The Sun.
London, England, 1865-07-25 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC

TlMES.—After a twelvemonth's unsuccessful de-
fence of a University seat—not to speak of other
trifles—and a two days' successful assault on a
great county constituency, even Mr. Gladstone
might confess to a touch of fatigue. It showed itself
at Newton in a very usual form. Every orator
and logician knows that at the last gasp of his intel-
lectual energies he can mount a hobby in the form
of some very rampant metaphor, and so ride, if not
to victory, at least out of the lists. When a pedes-
trian is dead beat he is glad of any lift—an omnibus
full of old women, or the poacher's cart, taking, as
he shrewdly suspects, his own pheasants to the sta-
tion. Thus it was that Mr. Gladstone got helped on,
first by the policeman, then by the builder's fore-
man. As the mere movement of street passengers is
backwards as well as forwards, indeed in all direc-
tions, that simile could not help Mr. Gladstone
under the imputation of erratic habits. The proces-
sion of the thoroughfare is worse than a rope of
sand, for it is quicksand continually shifting. The
next metaphor that he seems to have selected for its
fitness to sluggish and material apprehensions was
architectural, if a man understands nothing else,
he knows at least what a house is, and how it can
be pulled down, or rebuilt, or enlarged, whether
vertically or laterally. You can take your time over
an architectural simile. It does not even pretend to
run on all fours, for it does not run at all. It stands
still till you have pulled it to pieces, and laid it by
for future use. We submit, however, that the Bri-
tish Constitution, which is the matter in hand, and
the study of this Constitution, are matters for the
naturalist rather than the mechanic. The British
Constitution is a living thing ; it has grown and de-
veloped itself in a very easy and often imperceptible
way for many ages. It has undergone many changes,
and attained to an immense enlargement, but there
can be no doubt of its identity with the original
suppling. lf, then, it must be treated figuratively,
this is the nearest emblem. We may Sorrow some-
thing from all the trees and all the plants we ever
heard of, but we must still make it a tree. Let us
fertilise, water, dig about, prune, give air and earth-
room, even graft, but we must still deal with our
subject as a living thing, and according to
the order of nature. This is a matter of more im-
portance than might at first seem. We cannot cut
our tree down one day and put a better tree in its
place to-morrow. We cannot at once alter its whole
nature. As a feeling or fancy grows in the heart,
so does a tree in the earth. We cannot thrust upon
it anything that any inventive genius may deem to
be an improvement. We cannot make it grow much
faster or much slower. It will take its own time.
We cannot send it back 500 years or push it on that
much. We cannot adjust its vital circulation quite
so easily as we could the irrigation of a water mea-
dow or the supply of gas in a town. We are bound
by certain laws of nature—chains of iron if we fret
against them, silken strings if we take them kindly.
The principle of a natural growth in the British
Constitution, as contrasted with mere motion, or
mere construction, is fatal to suggestions from all
sides. It is fatal to the idea that anything what-
ever can be incorported into this monarch of the
woods unless it can be chemically proved to be in-
compatible. It is fatal to novelties, as such, for the
newer a thing is the less likely is it to assimilate
with the old. It is fatal to what are called fancy
franchises. We have just witnessed the result of a
fancy franchise far better than any lately proposed.
James 1., among other most plausible pedantries,
gave two seats to each University. His alleged
reasons were the representation of learning and the
assistance of education, but he was suspected of
caring more forstrengtheningthe connexion between
the Court and the Universities. Those bodies did
not much value the privilege, and appreciated much
more the nomination to benefices belonging to
Roman Catholic patrons, then first given to them.
We now witness a development never contemplated
by the royal pedagogue, for the seats given to the
Universities as places of education have fallen into
the hands of the country clergy and squires. Such a
perversion, of course, cannot signify much, and no
one would venture to say that the seats are thrown
away. But Mr. Gladstone may take warning from
his own fate against innovation not quite in theline
of natural development. The University representa-
tion is not a branch of the political tree, but a mag-
nificent fungus, more defensible on its own merits
than as a part of the whole system. If changes are
to be made, the first thing thing to be done is to
discover the principle of growth—in a word, the true
nature of our representation, and beware of any
change that will involve a new principle. Large
changes are possible within this restriction. An
occupation franchise of £2O a year is not different
in principle from one of £5O. A county constitu-
ency with 5,000 electors is not different in principle
from one of twice that number. The representa-
tion of half a county or a riding is not different in
principle from the representation of a whole county.
