester, reflecting,
perhaps, that as their good town had borne such a
conspicuous part in carrying out that great poli.
tical change, so it might attain equal distinction
by pressing on the work of Parliamentary
Reform after the long hiatus. As the
chairman of the meeting-, Mr. GEOEGE WILSON,
very justly said the other evening, there is now one
advantage—no one has the inclination or the hardi-
hood to defend the present state of things. " When
it was recollected," said Mr. WiLsoN, " that in this
age there was confided by Act of Parliament to one
million of the population the sole electoral power of
the country, leaving so many millions totally un-
represented, having no more connection with the
choice of those who governed them than if they
lived in Kamschatka or New Zealand, that Man-
chester was outbalanced by the small boroughs, and
that at the present moment one-half of the House of
Commons was elected by less than 200,000 electors,
it might easily be conceived there were very few
people indeed left to defend the present system."
When the case is stated plainly it only appears
marvellous that such a state of things should be tole-
rated for one session, and the present House of Com-
MOll3 was, in fact, as Mr. WILSON observed, elected
not to decide whether or no the present system
should be maintained, but how it should be abo-
lished. How it has fulfilled that task we leave the
country to decide, and we apprehend that even
without reform of the electoral districts and classes,
the roi faineants of the ex;sting Parliament will
learn a lesson at the next election. One of the
most energetic of the speakers who addressed the
meeting on Tuesday indignantly denounced the
conduct of those who called the quietude of the
people apathy, and said that they had been relying
on the solemn pledges they had received from the
Throne, the C tbinet, the Parliament, and the hust-
ings, and their confidence was now construed into
apathy. This gentleman partook of more extreme
views than the general body of moderate Re-
formers, and accepted the Chartist doctrine of
manhood suffrage—a theory not altogether popu-
lar with the body of the people themselves.
To make a privilege valuable and valued, it must
necessarily have some limits or it would cease to be
a privilege, and if the idle or thriftless or worthless
are to have the same standing as the industrious
and prudent, the lack of distinction is not justice but
injustice. For a man to become a householder or
occupier of a tenement of any kind, he must either
have possessed sufficient skill and steadiness to have
acquired property, or has been brought up in that
position of life which presupposes some degree of
education and mental and moral training. It is
this that is the real requisite, and it is difficult to
find a test. Undoubtedly manhood suffrage does
not supply one, for every man is not qualified for
an elector. Men would not trust their business
to incompetent hands, they would not travel
by locomotives or steamships guided by rash and
ignorant persons. Why, then, should they trust
the vast concerns of State to those unfitted for the
charge, and though the voice of each elector may
be comparatively unimportant individually, it must
be remembered that the aggregate votes of each
class is not so, and that while we are extending the
rigtt to vote we want also to enfranchise the voter.
It is useless to give a man legal permission to vote
and virtually to deny him the exercise of that
power. If the lowest classes are to have the fran-
chise they must also have the free exercise of it, and
not be under the dictation and influence of those
above them, or our Reform will be mere inconsis-
tency. Therefore, until things are very different
from what they are now, we must have some safe-
guards that those who exercise an indirect
influence on the councils of the State
shall have an interest in the maintenance
of social peace and order, in the upholding
of the laws and the preservation of property. Year
by year the influence of demagogues and mob
orators is lessening among the masses, year by year
education and reflection are opening their eyes to
many important doctrines of political economy
which at one time they regarded with scorn an

suspicion. Very often the peasant or the artisan is
less extreme in his theories than those just above
him, and it is extremes that are the danger of all

reforms. They not only alienate from the cause
many wise and prudent as well as hesitating per.

sons, but they produce an inevitable reaction which
damages the cause. There is one point which we
are sorry not to see mentioned in tho report of

Tuesday's proceedings, but we hope it was only
an oversight incident to the confusion of an in-

augural meeting. No word was said of the ballot,
but we can hardly suppose it possible that the
Manchester Reformers do not include that in their
programme. Without it no reform can be compre-

hensive or effectual,. The extension of the franchise
will only extend the area for bribery and intimida-
tion. The triennial parliaments will but repeat the
oftener those scenes which humiliate every right
thinking Englishmen. No distribution of the eke
toral districts will fail to give an accurate represen-
tation of the sentiments of the people. Reform will

again become, as it hes been before, an empty

word, a fair profession to grieve the hearts
of the people, and will want that solid basis, that

sure foundation on which the Parliament of this
great country should assuredly rest.

