The Sun.
London, England, 1854-02-22 00:00:00

LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 22, 1854.

THE .NEW REFORM BILL.

THE MINORITY CROTCHET.
(From the Times.)
If we were asked to select the clause in the New Reform
Sill upon which its structure most intimately depends, and
without which it would most completely lose its identity and

coherence, we should have no hesitation in pointing out the
provision for the representation of minorities. Without this
'clause the formation of so many electoral districts returning
three members each would be wholly indefensible, and with-
out this provision there would be no obvious means of dis-
posing of the members gained by the process of disfranchise-
ment. We mention this fact because it is well worthy the
attention of those whom a superficial glance at the measure
may have led to suppose that this provision for the represen-
tation of minorities is an excrescence which may lopped off
at pleasure and leave the bill as perfect without it as with it.
The provision in question is, that whenever a constituency
is represented by three members, each elector shall only be
allowed two votes. Of course, therefore, this provision can
only have effect in large constituencies, and where the mi-
nority of the whole body will generally be very numerous. As
instances of the evil it is intended to correct, we will take two
elections contested in the year 1852 in the neighbouring towns
of Manchester and Liverpool. In Manchester Messrs. Gibson
and Bright, Liberals, 'received respectively 5,762 and 5,475
votes; and Messrs. Loch and Denman, Conservatives, 4,364
And 3,969 votes. In Liverpool Messrs. Turner and Mackenzie,
Conservatives, received 6,693 and 6,367 votes; and Messrs.
Cardwell and Ewart, Liberals, 5,247 and 4,910 votes. Now,
with reference to these members, we ask where are representa-
tives of the Conservatives of Manchester or the Liberals of Liv-
erpool ? In these two towns there appear to be something like
10,000 voters who are not represented at all, because they
live in the same place with 12,000 other voters who, as being
in the majority, keep the representation all to themselves. In
he election of the West Riding of Yorkshire, in 1841, Lords
Vlorpeth and Milton the unsuccessful candidates, polled more
th n 12,000 votes each, and yet, because their Conservative
antagonists polled a thousand more, that vast mass of wealth
And intelligence was left unrepresented. Another obvious
evil of the present system is what is called in America voting
by ticket. The tendency of opinion is certainly in favour of
absorbing small electoral districts into large ones, and yet
such a process, by increasing the number of members to be
chosen by each constituency, seems to have a great tendency
to diminish the care with which those members are selected.
Thus, in the city of London, four gentlemen of very unequal
pretensions and talents are fixed on by one party and three
or four others by the other, and these almost uniformly stand
or fall together. Those who wish to see Parliament a faithful

reflex of the opinions of the country are bound, in consist-
ency, to object to the continuance of a state of things in
which such vast masses of wealth and opinion remain unre-
presented and unheard. What manner of man is a Tory
manufacturer ? How are the views of his class modified by
those of his party, and those of his party by the associations
of his class'? We cannot tell, because, though the returns of
our elections show the class to be numerous, it is in a minority,
and therefore wends its way unheard, the only authorised organ
for expressing its views being the lips of some Radical Re-
former. Were there any county or borough in which
12,000 electors dwelt who had no representatives in

Parliament, what torrents of eloquence would not their hard
exclusion call forth ! But this very thing has happened to
the whole West Riding of Yorkshire, the Conservative half of
which was virtually disfranchised in 1837, and the Liberal
half in 1841. No one can deny that au electoral district
containing upwards of 100,000 inhabitants is fairly entitled to
at least three members of Parliament. Will the district be
better represented by allowing the party which has secured
a majority of one to return all the members to the utter ex-
clusion of the minority, or by restricting the absolute triumph
of the majority to two, and leaving the third to be appointed
by such compromise as the relative strength of the two par-
ties, after deducting those who have returned the two mem-
bers, can enable them to effect ? If the majority be large, it
may possibly still return the third member ; if it be mode-
rate, it may still, by selecting a candidate not distasteful to
the minority, retain an influence in the third seat ; if it bo
small, it must cede that third seat to the minority. Suppose
a constituency like that of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the
available voters of which consist of 25,050, 13,000 Liberals
and 11,000 Conservatives. Is such a constituency better re-
presented by three Liberals, or by two Liberals and one Con-
servative, and can it with any truth be said that the latter
arrangement is too favourable to the Conservative interest ?
Those who maintain that in the supposed case the Conserva-
tives should not be represented at all ought, as it seems to us,
to be prepared to argue that England should be formed into
one huge electoral district, and that the opinion of the ma-
jority alone should alone be represented, to the absolute ex-
clusion of the minority. It is very necessary to distinguish
between 411 owing a minority to be heard, and allowing it to
control the opinions of the majority. It is very desirable that
opinions should be represented in Parliament, the prevalence
of which would be extremely undesirable. Parliament ought
to be a faithful reflex of the nation, and, until that nation be
all of one mind, it is not to be wished that its representatives
should be so.

