The Sun.
London, England, 1837-12-02 00:00:00

tent bee°nie
cessful efforts, and had already to a certain ex beY
e" ren
educated men. In the first place, he
might, Ping, be pro-
aesdkueedat
ewdh?at a tnedstinhteb e had
tthpaltaeet,h eistemmigebnt
bweere sul
airedffieihot:‘,,
when be had proved the extent of their education
unitesof
ttlbee Bmlivlli with
etrlemte bpaert particular ai
b force r locality in
tmich
l_n reply to
pttlhoieessePedrq°tUeseieb questions he would state, that in order to co'
residence'
voters witie the locality he required twelve rnonth
't use it
mltaiwnadserperofvtiidreedgiunaltifiheeatßieinll
sthbaetuldnobepearstonlibbearet•yinzotfhoer
he
unless he had been resident in the parish or township e
mtboenthrast.e-pTayheersse:
wouldthen %%11'
ns
f enrolling
fwuillle,peirnidoedpeonfdtenwtelovef
the franchise. The Board would have the power of
a.,
_.so,
by an Act of its own all mechanics' institutions,_.
ciations for education, all
.literary societies for all
and
tai
el la educationebd
a ce
dib societiesg te
those
sons who had for a certain time been members.
most useful, most advantageous, most meritorious 1) me he
themselves t° t—
eereatdhrue
foeerrtaalilnclraussieess,; usnodetrbeactortafaninp_reer:
persons who for a certain time had devoted
rornsci
the education of others and improved their own—it affairs of those societies and associations, and thus.t pram
pe1;0,
tvaidbeidtbnbyetihnesßueibil
ctehuartsV,lotnidiesbeeipngersboinclsi,nlearav Ntercr to
bers of such a body, should have a right to vote, eabebniooi
parish in which he resided, for the members of ted
Rho °
Committee. He went a step further. He propos . bad
tend this privilege to all persons of whatever rack ssb of
d
been educated at either of the Universities, at the Inns
rciigb Pe
ca smee momsth
Court, at the Inns of Chancery, at the public schools, er„llantis
schools whatever, and of all classes of the community,;
all
ever, were it high, middle, or low—he proposed t°
these persons, the time they had spent at schnol being
taken as a guarantee that they were not ignorant, it' it_ be
uneducated persons, should, after a year's residence'
admitted to the' right of voting on the school affairs °' aid
town, parish, or district in which a school Committee sb_nj,.o
be appointed. He had thus detailed boldly and at. °.be
all the points of the Bill upon which lie anticipated. the
strongest opposition. The principle of election which is
had last explained was, he knew, the most formidable. "
the
night have omitted it altogether; he might have leftowns
franchise in couutry districts arid in unincorporated t
00a,
upon the same foot,ng as that upon which it already sts, a
But as he entertained now, and had always entertaine_uees
very strong and decided opinion in favour of this kind ot.nedli,
couragement to education, in favour of this species of 'tie,
rect, he could not call it compulsory, 'furthering of eduea
—as he had always had a very strong opinion of the mer' t-o
the transcendent merits, of those industrious classes, ue
their immortal honour, struggling with every disadvantagess
struggling against narrow circumstances and cramped nieces
—struggling against the difficulties and the disadvantages
that resulted from an imperfect education—struggling agait
the obstacles and impediments presented by those who irlish
discourage them in their efforts to improve, from a f
and preposterous jealousy of their treading upon their
.osiag
heels, and who, for that cause, would prevent then.' r'...e.
in society by the best and most meritorious ladder
,r.
mental superiority—who, against all these disaslls Ipst
tages and disencouragements, still occupied the hignbeee
place, in the estimation of those who looked at ma° t,ice
neath the surface—with the heartfelt respect
ellw'Sou
he had always cherished for those persons—with the affeo,
and love which he entertained for those classes from a 11.
and intimate knowledge of them, and from a deep and dailYis,
creasing sense of their transcendent merit, both of understau,nue
ing and honesty, anclsbe must be permitted to add of genuhis
independence, he believed he should not have discharged 0,
duty, nor have acted fairly towards his own feelings or prid,
ciples, nor fairly towards the persons he had mentionedia
nor fairly towards this measure of education, if be;„s.
not in the outset declare and explain the nature of the Pr—be
ple he had introduced into it, and which he hoped would
permitted to receive the sanction of the Legislature. He PI;
ferred making the statement boldly and at once, because.th,
knew he could not press the Bill through another stage wsl.o,
out the necessity of apologizing to their Lordships for h v 10,71
in the first instance avoided any allusion to so new "toe
so important a principle. He took leave to add 1,
_t
he had never concealed from their Lordships, for the 010
two or three years, the strong impression which prevailed is
a
his mind of the necessity, as he stated the other night ge
material extension of the elective franchise, proper
called. He spoke then not of the school franchise, but of
Parliamentary franchise. The Parliamentary franchises _le
was true, had nothing to do with the measure he was t. 117,
bringing forward, and ought properly, no doubt, to be atte,.
gether excluded from their consideration upon that occasro,
It he adverted to it at all, it was for the purpose of reminding
their Lordships of what he had stated a few nights ago,
which had elsewhere been most unaccountably misundereW°
It was stated that the idea of a further extension of the suffrl
was a new opinion that he had recently taken up—an opint_s,
that he bad never advanced before. Why, he stated the
same thing in the last Session of Parliament. He stated the
a few months ago, standing in his place in that House, ese
Isis opinion was, that to amend a few of the details of be
Reform Bill would not be sufficient, but that it would be a c
solutely necessary to extend the right of voting. He had g°,
no new light upon the subject, although he believed othe,t;
had. He held now the same opinions that he held
last Session, and which he had then declared. At
close of the Session he expressly and explicitly declare
what his opinions upon that point were ; and only atir
six weeks ago he had repeated them again, in a lett"
addressed by him to the people of Manchester. To say't
therefore, that he had received anything like a new lig le
upon the. subject, was a mere forgetfulness of the vvh
facts of the case, and he should not be doing justice to etuse
et
persons, nor common justice to himself, if he did not take dg
opportunity of alluding to the erroneous statement. But this
had no connection with the Education Bill, the franchise e°lln,
ferred by which was, as he had already explained, a very
extension of the•franchise, as it was given either by the Ref°";
Bill or the Municipal Corporation Bill. But that part of tb
t.
