The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-12 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

TlMES.—During the first two years of the presen
Government it was their general practice to sustain
at least one defeat every Wednesday. The motions
which led to this result were brought on generally
by members sitting below the gangway, whose views
were more extreme than those of the Administration
they supported. Acting without the fear of responsi-
bility, and released from the necessity of considering
the occasion, the fitness, or the policy of their
motions, these gentlemen contrive to convert the
House of Commons into a species of Debating
S;ciety, in which they could ventilate their opinions
at the expense principally of the Government they
professed to support. It was the practice of the
then Home Secretary to vote for these motions, but
to give them only a very feeble and dubious sup-
port in his speeches. The result of this combina-
tion was, as we have said, that Wednesday was a
black day for the Government, scarcely ever pass-
ing over without a defeat more or less damaging. It
is only duo to Sir George Grey to say that under his
administration these defeats have been much fewer,
—whether from the greater discretion of members,
or the better tactics of the Home Secretary, or both
combined, it is now scarcely worth inquiring. The
debate and division of yesterday, however, read
like a return to the former practice. The Govern-
ment contrived to get itself signally defeated by a
majority of fifty-six on a question on which there
was no occasion to have sustained any defeat at all.
In 1859 the House, under the leadership of Lord
Russell, defeated the Reform Bill of Lord Derby,
and in 1860 the new House of Commons, yet fresh
from contact with their constituents, sneered, cri-
ticized, and talked down the six-pound franchise
which Lord Russell had proposed. Dire predic-
tions were uttered that this outrage would rouse
the indignation of the constituent bodies through-
out the country. But those who listened for the
avenging storm listened in vain. Not even a cloud
as large as a man's hand rose out of the ocean
of popular opinion, and with almost universal ac-
quiescence a measure on which two Governments
had successively staked their existence was suf-
fered to fall iuto oblivion. So entirely has the
impossibility of passing a Reform Bill in the pre-
sent House of Commons been recognised, that
scarcely has the Government been taunted in the
hottest party debates with its neglect to fulfil the
very engagements on the strength of which it ejected
its antagonists from power. Opinion wasin the main
just, and, without inquiring too minutely into the
sincere desire of the Government to pass the mea-
sure it had introduced, the public recognised that
the rejection of the bill was more the act of the
House than of the Government, more the act of
the Liberal than the Conservative party, and more
the act of the constituencies themselves than of any
or either of them. It has, however, pleased Mr.
Baines, unmindful of these things, to bring in what
has been facetiously called a one-barrelled Reform
Bill of his own, and to level this detonating
instrument pointblank at the Government. Thus
challenged, the course to be taken by the Govern-
'ment would seem to have been exceedingly
plain. Without entering into the merits of the
question, they might have stated plainly and
honestly the reasons which had induced them to
abstain from the introduction of a new Reform
Bill, and insisted that the liberty which they denied
to themselves they could not possibly accord to a
private member. T hey might have urged with ir-
resistible force that such a measure should be
brought in by a Government responsible to the
house and to the country, or not at all ; and they
might have declined most reasonably to be dragged
into a discussion which could have no practical re-
sult, except to ea-cite expectations which were not
r likely to be gratified. If, however, the Govre
merit decided to support the measure of Mr. Br. y
and thus to record a condemnation of themi.st of o
for not having introduced a similar bill, their col ie
was equally plain. They should have treated the
bill like the bill of Mr. Locke King) merely as a
declaration that the franchise ought to be lowered
without committing themselves any further.

The aspiring genius of Mr. Gladstone, however,
spnrned all prudential considerations, and launched
him into a discussion which is destined to form an era
in the annals of party, and to influence most mate-
rially the remainder of his political career. Taking
upon himself to speak on behalf of the Government,
Mr. Gladstone laboured to extend, instead of
striving to limit, the import of the proposition be-
fore the House. There are two points of view from
which the question of the franchise may be
treated ; the one is prawical, the other specula-
tive. The one would regard the admission of a
large number of fresh voters to the franchise as
a measure to be argued on the ground of prac-
tical improvement, as a means likely to remedy
a mischief of some kind clearly proved to exist.
The first point in such a train of reasoning would
be to show the failure of existing arrangements;
the second, to show some connection between
that failure and the remedy proposed. This is the
point of view from which, as it seems to us, every
person really deserving the name of a statesman
would be disposed to regard the subject. But on
this part of the question Mr. Gladstone is utterly
silent. He expressly admits that the working men
have learnt to place confidence in Parliament, that
they feel they may look to Parliament to pass bene-
ficial measures without agitation, and that for these
reasons they have abandoned political agitation, and
betaken themselves to the improvement of their
minds. He does not pretend for a moment to say
that any measures beneficial to the working classes
are withheld by Parliament as at present elected
which would be granted if the working classes had
more votes in the constituencies. Nay, he is at pains
to show how greatly the position of the country
has been amended by the labours of a Parliament in
whose election she working classes have no share.