These are the general principles upon which we conceive
the Ministerial measure may be fully justified, but there is
much also to be said of its collateral advantages. The pro-
gress of opinion and the just and reasonable demands of
popular rights no longer permit the existence of those small
boroughs which so often fostered rising talent and kept alive
opinions which, from being those of a small and intelligent
minority, have gradually grown to command the assent of the
nation. The only way left to provide for such cases is by
giving those rights to the numerous minority of a large con-
stituency which were once enjoyed by the scanty majority of
a small one. The compromise which the limitation of the
rights of the majority will necessarily compel will be very
favourable to special merit of any kind other than political,
and will often induce the introduction into Parliament of per-
sons moderate in their opinions, whom, from purely party
considerations, neither side would have thought of bringing
forward. The prizes of public life will not be wholly reserved
for violent partisans. This necessity for compromise will save
many a contest, by obliging each party to respect the other's
feelings. It will have a tendency to soften asperities and to
produce re ,xmciliations and approximations of opinion, which
it would be difficult to obtain in any other way, but which
can never be more desirable than now, when there seems some
fear that the spirit of party should outlive the subjects of dis-
pute. The old restraints to the unfettered will of the multi-
tude are, by the uncontrollable course of events becoming
weaker and weaker every year. Mankind will no longer be
governed by venerable traditions, nor submit to the prescrip.
tive rights of privileged classes ; and there seems some fear
that we are tending to a state of things like that in America,
where the absolute majority not only insists upon its com-
mands being obeyed, but will not even allow them to be dis-
etissed. For this system it behoves us to seek a remedy
in our own moderation and good sense, and that remedy
can nowhere be better found than in a law which seeks to
temper the insolence of victory and to respect the
rights and feelings of others while asserting the
predominance of our own. We trust that, when
this question comes to be argued, it will be treated
in no narrow and contracted spirit. Of course it is easy to
accuse the introducers of this vast and important change of
seeking to undermine ultra-Tory interest in the counties and
ultra-Radical interest in the towns; but let those who are un-
willing to release from their greedy hand the least atom of the
power they have grasped remember that, while these predo-
minances are transient, the principles of justice and modera-
tion are eternal, and that no party can consider itself so firmly
rooted as to bo dispensed from those salutary provisions which
tend. to protect truth and justice in their hour of trial from
the tyranny of an overbearing adversary.

(Front the Morning Chronicle.)

