The Sun.
London, England, 1854-02-14 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 14, 1854.

THE NEW REFORM BILL.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.
( From the Times.)

The journals of yesterday had probably a more warlike
appearance, and were fuller of actual preparations for war,
than any the living generation can remember, which is almost
as much as to say, since newspapers were what they are. Yet
on the evening of that day Lord John Russell introduced, not
only with his customary sang-froid, but also with the inti-
mation that he thought it a very slight affair, a measure of
Parliamentary Reform not much less sweeping than that which
some twenty years since brought us to the eve of a revolution
and anarchy itself. This surpasses even Sidney Smith's well-
known description of his lordship's audacity. He has not,
indeed, taken the command of the Mediterranean fleet, but at
the very time when he and his colleagues were sending two
immense fleets to the Mediterranean and the Baltic, and hn-
.mediately after Lord John had explained the conduct of the
Admiral in command, he rose again to invite the attention of
the House of Commons to the work of its own reconstruction.
Very properly he prefaced his speech with a chapter on the
pursuit of reform under difficulties, showing how a great man
may be baffled in the attempt to pass a good measure, and
either never succeed, as in the case of Pitt, or only succeed
as Lord Grey did, after repeated attempts, under happier
auspices, at an interval of forty years. Prom these splendid
examples, the one of failure, the other of late success, Lord
John drew the lesson that it was his duty to persevere, even
with the risk of utter disappointment, or hope long deferred.
Such courage we cannot but admire, and, as his lordship
has described the feeling of those who would suggest de-
lay to consist of one part discretion, and three parts
cowardice, we must admit his own purer element to be un-
tainted with either of those grovelling qualities. As if to re-
proach this degenerate age with its idle terrors, he intimates
that his measure is scarce worthy to be called a Reform Bill;
though in so doing he certainly makes us tremble to think
what he would be ready to propose worthy of that name, were
he not compelled to act with lesser men. For our own part,
we think him hardlyjust to his own measure which may well
compare in almost every respect with the act of 1832. Indeed,
it is wonderful how much that measure las left to be done.
That so large a supplement should be possible arguesmuch for
the moderation of the elder reformers, and the unreasonableness
of their foss. In one important respect the bill leaves the
precedent of the Reform Act, and baffles the anticipations of
speculative reformers. Dividing the problem into two parts
—the distribution of seats and the qualification—it has
heretofore been customary to deal with each part so as to
meet the conflicting demands of population and property, or
of numbers and land, as the opposite poles of the controversy
used to be described. The -present bill seems to give up the
idea of satisfying antagonistic classes, either as to the distri-
bution of seats or as to the conditions of the franchise;
and, instead of that, to favour territory in the dis-
tribution of seats, and numbers, money, and edu-
cation in the alteration of the suffrage. It is a new
way of dealing with the question, and will probably
cause some disappointment to those reformers who have been
ready with their schedules of new boroughs, and wished at
least to see the population uniformly represented. Should
the bill pass in its present form, however, it certainly seems
likely to satisfy the most ardent reformers, even though it
does not contain a single point of the " Charter." The in-
fusion of borough voters into the county constituency, and of
operative voters into that of the boroughs, and the addition
of votes derived fyom salary, taxes, stock, savings, educa-
tional test, and almost every possible source, constitute a
formidable counterpoise to the influence of home and land.
Considering how much the most zealous reformers
have lately been obliged to lower their tone, and
how little they are disposed to stand upon particular mea-
sures of reform, we think we may fairly ask them what class
of persons deserving a franchise will not enjoy it on the pass-
ing of the proposed measure, and what interest will not be
adequately represented. In our opinion counties and boroughs
will become, under this bill, manes of very little significance
—at all events, no longer signifying land as opposed to trade,
or the landed aristocracy as opposed to the manufacturing
population. When every 101. occupier in the country, ex-
cepting only those in Parliamentary cities and boroughs,
will have as good a vote as the owner of ten thousand
acres, or the tenant-farmer of a thousand, the town will
have little reason to be jealous of the country, and reformers
will have small cause to complain of the tyranny of landlords.
As a whole month is to be given for inquiry, and as an inquiry is
likely to take its character very much from its first start, we
will suggest that, instead of comparing the bill with this or
that standard or scheme of reform, the better test will be the
question—How will it work ? There will be no great diffi-
culty in estimating the number, the character, and the pre-
vailing political tone of the new voters added to the electoral
districts, whether counties or boroughs. At the first
sight there seems but little reason to fear the invasion
of any infldence to the interests of the people and the
cause of social improvement. At least, we do not see under
what provision of the bill it can possibly lurk. On a review
of all the classes thrown into the constituency, and especially
into those districts which are to have more representatives,
or are to be formed into new electoral districts, we must
express a conviction that the most thoroughgoing reformers
will have ample reason to be satisfied with the actual working
of the measure—more so, perhaps, than with the working of
their own theoretical schemes.