Bill which related to the franchise was separable from the re,
It mixed itself up with none of the other details of the me";
sure. It appeared to him ( Lord Brougham) to be a greao
improvement ; and he hoped and trusted that the Bill Woe,
not pass without it ; but if any man objected to it, unless s
objected to the rest of the Bill upon other grounds, he wee,
have no right to endeavour to defeat the whole Ineas,erbe
on account of any disinclination or aversion which he lelg
feel for this part of the proposition : it could with ea 'a
be separated from the remainder. He had not introduce„
the vote by Ballot ; he did not consider that the vote wolit
Ballot would be applicable to this subject. His opinions °,P,
the extension of the Parliamentary franchise had mine
gone no change. He had stated formerly to their Lordship''
and he then again repeated it, that he thought the Par'loo
mentary franchise ought to be greatly extended. His oPie„oe
upon the Ballot had undergone some change, and he was
ashamed nor afraid to avow it. He still thought that 'at
Ballot would afford no protection te the tenant ; he ss oto
thought that it would be inefficacious to the protection of
tenant in towns; but, at the same time, he could not she Bill
eyes to the fearful position in which the working of Elio 85
had placed another class of voters, who deserved protectiono,
well as the tenants—he meant the inhabitants of the tow ee
the honest tradesman who dared to vote as his conseie%
ote.-
dictated. Therefore it was that he had come to the opl es
that the Ballot must be tried unless some other mealy
could be devised and passed feethe protection of that .00
able class of the community. Having come to that Otitis
with the utmost reluctance—having had all along, for rea,'"eg
which lie need not then repeat nor explain, having oftent'eg
adverted to them in the other House of Parliament--balst of
throughout the whole of his career entertained a degrecatl
repugnance and aversion for the Ballot, which he ag
never found words sufficiently strong to express--Ot wbat
but an absolute, uncontrollable necessity—nothing tee
the total want of auy other remedy—nothing het bad
despair of finding (after so many fruitless attempts tee
been made) even the shadow of a protection t° or
honest and conscientious voter in any other direction,
from any other quarter—nothing short of this could
.r
persuaded him to overcome the aversion and rePug°;;e-
which he entertained to the Ballot. But the et, of
rience of the last two or three years, and more particular'," to
the last election, compelled him, with great reluctanee;th
conic over to the opinion in favour of the Ballot. Be° tee
he did not think that any necessity existed for introducing _OO
Ballot in school elections. Here he thought the corntvo,
mode of voting would be preferable. At all events, lie
petted it would succeed. Whether their Lordships an Ada.
other House of Parliament should be of opinion that the fall
cation suffrage should be proposed, should be taken to lt,s,be
extent, or with restrictions and modifications, or sh tittutios
omitted altogether, leaving the rate-payers only to eleebeee
school Committee, in either case he was quite sure that Lel
would be no necessity to prescribe any other than the ordwoo
mode of election in the choice of these local bodies.f the
had now stated the outline of all the provision 045
measure. He was perfectly ready to admit that I‘
one of cousiderable extent, in many respects new'bigh-
in all and every respect dealing with interests of the iota'
eat importance. He thought that the more their 3'lool
ships considered its details, and the principle uP" -ra°
it proceeded, the more it would be found to deserve theen:lo,
which he last year gave it—namely, a measure for tee
el;cee
pose of doing all that is wanted for the education of the
egis-
without doing more; of interfering on the part of the Po cars
lature and the Government as far ss is necessary, and n
local rotes
ther; a measure for reconciling all wishes and all sups
rests, and interfering with none—supplanting nobett°_),'..butot
pressing no efforts, arid giving rise to no vexatious he
vi7nent of
lugs or jealousies, but simplyb consulting the illtP!"°hout at all
the people and the bettering of their condition, wit. to e,l
interfering with their domestic affairs, or endeavouringeotice
force those who, to be really improved, ought to besreet
and drawn. It was a Bill which reconciled many 111.,e7 in tie
consistencies, and established forms which amour,'
_s far ,
whole to one great universal system of education,,cad'iyersitl;
anything systematic could be applied to a country, t..n..ieus as. 't
of whose local circumstances were so great and vdSsis subject
England. If in bringing forward a measure upOn_u'of solo
he had overlooked or neglected the great nureb?';_ funds !ill;
already established, the great amount of charitaare
plicable to the purposes of education, the unequal
respect
of those funds, and the state of the countryir tu these eireuersi
its religious denominations; if, neglecting a some gouged.
stances, he had at once framed a plait p
far more plausible to their Lordships, much_e of a cystoid
to contemplate, much more deserving the naL.l.s.,,trootrfictiest
systematic, symmetrieal principle, it wouuld°
rohaosree ?citrucif:
much more entitled to the useless praise,ijeldolfses.... `theterie_
proportion, but when it came to be worked
,`"ikenant
applicable perfectly to no place, perhaps
t'',•!ing:.!. and i:reconciic2l)lo tu the wt:,,otageot2 the
'
places, and in almost all places less aleitels rption'
a measure founded upon the same In_74J„s' at'
which he was then introducing to their Loru"