It is already ascertained that the Ministerial measure of re-
form will receive the cordial support of all parties, with the
exception of those who are opposed to any change in the re-
presentative system. The second reading of the bill will be
carried by a large majority ; but, to ensure ultimate success,
it will be necessary to guard against the efforts which will be
made with the view of destroying the measure in detail. If
the advocates of special modifications insist on pressing their
several projects, politicians who only aim at defeating the
Ministerial scheme will easily find an opportunity of effecting
their object. Nor is it enough that the bill should be carried
through the House of Commons without actual failure. A
measure of this kind ought to be presented to the Upper
House as the undoubted and deliberate decision of the repre-
sentatives of the people, on a matter with which they are
peculiarly competent to deal. Lord Derby and his friends
have, in more than one instance, shown that they know when
to yield ; but they will watch their opportunity for offering a
successful resistance. The case of the Opposition would be
greatly strengthened by the removal of the safeguards which
the authors of the bill have introduced, not so much for the
purpose of counterbalancing the new extension of popular in-
fluence as of correcting defects which are found in the exist-
ing system. It is natural that those who only desire to in-
crease the power of a party should accept provisions which
appear to favour their own views, and at the same time re-
monstrate against changes which may have an opposite, or
rather a different, tendency. The Government has attempted,
and not without success, to be just, not to rival factions, but
to those large sections of the community which may fairly
claim to exercise political power. The great body of respect-
able residents in counties are to be admitted to the franchise,
not that they may add to the strength of Whigs or of Tories,
but that they may exercise a reasonable influence in the con-
stitution of the Legislature ; and it is for a similar reason that,
in populous towns and counties, a new provision is introduced
for the purpose of preventing a strong minority from being
altogether overborne.
The remark that the proposed arrangement in favour of
minorities is an innovation, may justly be thought an incon-
sistent objection on the part of those who are not ordinarily
indisposed to promote changes in the constitution. The truth
is, however, that the novelty of the plan consists in the
machinery—the details of which may fairly be matter for dis-
cussion—rather than in the principle. If minorities had not
found means to secure a voice in the government of the coun-
try, English freedom would long since have been extinguished.
The great variety in the character of the different constitu-
encies has in some degree compensated for the uniformity ob-
servable in particular elections. In a rough manner, the
county members have represented the wealthier inhabitants
of the great towns, while rural free traders and friends of
progress have seen the principles which they failed to further
at home carried out in Parliament by strangers. The com-
pensation, however, like all casual remedies, has been partial
and incomplete. The minorities which have been excluded,
by their peculiar position, from political action, would often
have made a wiser choice than that which has neutralised the
triumph of their local antagonists. The educated classes of
a metropolitan borough may wish to be represented by a
statesman, as the more enlightened section of a remote county
constituency may prefer a liberal politician ; and it is but a
poor consolation to either party that the delegate of the pro-
vincial squirearchy habitually votes against the delegate of
the tap-room and the vestry. It is true that large constitu-
encies, by their opposite principles of selection, neutralise the
ondducctoiuonnt country sliut
eso bad effects which might follow from- the excessive predomi-
nanceom d form
specifictwo phroovsitsili
of any one political tendency ; but it is not desirable
that
lhteo !Ala.
minorities to obtain a direct share in the representation is
the more reasonable, because the Ministerial bill will
tend to diminish the difference which exists between
eon caroi
l 2
s enablingcounty and borough constituencies. The ten-pound house-
holder of small market towns will form a connect-
ing link between IWo classes of voters, who have
generally been opposed to each other, both in cha-
racter and iu political opinion. While less given to change
than the populations of the largo towns,• tho now county

voters will also be exempt from many of the peculiar
prejudices of their rural neighbours. Where the new privilege
is conceded to the minority, it will, in some cases, form a
protection to the party which has hitherto monopolised the
representation. In a greater number of instances, perhaps,
the moderate Liberals will profit by the change, while, in
large cities, its tendency will be favourable to the party of
resistance ; and in all cases the limitation of the power of the
majority will secure greater attention to the ,personal qualifi-
cations of candidates. Neither majorities nor minorities are
fixed and unchangeable ; but when one party habitually enjoys
an undisputed superiority, the oscillations which take place
in the comparative numbers on either side may be practically
disregarded. The re-adjustment of the balance will, however,
compel the managers of elections to secure the maintenance
of their power by a judicious selection of representatives. A
close contest between Blue and Red will render both parties
more careful with respect to the personal considerations on
which the decision may turn.

