The Sun.
London, England, 1865-10-05 00:00:00

The Social Science ilasociation.

SHEFFIELD, Oct. 4.

At the meeting of the Social Science Association,
held this evening, Lord Brougham delivered the
opening address. There were present a large
gathering of members and associates. The place of
meeting was the Alexandra Music-hall, which was
till recently a theatre, and the new decorations for
the occasion had just been completed.
Lord BROUGHAM, who is in excellent health, read
the following address with clearness and emphasis,
and was warmly applauded :

" Once more I have the satisfaction of meeting
my old Yorkshire constituents, and of reflecting on
the most prized distinction of my life—the represen-
tation of this great county the last time it chose its
members undivided and entire. This is now our
ninth Congress, and we have, as is our usual lot, to
lament the losses which we, the country, and the
world at large have sustained since we met at
York. First to be named is Richard Cobden,
of whose great service not England only, but
France also, has been witness and felt justly
grateful. We may also dwell on the removal of
one far less famous, but to whom the promoters
of social science felt their gratitude especially due as
among the greatest helps to the diffusion of know-
ledge on all subjects, secular and religious—John
Cassell, whose circulation of useful works at the
lowest price, to which he devoted his life, was pro-
digious. Of the Illustrated Bible 60,000,000 were
sold in weekly numbers, making the poor man's
cottage, as he boasted, a school of instruction. But,
happily, his surviving partners, Fetter and Galpin,
pursue the same course in which they were his able
and zealous advocates. Nor is it possible in this
country to forget the heavy loss which at our last
Congress we had hoped to escape, but which soon
after befell us, of Lord Carlisle, than whom a more
virtuous person, or in all his positions one more use-
ful, did not exist. On these losses we may use the
touching words in which the Royal Psalmist poured
out his sorrow—" We shall go to them, although
they shall not return to us." (2 Samuel, xii., 25.)
There is, however, much upon which to congratulate
the association since our last Congress, both on our
labours and on the course of events. And as we
then expressed satisfaction at the calming down of
party, both in Parliament and in the country, we
can now still more fully give vent to the same feel-
ings, not only from the stillness in high quarters,
but because the general election has taken place,
and certainly has evinced a more entire absence of
party and personal animosity than marks our his-
tory since the period of the Revolution. By this
calm the pursuits that are dear to us are greatly
benefited, and are likely further to profit by its
continuance. Even where the public tranquillity
Las been slightly ruffled, the great cause of social
progress has made considerable gain. The loss of
some valuable members to Parliament, of which the
greatest are those of Mr. George Denman and Mr.
Adam Black, has been compensated by the elec-
tion of men only known for their able treatment of
philosophical questions, like our colleagues Profes-
sor Fawcett and Mr. Stuart Mill, or our distin-
guished vice-president of the Jurisprudence Depart-
ment, Mr. Forsyth, who unites to his forensic talents
a foremost place among the most accomplished
scholars of the age. In reckoning our gains at the
late elections, it is highly satisfactory to reflect on
the considerable diminution of bribery and corrup-
tion. Of this there can be little doubt ; but still
there remained enough to justify all friends of public
morals, and indeed of our national character, in de-
siring more effectual means to be taken for the ex-
tinction of practices so disgraceful. Last year the
measures which would have proved effectual for
this purpose, sending those convicted to the tread-
mill, and requiring a solemn declaration from every
member on taking his seat that he had no know-
ledge or suspicion of any such practices having been
pursued at his expense, were stopped on the ground
that the dissolution had been postponed, and this
year on the eve of an immediate general election,
those measures were again withheld, while Sir Fitz-
roy Kelly's bill enabling parties charged with any
offence to tender their evidence, undergoing cross-
examination, met with such treatment in the Com-
mons that he could not press it to a division. It is
not to be told what censure falls upon the English
people in foreign countries when the enormous sums
spent at our elections are mentioned, and that ex-
penditure is truly disgraceful which may still be in-
curred without any corruption. The cost of return-
ing Mr. Stuart Mill for Westminster exceeded
£1,500 for ten days. The expenses of candidates in
some'eases amounted to £3OO or £-100 a day while
the dissolution was impending, and as much as
117,000 was positively stated to have been paid by
a candidate for Yorkshire some years ago in pre-
paring for a contest which never took place. Sir F.
Kelly's act, appointing election auditors, had not
then passed. It is far from sufficient to prevent all
expense, yet if adequately carried out it would stop
much of the absurd practices which in too many
cases are a mere cloak for bribery. The late elections
and the aspect of the returns as regards the Liberal
party lead us naturally to think of the prospect
held out of a further extension of the franchise to
the working classes. The alarm felt or affected of
their overwhelming the rest of the community is
probably groundless, although all our friends must
desire any change to be effected gradually, and under
the guidance of experience. The expediency of
giving votes to one class really can admit of no
doubt—the class of skilled workmen, who are, in
fact, more independent of their employers than these
are of them. Why should not all who receive at
any time a certain amount of wages be registered
as voters once and for ever ? The certificate of the
employer would be a test of the workman's respec-
tability, and that would continue, whatever might
be his subsequent employment. The expediency of
giving non-electors some share in the elections was
considered in York, and there seemed no sufficient
objection to allow the show of hands some weight,
by requiring whoever had it not to exceed those
who had it by a certain proportion at the poll. The
proposal of Professor Leoni Levi well deserves the
attention of those who are still for the ballot—that
the votes should be given in writing, signed by the
voter in his own hand, so as to secure a certain
amount of education. Those who treat of Reform
prospects and projects are but imperfectly acquainted
with the history of the great Reform of 1832 in its
earlier stages, and would find there had been much
more extensive changes then, not only contemplated,
but which met with acceptance. Of the proverbial
inaccuracy of contemporary history there is a re-
markable instance, where it could be least expected,
in Lord Russell's late preface to his new edition of
the Essay on the Constitution. The ',subject is the
Reform of 1832, and all mention is suppressed of
the great meeting of the Opposition at Lord Al-
thorpe's chambers, to consider the plan of whichlhad
given notice, and which was to have been brought
forward two days after, had not the change of Ad-
ministration occurred to prevent it. There were
present at the meeting,
• either owners of close
boroughs or their connexions, as Lord Milton, Mr.
Baring, afterwards Lord Ashburton ; and,
besides
my statement of the most important parts of the
Reform afterwards propounded
by the new Ministry,
there was household suffrage propounded in ex-
press terms, and though only half the seats for
close boroughs were to be taken away, yet a larger
number of the great towns were to be enfranchised
than the Government Bill afterwards provided for.
It must be observed that the late times have shown,
even during the heats of the election, no clisposition
on the part of the people for a reform in their re-
presentation. It would be difficult to point out
any period since 1832 in which the subject so little
engaged the public attention. But that would be
no reason against well-considered and moderate
changes, and the promoters of social scicnco
will
regard any proposed measure with a view to its
effects upon the different classes of the community,
and upon the representative part of the Legislature,
whether that measure is called for by the popular
voice or not.
To those changes which have been
above suggested may
Possibly be added a new con-
struction of the electoral districts, so as to remove
in some degree the extreme irregularity now exist-
ing. But this is a matter of great difficulty, and
certainly a general equalization may be pronounced
on every account altogether una.dvisable. In re-