The Sun.
London, England, 1853-12-05 00:00:00

THE NEW _REFORM BILL.

(Prom the Morning Chronicle.)
I There aro several minor arrangements which should form
tart of a now reform in our representative, system—such
As the qualification of members—secret or open suffrage—
the mode of taking votes, viva voce, in the polling booth
its now, or by the distribution of voting papers, as has been
' roposed—which we do not Mond here to discuss. We
ay, perhaps, recur to some of them when the subject is
afore Parliament for decision. But there is one innova-
ion, mall and simple, and open, so far as we can see, to
o real objection, yet so just and so important that we are
nxions it should form part of the Ministerial measure on

its first announcement to the country.
By inveterate custom, and, indeed, now by statute law,
it is necessary for a member of the House of Commons, on
appointment to any office of trust and' emolument nuclei
the Crown (with very few exceptions), to vacate his seat,
and either seek a new one or present himself to his old con-
;fitments for re-election. The moment a senator becomes
it servant of the Sovereign, he ceases ipso facto to be a re-
presentative of the people. The Queen pays a constituency
the high compliment of selecting the man of its choice to
he the man of her choice also • and the constituency forth-
with repays the compliment by almost an insult. .It sum-
mons before it the man who bas thus been tainted by
royal favour for judgment, and sometimes for condemna-
tion. It strips him of the livery it had just before con- i
Irred. It revokes and reconsiders its decision. It acts as
i the Sovereign's touch had left a black mark upon there-
r esentative and stamped him as an unclean thing.
This customi might have had meaning in it formerly ; it
i sheer nonsense now. In early days, when the influence
of the Crown was really menacing to the unconsolidated
Privileges of the Commons, when the Means of corruption
aped its disposal were vast and nearly uncontrolled, and
when the Monarch might not impossibly seduce or pur-
chase a dangerous " tribune of the people" b
ular for
by ice offer of
high place, and bribe him by office to :barter pop
royal allegiance, it was probably wise and right to allow to
the constituencies the power of rejecting a representative
who was probably no longer in a condition to serve them
fitithfully ; nor, with the various "ways and means" then
at the disposal of tho Crown, did any serious inconveni-
ences result from the practice. Now all these dangers are
chimerical. Parliament is omnipotent, and the House of
Commons nearly so; the liberty of the subject is no longer
in danger ; the influence of the Grown is no longer in need
cif reduction or of jealous vigilance ; the Sovere
betray op-
press them. Then why retain a custom no longer needed,
and no longer just? Before the first Reform Bill the
practice was attended with no practical evil. The Sove-
reign appointed whom he would as his Minister out of the
party then strongest in tho House of Commons. and if
any of these appointed lost their seats, some holders of
Government or nomination boroughs vacated in their fa-
vour, and they came into Parliament as a matter of course,
and without difficulty. Since 1832, however, the case has
been very different, and much inconvenience has ensued.
That measure, by abolishing, or nearly so, the close
boroughs both of the Government and of private patrons,
unintentionally committed an infraction of one of the un-
doubted rights of the Crown. It virtually deprived the
Queen of the power, which the constitution gives her, of
choosing her own Ministers. It enabled any capricious, ill-
tempered, or corrupt constituency (perhaps managed
avweaYfor
or influenced by a single man) to exercise a veto
upon the appointment of the Sovereign, since Minis-
ters must sit in Parliament, and since it is not always
possible to find complacent members who will va-
acatree
jeheatedrd-esaerenreedtaryseaotfs
State.in ormdearnytocarskhe
s i dine
rtahtei o nil
in—ai:lcd•
that the evil Of maintaining this obsolete custom. is by shown
oseesyse several mis•ecoekl si
moans theretical. On one occasion Lord John Russell. no
session (having been defeated in Devonshire), till th
Parliament
tlofiotbr
outb ofofrPsatlr'
his favour. Subsequently, Mr. Macaulay to resign
his post as Paymaster of the forces, and the
lost one of its greatest ornaments, the
country Government
servant, and the Queen was dbliged to t a faithful
the resigna-
tion of a Minister whom she wished to retains
cause Edinburgh, in a fit of local spleen,l aim, and all be-
and no other constituency fell vacant itao.i i ejected him,
And on more occasions than we can tell havewele°lne him.
arrangements been hampered andpolitical, Ministerial
which might have rendered° the combinations
greatest ervice to the
country been prevented, by the n • •
Cabinet a • ocesstay of selecting for
appointments, not the best 111
en,but the men who
were the most secure of their re-el t• ec ion.
Indeed, the necessity •
her advisers of imposed upon the Sovereign and
Parliament, confining their choice to those who are in
and can count upon remaining there, has be-
come a great nuisance
It limits mischievously andt
an injury to the public service.
he class and the • circles out of
which practical statesmen can be chosen. It confines the
selection to those al
ceaeotmom
If c lietvnir
ii
ne
who are rich enough to embrace
i. Par-
liamentary career, or hardy enough to face the roughrane a t
c". the popular arena—able to manage a small boroueshrife
willing to contest a large one. It confines it still furtherr
tv
p those whO, already in Parliament, have been fortunate
emigh to plow, hot the 'great ow:tit:mu of the em-