Any opposition which may be offered to the principle of
the proposed experiment will be really dictated by calculations
of its probable effect on the relative strength of parties. That
it is abstractedly just, none but a bigot will be disposed to
deny. Mr. Phillimore's jesting proposal to let a minority
prevail in divisions in the House of Commons was founded on
a false analogy ; for the right of large bodies of electors to be
heard in the counsels of the nation by no means involved a
claim to prevail, in actual legislation, wer their more nume-
rous opponents. If, on the other hand, Mr. Phillimore were
to carry out his principle, he would practically disfranchise a
portion, which might be all but a moiety, of the population.
If it is right that all considerable sections of the community,
with their characteristic shades of opinion, should be repre-
sented in the House of Commons, it it far more just and ex-
pedient to diffuse antagonistic influerues than to group them
apart, in the hope that they may eventually balance each
other. Should the effect of the change be to render progress
more familiar to remote counties, whib popular boroughs in-
cline to moderation, there will be no reason to regret the
result.
It is well that a plan which is essentially experimental
should err, if at all, by defect rather than excess ; and it is
fortunate that the exceptional circumstances of a few large
constituencies afford means of estimating the working of a
principle which, if universally adopted, might have intro-
duced too great a revolution into the general representation
of the country. It is not improbable that experience may
satisfy all parties of the practical expediency of a system
which appears theoretically just; and, in that case, it will
not be difficult to extend it by general consent, while it will
also be comparatively easy to correct any defect which may
be found in its operation. The opponents of all extension
of the franchise will be inconsistent, as well as unwise, if they
fail to accept a proposal which tends to obviate the inconve-
niences attaching to large and uniform constituencies; and,
on the other hand, the friends of Reform will commit a serious
error, if they oppose the adoption of a principle which ren-
ders their wishes attainable, because it makes it practicable
to satisfy them without injustice. Some of the warmest ad-
vocates of the rights of the minority are identified with popu-
lar claims. Mr. Marshall, in particular, who has argued this
question with great force and clearness in a recent pamphlet,
has always acted with the extreme Liberal party. At the
present day, it is hardly possible for a politician of strong
opinions to prefer the interests of the country to the predo-
minance of faction.

( From the Morning Post.)
There is oue portion of Lord John Russell's Reform Bill
which, we believe, will be regarded by the public entirely by
itself, however much such a proceeding may disarrange the
completeness and symmetry of a great scheme, which the
noble lord, at a most inconvenient period, has had the deter-
mination to force upon the unwilling attention of Parliament
and the country. We certainly recollect no period when the
iniroduction of a measure, making such essential changes in
the constitution of the country, obliterating ancient and
well-recognised influences, and substituting others infi-
nitely more democratic, has been received, both within and
without Parlliament, with an apathy so general, and apparently
so irremoveable. In the plan of the noble lord, a system
of carefully-devised equivalents may be detected, for, when
he proposes a concession to one class, le endeavours to neu-
tralise its effect by conferring some very different and antago-
nistic privileges on an entirely different class. Thus, in re-
ference to the particular point which we are desirous of bring-
ing under notice, he commences at the base of our represen-
tative system, by enormously increasing the number of voters,

and ends at the apex by conferring a new and most important
power on the Crown. The noble lord proposes to abolish the
provision of the act of Anne, which enacts, " That if any
member shall accept of any office of proit from the Crown
during such time as he shall continue a member, his election
shall be, and is hereby declared void, and a new writ shall
issue for a new election as if such person were naturally
dead provided, nevertheless, that such person,shall be capa-
ble of being elected." It is scarcely worth while to consider
the circumstances which lead to the establishment of this rule.
Lord John Russell says that it was a sort of compromise which
arose out of a squabble between the Whigs and Tories in
Queen Anne's time, and that now it sometimes produces this
result, that " the Crown is not unfrequently embarrassed in
its choice of servants, and obliged to take the man who is sure
of his election, rather than a more eligible person who does
not enjoy the same advantage." This inconvenience has oc-
casionally been experienced since the passing of the Reform
Bill of 1832, and the noble lord anticipates, if his new
measure should be successful, that the inconvenience
would be experienced even in a greater degree. The
question, however, which the public has to' consider is
simply this—whether one grtat element of Ministerial
responsibility should be ignored, for the purpose (impor-
tant, we admit) of facilitating the conduct of the business
of the country. The change proposed by the noble lord would
undoubtedly give au additional power to the Crown, and this
in itself might not be objectionable, if history did not tell us
that, at periods anterior to the establishment of the rule in
question, the House of Commons was rather a body of place-
men and pensioners of the Crown than an assemblyrepresent-
ing the wishes and wants of the people. The venality and
corruption which at that period prevailed were so scandalous
that the Act of Settlement contained an article providing that
no person who had an office or place of profit under the King,
or received a pension from the Crown, should be capable of
serving as a member of the House cf Commons. This article
was repealed by the Act of Anne in 1706; and from that time
to the present, the country has enjoyed the inestimable bene-
fit of complete Ministerial responsibility, the selection of the
Crown in every case having received also that sanction which