Putting aside these practical considerations, Mr.
Gladstone bases his argument exclusively on the
ground of equality and abstract right. He does
not try to show that the country will be better or
even as well governed. But he says that every
man who is not presumably incapacitated by some
consideration of personal unfitness or political danger
is morally entitled to come within the pale of
the Constitution. He adds, " I contend that it is
on those who say it is necessary to exclude forty-
nine-fiftieths that the burden of proof rests to show
the unworthiness, the incapacity, and the miscon-
duct of the working classes." Surely this is the
language of sweeping and levelling democracy, of
men who have emancipated themselves from the
doctrine of the Right Divine of Kings in order
to fall into the equally dangerous fallacy of the
Right Divine of multitudes ? This theory considers
Government not as existing for the sake of the
governed but of the governing class, inasmuch as it
makes the admission to the governing class depend,
not on the interest of those for whom the act is to
be done, but on some previous claim which all men
are supposed to possess to manage the affairs of their
neighbours, unless some positive disqualification can
be established against them. It is Equality against
Liberty, Theory against Practice, abstract dogma-
tism against experience, a confusion between the
end and the means. If the object of Government
be simply to govern, it may easily be admitted that
all men not subject to some manifest incapacity
should as freely participate in this function as in
air, light, and warmth. But if the object of Go.
vernment be, as we maintain it ise the welfare of
the governed, then we say that the only right to a
share in the Government is the capacity to exercise
that function, not only for the benefit of the person
himself, but of those whom he governs. We cannot
wonder that doctrine so thoroughly unpractical,
and resting on a theory so manifestly unsound,
failed to secure the assent of the House of Commons,
and we hope the day is far distant when this coun•
try, which mainly owes its progress to its steady
adherence to practical views, and equally marked
distrust of abstract reasonings, will entertain a
Reform Bill based on principles of abstract equality,
which the whole experience of mankind has proved
to be groundless and mischievous.
POST.—Soon after the effects of the war in the
United States had begun to tell upon the demand
for labour in the districts of the cotton manufacture,
some of the relief committees endeavoured to lighten
the distress by finding employment for the opera-
tives in out-door work—in excavation and levelling.
But even in those places in which this out door
work was not ostensibly a labour teat it became one
in fact ; since it was for the most part paid for
either at the exact rate of relief, or by a sum closely
indeed,
being to it. The relief committees,
being the almoners of the public bounty, were bound
to restrict their action to tke great object of
Ave been exceeding
alle-
viating distress. They would h.
their functions, and going beyond tae intention of
the subscribers to the several funds, Lad they ad-
ministered the charity with which they ;:ads been
entrusted with an eye to any other end. Sti.l, the
condition of many of the manufacturing towns Wes
such as demanded imperatively the most extensive
snnitnry improvements. Lcabour was at hand in
the shape of the unemployed factory operatives ; it
was desirable from every point of view that this
labour should be utilised, and that it should be paid
for at such a rate as would insure the hearty co-
operation of the workmen employed, and make their
work really efficient. The rapid development of the
cotton manufacture in the years immediately pre-
ceding the distress had given an extraordinary im •
pulse to the building of houses and cottages. The
mills could not be worked without hands, and hands
could not be obtained unless there were houses on the
spot for them. Dwelling-places were runup and
occupied, and then, the immediate want being sup-
plied, the completion of the roads—their paving,flag-
giog, and sewering—remained in abeyance. There
was an important work to be done; the labourere
were ready at hand, but whence was the money for
their wages to come from—those wages to be some-
thing like wages, and not merely charitable relief ?
The public, who had contributed so generously for
the latter purpose, could not be expected to supply
a wages fund as well. To meet this emergency the
Public Works Act of last session was passed-26
and 27 Vict., chap. 70. The purpose of this Act
was threefold—first, to enable the local authorities
in the cotton manufacturing districts to borrow
money from the Exchequer Loan Commissioners;
secondly, to facilitate the improvement of the towns
in those districts; and thirdly, to provide work and
remunerative wages to the unemployed operatives.