The restriction of seats to boroughs with not less
than 5,000 inhabitants is not different in principle
from the limit of 2,000. The grouping of small
towns is a principle found to work well in Scotland.
South of the Tweed, composite rural boroughs, com-
prising many villages, have worked without com-
plaint. The old system contained many varieties
of qualification, of numbers, and of district, and
varieties found to succeed might be tried on a larger
scale. All this is to enable the tree to grow accord-
ing to its own nature and laws, not to invent a new
tree altogether, and put it in the place of the old.
The greatest innovation of the Reform Act was the
introduction of three representatives in certain cases
for counties. This has often led, it must be con-
fessed, to a satisfactory result in the representation
of the minority, though it may bo doubted whether
that is a very English principle ; but it certainly has
not tended to the peace of the counties victimised
by the experiment, and the battle for the third seat
has often proved fiercer than that for two. Mr.
Gladstone, at the moment when he can wear at
once the palm of the martyr and the laurel of the
victor, has this additional fortune, that he need not
pledge himself to anything or anybody. Other men
have had to be carried over the country weeks and
even months, ready to answer questions which they
were often ashamed to listen to, though sometimes
unable to answer. But with constitutional im-
petuosity he has been rushing into explanations
for which no other reason can be given than
that he found them on the tip of his tongue
when he had nothing else to say. At a roadside inn
abroad, if they have nothing else to offer, they will
at least have sausage and ham, and Mr. Gladstone
has a large store of such articles on his shelves. No
one who has been dragged out of pleasant company
to make a speech to absolute strangers upon no
a propos whatever would wish Mr. Gladstone less
supplied with commonplaces. But there is no neces-
sity to surrender the British Constitution, bodily
and for ever, to the first dozen honest and well edu-
cated working men who think themselves competent
to demand that concession. There is such a thing
as a dangerous glibness of speech, which leads a
man to say what he will often wish unsaid five
minutes after. Upon the most important question
of the day, that of Parliamentary Reform, we are
either likely to open ground very shortly, or to re-
peat the memorable "As you were" movement of
five years ago. We shall either be plunged into a
serious and perilous struggle, or the two great parties
will agree to resist the common foe. With a view
to either event and either course, it is very unwise
to propound broad principles which in the one case
will be liable to abuse, and in the other will be con-
signed to the limbo of unmeaning, and therefore
dishonest, platitudes. Now that the elections are
over, and there is no earthly reason why speeches
should be made, except as birds sing, to satisfy the
irritability of their vocal organs Mr. Gladstone may
as well hold his hand—that is, his tongue. He has
said quite enough for all practical purposes.
Happily six long months will probably intervene
between this and the meeting of Parliament, and
that long period will be much better employed in
considering what to do than in raising popular ex-
pectations, and so creating obstacles in the way of
what could otherwise be done.
POST.—TheAmerican news which has just reached
us contains an ominous announcement. It appears
that the " Confiscation Department" which has been
established at Richmond has seized a large amount
of property for confiscation. Considering that the
proclamation issued some short time since by the
new President includes within its penal ordinances
almost everybody but the very poorest class of per-
sons throughout the entire South, it seems probable
that the "Confiscation Department" will find plenty
of raw material upon which to exercise its ingenuity
and its unprecedented powers. The final cause of the
institution of this court seems to be the conversion
of the private property of the Southerner into the
public property of the Federal Government. We
prefer to specify the nature of this department by a
simple statement of facts (though that may assume
the shape of a somewhat prolix periphrasis) to de-
scribing it by a single epithet, as this would involve
the
s gnsenc
de ssseivt ye
seventy than oi ft
empalnoYinignghat phrase of greater harsh-
ne be considered courteous.
The Americans themselves, however, appear to be
less scrupulous. Of course people have a right to be
more plain spoken in speaking of themselves than
others—having due regard to the amenities of
,civi-
lisation—have in speaking of them. The Americans
plainly tell us they have established a Confiscation
Department. There are those who, viewin-
g the case
impartially from a distance, may feel surprise that
they did not calla a "spoliation" department at
once.
But, after all, there is not much in a name and
ms and for
that reason we p:efer to describe this singular • t.
tution by a simple statement of the fact. -
know, would emit the same odour whatever name
might be given to it, and this office
which has been
instituted for converting the • t priva e property of the