a popular election •-in theory, at least—is supposed to give
To declare, as the Act of Settlement declared, that a Minister
should have no opportunity of explaining his policy in Parlia-
ment, was the assertion of a principle as dangerous as it was
unnecessary and unconstitutional, but the middle course
adopted in Queen Anne's reign has, to a fair and legitimate
extent, acted as a check upon the Crown and has drawn closer
those sympathies which should ever unite the House of Com-
mons with the people. Lord Mahon's views on this subject,
which, in some degree, support those of Lord J. Russell, are
these :—" It may be observed that the vacating of seats by
members who take office might often have been productive
of the most serious injury, had it not in a great measure been
neutralised by the effect of the smaller boroughs. For, until
our new Constitution, in 1832, any eminent statesmen,
though he might he out-voted at one place, was perfectly
sure of his election at another. The defeat of a great party
leader under any circumstances, such as that of Mr.
Brougham in Westmoreland., or of Sir Robert Peel at
Oxford, was speedily repaired at Winchilsea or Westbury."
The measure now proposed by Lord John Russell is so tho-
roughly democratic in its nature as at once to do execution
upon the remaining pock et boroughs, such as Calne and
Marlborough, which, for certain reasons, were permitted to
survive the Reform Bill of 1f;32, and. therefore the leaders of
party will, for the future, be dependent upon the choice of
the people, if the existing rule of a new election, upon accept-
ance of office, is still to be maintained. We should hope that
the favour of the Crown is not incompatible with the con-
fidence of the people; and, though occasional inconveniences
may arise from the present application of the principle of
Ministerial responsibility, the noble lord to be consistent,
should carry out his views to this extent, namely, that every
Minister should, ex officio, have a seat in the House of Com-
mons, or that the Septennial Act should be repealed, in order
to allow the constituencies in some way or other, and at some
shorter interval of time than at present, to express their
opinion of the individuals selected by the Crown to conduct
the affairs of the nation. Whatever temporary inconvenience
may arise from a great party leader losing his seat, we are
sure that evil cannot properly be compensated by the equiva-
lent proposed by the noble lord, namely, the destruction of
that principle of Ministerial responsibility which is as neces-
sary, on the one hand, to check any undue influence on the
part of the Crown, as, on the other, to preserve the purity
and independence of the House of Commons.

( From the Daily New,. )

The result of the meeting of liberal members of the House
of Commons, held yesterday, to decide on the course to be
pursued with regard to the ministerial measure, was, as far as
it went, very satisfactory. The provisions relating to the
disfranchisement of small constituencies, and the extension of
the suffrage, were unanimously and warmly approved of. It
, was therefore agreed that the bill, as a whole, should be sup-
ported. The members present were, we ntnelerstand, unani-
mous in favour of vote by ballot. We see no danger that can
arise from that source. Mr. Berkeley may renew his substan-
tive motion to have the votes at elections taken by ballot
without interfering with the ministerial bill. On the proposal
to give representatives to minorities more difficulty was felt,
and an adjournment took place on that question. It is most
desirable that the most perfect good intelligence should exist
between non-official reformers in the House of Commons and
those ministers who are sincerely in earnest to carry the
measure, and that no pretext should be given to any less
sincere members of the Government to throw it up.
Perhaps the best way would bo for the reforming members,
at their adjourned meeting, to agree to request a conference
with Lord John Russell. At that conference it might be put
to him that the proposal to give representatives to minorities
is so new to the public that no general opinion has been
formed respecting it, and that time ought to be allowed for
coming to a decision. It might be added that the proposed
arrangement respecting minorities of two-fifths of the voters
is not so essentially interwoven with the other provisions of
the bill upon which the public mind is made up that it can-
not be omitted and reserved for future discussion. An appeal
may be made[to Lord John's generosity whether it would be
fair or handsome to compel the public to accept of an inno-
vation so unheard of, under the penalty of losing the unques-
tionably beneficial portion of the New Reform Bill, Besides,
if some counties have minority representatives given them,
other counties will have a grievance unless their minorities
get members also, Again, if the minority man does, not get
two-fifths, who is to be the third member ? Lastly, it can
be shown that there is great reason to believe the minority
plan cannot be worked. Is it, then, expecting too much of
Lord John to expect that such representations, put in a con-
ciliatory though earnest manner, might induce him to drop a
proviso which is no necessary part of his otherwise excellent
measure ? Should he persist in urging the representation of
minorities in face of such arguments, the necessary inference
must be that he is bound to urge it in order to keep some of his
colleagues stanch to the other provisions of the bill. If this be
so, we think (much though we dislike the crotchet of provid-
ing members for minorities), that rather that give any luke-
warm reformer among Lord John's colleagues a pretext for
throwing up the bill, it ought to be accepted and proinoted
even with this drawbaa. We feel so convinced that the
crotchetty part of the bill cannot work successfully, that we
have no doubt, even though carried, that the minority plan
would be repealed in a year or two. We say, therefore, take
the bill that largely extends the franchise. The idea of
having minorities represented may. "possibly . been sug-
gested by the difficulty experienced of getting working ma-
jorities in a reformed House of Commons. But Ministers,
should they succeed in getting representatives of minorities
illto the house, would And such men less amenable to disci.