At first, the opinion that any rough out-door work
would impair the aptitude of the operative for his
proper occupation seemed likely to interpose a
serious obstacle to the working of the Act, and the
hope that the war in the United States would come
to an end very speedily operated in the same direc-
tion. The continuance and the prospect of the con-
tinuance of the war, and the necessity of employing
the workmen actively, have caused this objection to
fade away. Accordingly, more than fifty districts
have availed themselves of the provisions of the
Public Works Act, and various sums, amounting to
a total of more than £BOO,OOO, have been authorised
by the Poor-law Board to be borrowed for different
public local purposes. Mr. Redgrave has given in
his last report a tabular statement of the places in
his district of inspection to which loans have been
granted, recording also the amount in each case, and
the specific purposes to which it is to be applied.
Thus the borough of Blackburn has received about
£144,000 to sewer and drain certain parts of the
borough, to flag and pave certain streets and high-
ways, to pitch the bed of so much of the river as
lies within the borough, to improve bridges, to
establish public baths, and to level, drain, and
plant public works. The township of Wheelton
has received £lOO to level and improve certain
highways, public roads, and footpaths. A grant
of £l,OOO has been made to Hurst district to pave,
flag, sewer, and complete certain streets, and to
provide lamps and other requisites for lighting the
district. Droylesden has borrowed £2,800 to make
sewers and provide gas pillars, lamp-irons, &c.; and
the city of Manchester more than £150,000 to con-
struct a reservoir, to extend and improve the supply
of water, and to provide and lay out a cemetery. To
the borough of Prestou nearly £50,000 has been
lent to block, pave, flag, sewer, level, and chanteel
streets, to form and complete certain roads, to make
footpaths on the river side, and to lay out and
improve public parks. The borough of Salford has
received more than £50,000 for the purpose of
sewering, &c., streets, constructing a canal basin,
building walls, and executing other works at a great
manure depot, laying out the land purchased for
extending the Salford cattle market, and construct-
ing a canal basin, building walls, and executing
other works at a great manure depot, laying out
the land purchased for extending the Salford cattle
market, and constructing cattle stalls, sheep pens,
&c. The above particulars are examples of the sort
of outdoor employment which is affording work to
many of the unemployed factory hands, and with it
wages, which, though they are much below what is
necessary for the requirements of an operative's
family, are nevertheless a great aid to him, and are
received with satisfaction by men who are willing to
dig and ashamed to beg. The cheerful alacrity with
which they have accepted the work offered to them
says very much in their favour. On this point we
may quote the following remarks from a letter sent
to the factory inspector by the chairman of the labour
committee at Blackburn—" A greater contrast than
that presented between the cotton-spinner as a
skilled workman in a factory and as a labourer in a
{sewer 14 or 18 feet deep, cast vearcely be conceived.
Accustomed as he has been to h temperature ail
but tropical, to work at yels,,ich-ggility and delicacy
b- apulation availed ET:01 infinitely more than
ur lascular strength, and to double and some-
! times treble the remuneration which it is possible
' for him now to obtain, his ready acceptance of the
proffered employment involved an amount of self-
denial and consideration, the exercise of which is
most creditable, In Blackburn the men have been

tested at almost every variety of outdoor work—in
excavating a stiff heavy clay soil to a considerable
depth, in draining, in stone-breaking, in road,
making, and in excavating for street sewers to a
depth of 14 26, and sometimes 20 feet. In many
cases while thus employed they are standing in
mud and water to the depth of 10 or 12 inches, and
in all they are exposed to a climate which for chilly
humidity is not surpassed, I suppose, even if it is
equalled, in that of any district in England. Yet.
notwithstanding these disadvantages, I am free to
say that although I have been in daily contact with
the men and their superintendents, I have not
heard a single complaint as to the nature of the
work the men were sent to execute, except in cases
of sickness or bodily infirmity, and even these I am
glad to say have been rare. Whatever may be the
shortcomings of the Lancashire operative, so far as
my experience has enabled me to judge, it cannot
be said of him with truth that he is either afraid
or ashamed to work. The nature of the
outdoor employments in which the men
are engaged shows further the beneficial
results which the Public Works Act is drawing
out of so great a distress as the cotton famine. It
is enabling towns to undertake and execute many
improvements which it would have been almost
impossible to succeed in without some very power-
ful motive. The interests of the owners of the
land, of the builders of house property, of rate-
payers, &e., are so various, and the increase of
towns so outran the possibility of simultaneous
sanitary arrangements, that it required the extra-
ordinary pressure of a great calamity to force so
many conflicting interests into agreement, and the
intervention of the Legislature has made provisions
to assist them in obtaining the requisite funds for
completing many very useful and much needed
public works.