Meetings and anaiversaries are now the order o

the day, and certainly they tend to enliven the
gloom of this dull season by giving people some-
thing to talk and think about. In Colchester the
other evening there was an affair of this kind, at
which several speakers discoursed upon the chief
topics of foreign and domestic interest. Earl Rus-
SELL is certainly undergoing a petty martyrdom
in the way of taunts and reproaches, for through-
out the length and breadth of the land there seems
to be the universal sentiment that be has 111i8
managed the affairs of the nation with respect to its
foreign relations. Again and again do we meet with
censured criticism, and the select few who are in
favour of the Government generally do not give
much opinion of the awkward question. Mr MILLER
observed that they should feel gratified at the man.-
ner in which Denmark had received the Prince
and Princess of WALES, for they had had quite
sufficient provocation to do otherwise, owing to the
irritating course pursued by this country towards
them. This is true ; and the kindly feeling dis-
played by the inhabitants of that afflicted
and injured land is a sure sign of the in.
nate superiority of the people, and attests that
it deserves a better fate than that which
unhappily has now befallen it. In a similar cir-
cumstance the opponents of the Danes would not
have established the same reticence or the same
magnanimity. After all that has teen said and
Written on the subject it can har y be thought

that more remains than to hope, as Mr. MILLER
said, that Austria and Prussia may one day receive
the retribution of their conduct, and that we shall
see the "brave and gallant Denmark again occupy
ing that place among the family of nations to which
its valour entitled it." After animadverting upon
the manner in which Poland had been treated by
this country, first by receiving encouragement in
the prosecution of the struggle, and then being
deserted in the hour of need. Mr MILLER turned
his attention to domestic matters, and laid great
stress upon the repeal of the malt tax. If duo at.
tention is not given to this subject next session,
it will not be for the want of reminders being fully
and frequently administered. Hardly a meeting of
any kind takes place in the country, at which one
or more speakers do not touch upon the topic, and,
with rare exception, they all speak in condemna-
tory tones of its continuance. Mr MILLER very pro-
perly ob2erved, that at all events, there now seemed
to be no reason against its reduction at all ;
and now that the income tax was reduced,
and the heavy duties were removed from tea and
sugar, this was evidently the occasion to turn to the
subject. At the same time he urged upon his hearers
that they should bestir themselves, for without
exertion they would not gain their point. This is
very true; for Mr GLADSTONE does not seem to
wish to yield the point, and if he does so it will not
be done readily, or with a good grace, but only be.
cause he yields to the pressure from without and
the force of circumstances. One point touched upon
by the hon, member was of great importance, and
that was the duty on fire insurances. It is very
satisfactory to find that in many places this subject
is taken up with spirit ; and it is sincerely to be
wished that the reiteration of the strictures upon
this obnoxious impost will prevail in the right
direction, and that next session we shall find it con.
siderably reduced if not altogether taken off. It is,
as all concur in agreeing, a tax upon prudence. It
militates against the welfare of all classes of the
community, and it can never be right nor reasonable
to maintain the existence of a tax that might be
the means of plunging many families into distress
and destitution, because they had been prevented
from insuring on account of the great expense.
Mr. Du CANE made a very Effective speech, and
humorously depicted the anomalous position of
political parties, and the manner in which the
Government were held in their places. In the first
place the members of the Cabinet go backwards
and forwards in a remarkable manner. One week
Earl RUSSELL enacts the part of Bombastes
Furioso, and menaces the Powers of Europe,
and the next, he " enrolls himself in the
Society of Friends, backing out of treaties,
apologising for menaces, and compromising the
honour and dignity of the country for the sake of
preserving a humiliating peace." Then Mr. GLAD-
STONE roars like a lion for universal suffrage, and
next is cooing like a dove, and censuring the idea
of violent organic changes. Mr Du CANE aptly
pourtrayed the affair when he said that whenever
the Radicals became tiresome, Ministers hoisted the
signal of distress and invited the Conservatives to
come to their rescue, adjuring them to aid Lord
PALMERSTON, who did so much to burk reform.
But if, on the other hand, the Conservatives were
attacking the Government, then the cry was
raised that the Radicals must come to the rescue.
" Don't let the Tories turn out Lord PALMERSTON'S
Government, with Mr GLADSTONE with his great
universal' principles, Lord RUSSELL and peace at
any price, and Mr -MILNER GIBSON, the intimate
friend and representative of the opinions of Messrs.
BRIGHT and COBDEN." The lion. member also com-
pared the tactics of the Government to the election
in " Pickwick," and declared that the Ministers al-
ternated between the obstinate SLIMPKEY and the
open-hearted and generous FISKIN. A truer
description of the act'al state of things as
at present existing could not have been me
with than that which we find in this sp'