pline than any others. Their presence would add to—not
diminish—the difficulty of getting working majorities in the
house; . =

( From the Examiner.)
It would be about as easy to persuade a convict under sen-
tence of death of the fitness of the early day appointed for
his execution, as to convince an anti-reformer of the season-
ableness of a measure of reform. The favourite argument in
the Noodle's oration is the emphatic " Besides, Sir, this is
not the time." The dilatory plea set up by Lord Derby and
Mr. Disraeli to stave off reform has been admirably disposed
of both by Lord John Russell and Lord Aberdeen. The Prime
Minister, with excellent sensch and spirit, remarked
" War in itself is the cause of many calamities to mankind;
bit it is au additional misfortune that it should interfere with
the progress of every social improvement, and with all those
measures which most conduce to the welfare of the country.
(Hear, hear.) But I cannot admit that the mere appiehen-
sion of war is to prevent us from redeeming the pledge which
we have, given to Parliament and the country, and which we
are bound and determined to fulfil. (Hear.)"
There is nothing novel,' however, in making the worst of
bad things ; and people have before now commenced with
very effectually punishing themselves, with the task on their
hands of punishing their foes.
A Queen of Spain made a vow that she would not change
her linen till she had conquered her enemy, and the war being
more protracted than her Catholic Majesty had reckoned on,
her under garments became extremely unpleasant to more
than the sense of sight ; and to console the poor Queen, and
keep her in countenance, her ladies took to wearing linen of a
dirty yellow, which was called the Isabelle colour. In former
days, indeed, it was not uncommon for men to superadd some
gratuitoini suffering to any unavoidable calamity. Some
would not' trim their beards, others let their nails grow till
they eat into the flesh, others fasted, or scourged themselves,
as if one pain was a' cure for another. Socrates it was, if we
remember rightly, who, seeing a man in affliction tearing his
hair, asked him, " My friend, is baldness a remedy for grief?"
And are defects in the representative system calculated to
mitigate the evils of war ? Because we cannot escape one
bad thing are we to submit to another ?
Lord Derby talks most edifyingly of the duty of abandon-
ing party politics, and uniting for the measures requisite for
the welfare and honour of the country, and he deprecates di-
visions and animosities which it is wholly in his own power
either to avoid or originate?
" The noble earl and his colleagues have certainly deter-
mined on throwing out a temptation which it will require
great public virtue to resist—(a laugh) namely, the tempta-
tion of joining in a vote adverse to the Government on a most
vital proposition, with respect to which defeat would be
fatal. Many of those who may not dissent from the measure
itself will doubtless object to the time and opportunity se-
lected for its introduction, but I here venture frankly to ex-
press a hope that, however reckless the conduct of the Go-
vernment may be in throwing before the country such a sub-
ject of agitation at such a moment, a sense of what is due to
the public interests and public welfare will prevent the
opponents of the Government from falling into the snare
which it appears the noble earl and his colleagues are offering
to them. (Ironical cheers.) I trust that nothing will be
done - I trust the House of Commons will not afford the
noble earl and his colleagues a chance of escaping from the
difficulties of their present position by rejecting the Reform
bill."

Now certainly the hope that the house will not afford
Ministers the chance of escaping from their difficulties, does
not come with the grace of consistency from the lips of a
speaker who has been holding forth in condemnation of party.
In one breath Lord. Derby advocates union and earnestly
deprecates the removal of Ministers, and in the next he ex-
presses his earnest trust that the administration, the existence
of which he deems so important, may be fixed fast in certain
difficulties.

Feeling, as Lord Derby does, the importance of union, and
of the total abeyance of party at the present juncture, a most
comfortable reflection it must be for him, that with him and
the friends he can influence rest the issues of Parliamentary
peace or war, so momentous to the country, Knowing the
evils of disunion in present circumstances, he has only to
exercise forbearance. Lord Derby is happily under no com-
tmlsion to quarrel with the Reform Bill, or about it. The
bill will not fly at him or bite him, and he has only to leave
it alone, and to shun all that, according to his own shewing,
it is so vitally important to avoid. He will take care not to
give au advantage to Russia, and will refrain from a domestic
conflict, distracting the public mind from the object to which
its main energies should be devoted. He will not play at
home the part of the Czar abroad. He will not cross the
Prath. He will not claim any protectorate over corrupt
boroughs. He will seize no material guarantees. He will
neither pick a quarrel nor permit a quarrel on any pretence.
Mr. D'lsraeli indeed threatens a different course, and inti-
mates that the patriotism of his party is so ephemeral, can so
ill keep, that though it would not consent to distract the
country on the 13th of February, it is quite ready to do that
mischief on the 13th of March ; and, like the Emperor Nicho-
las, he throws the responsibility on the party attacked. Now
really it seems to us that it would have been more reasonable
on Mr. Disraeli's part if he had reversed the order of his pro-
ceedings, and had postponed his forbearance and patriotism
to the 13th of March, and 'given us a preient but short spell
of faction on the first reading ; for as yet we are at peace,
and should not suffer by party warfare, which is not likely to
be the case a month hence. Conolly, in exemplification of the
artillery service in Persia, tells us that the commandant of a
besieged fortress sent a message to the general of the opposite
forces, requesting him to fire off his gun at once and have
done with it. And it would have been well to have invited
Mr. Disraeli to fire his gun at once, and do his worst before
the Russians cdmmence their part of the same sort of per-
formance. _ _