rited delineation of afflirs as conducted at Wes

minster. It is refreshing now and then to meet
with an account of this sort—it wakes up the mo.
notony of ordinary speechifying, and rises above
the dead level of political platitudes and oft.

repeated truisms. If the country is to be governed
is such a strange fashion it is as well to be aware of
the fact, and not to shut our eyes to it in the come
furtable conviction that all is proceeding in a per-
fectly straightforward fashion, and being conducted
in an orthodox manner.
The Spanish Progressist Party.

MADRID, Oct. 24.

The Correspondencza de Espana of to day says
" To-day at 12 oclock the Progressists reassem,
bled at the house of Senor Olozega, to continue
the debate on the question of abstaining from vot-
ing. But before giving the details of to-day's meet-
ing we shall amplify the particulars we have already
published relative to the proceedings of yesterday.
"The incidental question, whether the opinion of
the majority should always be decisive (which the
Progressist Committee discussed yesterday), was
initiated by Senor Munoz Bueno, the delegate from
Caceres. The object of the question was to decide if
every individual was bound to subscribe to any re-
solution of the committee in which something might
be recommended to the party which the conscience
of the subscriber could not admit. Senores de la
Sans and Oiozaga took part in the debate on this
question, and it was decided—as might ba expected
—that members of the committee were not bound
to recommend what their conscience might reject,
but they must submit to the decision of the majority.
" Upon the question of abstentions Senors Madoz
and Figuerlo spoke yesterday against, and Don
Victor Balaguer in favour of this policy. The
speeches were very animated, and each expressed
with entire frankness the reasons he believed most
proper to sustain his opinion. All three speakers
were willing to abide by the decision of the majority.
Senor Balaguer said that his constituents, the Cata-
lans, would obey this decision as one man. He
wished, however, that the abstention should be abe
solute. On this question, and on account of some
personal allusions,several other gentlemen addressed
iho meeting.

" Tosday the debate on the question of absten-
tion was continued. Senor Bautista Alenso ex-
pressed himself favourable to euch a policy, while
General Latorre opposed it. The proceedings of
the commissioners of Oveido and Malaga were
approvbd, and those of the Puntevedra committee
rejected. The question was then put to the vote,
when 66 persons out of the 70 present at the meet•
ing declared in favcnr of abstaining from voting."

Proclamation of King Christian to the

Fleet.

COPENHAGEN, Oct. 25,
King Christian issued the following proclamation
o the Danish fl, et :

"More peaceful relations have now supervened,
ind the rmjorify among you can return to their
homes. I have followed your honourable enter.
prise on sea with joy. Whether combating the
elements during the harsh winter mason, whether
in battle against the enemies of the country, you
have always shown courage and endurance. In
resuming your peaceful occupations retain your
affection for your King and country, and for the
flag under which you have fought ; and should
duty again call you to arms for the defence of the
fatherland, hasten, wherever you may be, to as-
semble round the old DAnnebrog. Brave sons of
Denmark, I send to you all, officers, subordinates,
and men alike, my royal greeting and hearty thanks
for the faithful readiness with which you fulfilled
your duty.

(Signed)

" CHRISTIAN R."