The new Reform Bill has surpassed our expectations. It
does much in many good directions, and is remarkable not for
the length it goes, but for its comprehensiveness, for the
much, wisely selected, that it embraces. What is especially
admirable in it is the care to include in the constituency all
who can afford the evidences, however lowly and modest,
presumptive of education, prudence, and good conduct. The
new franchises are all good ; the only question is as to the
deposits in savings' banks, there being some apprehension
that the money might be lodged by a candidate, or his agents,
to obtain the vote, as rates and taxes have been paid for the
same purpose. But the term of three years for the deposit
will interpose a strong check to this sort of fraud, as few cor-
rupters would like to leave their money for such a length of
time in the power of a person whom they must know to be no
honester than themselves.
The complete disfranchisement of nineteen small boroughs
having populations below 5,000, and the reduction of thirty-
three others having populations below 10,000 to the represen-
tation of one member each instead of two, will be acceptable
to all but the constituencies and representatives concerned
The distribution of the seats so disposable will be a matter
more open to objection, as the jealous claims of town and
country here come into play. It would certainly appear that
the larger share is allotted to the counties ; but as a set-off
to this is to be taken into account the change which the
101. occupation must make in the county constituency, leaven-
ing it to a considerable extent with town interests and sym-
pathies.
There is no disfranchisent of persons, but the electoral pri-
vileges of the freemen are to cease with the present holders.
Since they cannot at once be swept away, it is well that so
great a nuisance should at least terminate with the present
generation.
The extension of the franchise in boroughs takes in all
householders rated at six pounds, equivalent to about eight
pounds of real rental. For the present this house qualification
is not to arise until after two and a half years' occupation,
when the voter may be registered ; and the electoral right is
not to operate until after residence of two years and ten
mouths, wren the voter may tender his vote. Happily, the
objections that may be felt upon this point are almost re-
moved by the creation of other titles to the vote than that of
mere house occupancy. The franchise is in future to be placed
in the hauds of a large section of the people to whom it is now
denied, and the householding test will be thrown compara-
tively into the background as a source of voting power.
Under the new bill, lodgers may vote as well as their land-
lords. Five additions to the franchise are created, apply-
ing not only to boroughs, but to counties also, by which all
men are comprehended who fulfil certain conditions. These
are—receipt of a salary of not less than a hundred a-year,
paid half-yearly or quarterly ; the yearly receipt of ten
pounds in dividends from the Funds, Bank Stock, or
the East India Company; the yearly payment of forty
shillings income or assessed tax ; the having had fifty
pounds for three years in any savings' bank ; or the being a
graduate of any university. These additions to the franchise,
it will be observed, are so contrived as to include every
member of society without exception down to a certain grade.
They put an end to those startling anomalies by which the
franchise is at present withheld from great numbers of per.
sons about whose competence to vote no possible doubt can
be entertained.
The abolition of the rate-paying restrictions on the fran-
chise, and the establishment of the register as final, must be
matter of unmixed satisfaction.
The enfranchisement of the Inns of Court, and of the Lon-
don and Scotch Universities, are moves in the right direction,
to what our neighbours would describe as the recognition of
the capacities.
We are not seized with any constitutional horror at the
idea that the acceptance of office is not to vacate the mini-
ster's seat, and subject him to the ordeal of re-election. The
inconveniences of this usage far exceed any possible advan-
tage that can be ascribed to it. The effect is to narrow,
detrimentally to the public service, the choice of persons for
high employment ; and the question is not who is fittest for
the vacant office, but who is most likely of re-election upon
appointment, and this is often a man who has done more to
secure a constituency than to merit public confidence.
We cannot at the present moment do more than glance very
cursorily at the prominent parts of the prop3sed measure,
every one of the details of which will be the subject of one,
and some of many debates. Our general impression is, how-
ever, that it is not less good for present circumstances than
its predecessor of 1831 was for the then existing state of
things. But it has not taken any worthy country gentleman's
breath away, nor will it carry the country by storm, nor be
celebrated by illuminations. The difference is between a vic-
tory and a sober plan of improvement, not the less sober for
being sufficient and efficient. Enthusiasm was not misplaced
in '3l, but now it is enough to say of the present proposal,
"It is good, and must be supported." The former Reform
Bill would have been a failure if it had not prepared this calm
reception for its successor.
There is one part of the plan to which we feel strong ob-
jection. We hardly need add that it is to the representation
of minorities, to be contrived by giving certain counties and
towns three members, the electors voting as at present for
two candidates, and the minority if amounting to two-fifths
of the whole number of voters to return the third candidate.
This is an arbitrary and capricious violation of the principle
of majorities which runs through all our popular institutions.
And how can the thus far and no farther, for the introduc.
principle
nAtneed
tion of the representation of minorities, have been defined, or
how can the limit be permanently
can we have against the extension
for what is this innovation proposed ? Lord John Russell
o fixedft he ? new what
explains that it is to avoid the irritation and anger of the
defeated minority in close contests, and also that it is an ex-
pedient for bringing, as it were, something of everything into
the House of Commons, or a section of all opinions.
Now, as to the anger of the defeated minorities, how can
so partial a ease for its avoidance be justified ? Why is one
county or town to be soothed and comforted with its odd
member for it odd opinions, while other counties and towns
are left uncared for to fret and fume over their defeats ?
Constituencies will be apt to say in this case that what's
sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, and that one
minority' bas as good a right to a salve and plaster against
irritation as another.
As for the argument that all opinions should be repre-
sented in the Rouse of Commons, we have only to observe