The Sun.
London, England, 1860-03-20 00:00:00

[C' antinued from our first page.l
great extent, id in making changes in the distribution of
political po'zve7 : you are, in fact, conferring that power upon
a class, the V ery object which your legislation during the
last ten yea, .s has endeavoured in every way to avoid. (Hear.)
I cannot, td ierefore, approve of this mode of increasing the
franchise o f towns. Ido not think that this proposition
ought t o h ave been brought forward unless it had been ac-
compal Peet by means by which the elements of the consti-
tuenci .es would have been much more varied in character,
and unless there had been a counterpoise to the predomi-
nance of any particular class. It may be said that the
result of the last general election was favourable to the
introduction of the working classes to the constituencies
by means of reducing the franchise. It is difficult to say
what was the result of the last general election. That is a
matter, I think, of considerable doubt ; but no doubt the
noble lord took a prudent course when he took a prompt
one, and claimed the opinion of Parliament the moment it
came back. What would have been the result if he had
waited until a few months after it came back I leave the
house itself to calculate. But the opinion of the country
upon this subject of the working classes was at all events
given in no very decided manner, but in a diffident and hesi-
tating manner. I think the opinion of the country was this
—that it was desirable that a certain portion of the working
classes, those who by their skill and their conduct proved
themselves worthy of the privilege of the franchise—should
be admitted into the constituencies under conditions which
guarded the community from the predominance of a class.
That I believe was the real verdict of the country, but it
was the same opinion as that entertained by the late Govern-
ment. It is a mistake to suppose that the working classes
at this moment have not a share in the constituencies. I
must consider that the freemen of England are a portion of
the working classes, though always treated with such con-
tempt
by the noble lord. The result has shown that in the
metropolis itself the great body of the working classes are
in possession of the franchise, and that they also possess the
franchise in many of the most important northern boroughs
no one I believe will deny. Ido not yet suppose that even
among the present constituencies you could place the share
which falls to the working classes at less than an eighth or
a ninth of the franchise which are now enjoyed. But when
we come to talk of the working classes we must remember
that they are not now confined to the towns ; and when hon.
gentlemen lay down as a 'ininciple that all the working
classes in the towns ought to enjoy thefranchise—and I find
that many men of eminence recommend that—we must not
forget there are working classes who do not dwell in cities
or boroughs—(hear, hear)—and whose claim, if that prin-
ciple be admitted, has every right to be considered. There
are rural labourers—a superior class of rural labourers, a
superior working class in the country—men who, if you
look to their knowledge, their pursuits, or their general
conduct, the great skill and precision which are required in
the accomplishment of their task need not, I think, shrink
from a comparison with the most intelligent and educated
mechanics in towns. If you are to rest the claim of a work •
ing man to the franchise on the fact that he is a skilled me-
chanic, you must take into consideration the claim of the
English woodman, of the English shepherd, of the English
gardener, and some other of the highest class of labourers
engaged in husbandry. It is impossible to deal with that
question in a general way ; and therefore it necessarily metes
to this, that you have to make a selection from the working
classes that their voice and influence should be felt. That
can only be done by the adoption of the principle of selec-
tion and qualification. But if we accept the scheme which
the noble lord has placed before us, the only effect will be to
give a predominance in half the boroughs of England to a
class who, if they act as all their antecedent conduct would
authorise us to believe they would act, that is to say, with
decision, with combination, and with discipline, will have a
predominant power, and probably return to this house a
party that will exercise a great, and perhaps a controlling
influence over the government of the country. (Hear, hear.)
Are you prepared to sanction such a course ? Is it a course
that can be justified ?—I n:11 not say upon principles of po-
litical expediency, but on principles of political justice ? It
is not ; and therefore I cannot agree that the method by which
the noble lord has proposed to introduce the influence of the
working classes into the election of members of this house is
a wise and well considered one. I think he ought to have
increased the constituencies of the boroughs by various
means, and not merely by this perilous monotony of process,
and that while he could have effected that introduction of the
most superior and skilled amongst the working classestothe
constituencies, he might at the same time have done it in
a mode and with conditions which would not have neu-
tralised the voices of all those various classes which are con-
tained in the present borough constituencies. (Hear, hear.)
Now I proceed to consider the next principle upon which
this bill is founded, and that is the reduction of the county
franchise. I for one have never been opposed to seeing all
the counties of this country possess large and ample con-
stituencies, believing that the influence of the land is most
beneficial under our constitution for the preservation of our
liberties. I have always been anxious that the great pro-
prietors of this country, and those who represent the landed
property of the country in this house, should come here
supported by the voice of numerous constituencies, and
should be at the head not merely of their tenantry but of
their neighbours. I have always felt that that would add to
their power, and I look upon their influence and power to
be of the utmost consequence and advantage to the state ;
but in increasing the constituencies of counties there is one
condition which must be observed. The constituencies thus
created should be fairly connected with the chief property
and the chief industry of a county. A constituency would
not be fairly connected with the chief property and the
chief industry of a county if, for example, the suffrage was
possessed by some non-Parliamentary borough, which
might be a new community, developing itself by the influ-
ence of some special interest of its own, or some decaying
town, which had no relations whatever with the property
and industry of the county, but which was there with an
ld vested right of existence, and which, if it exercised tie
franchise, would exercise it very often without any sym-
pathy with the interests or general feeling of the cminty.
I do not think that the condition to which I have referred
—viz., that the constituencies of a county should be con-
nected with its chief property and chief industry—is ob-
served when a great non-Parliamentary borough, teeming
with population, is permitted to send to a county election
its hordes of voters who have no local feeling or interest in
the county, and who are only fitted to vote for a great
manufacturing borough interest. (Hear.) Ido not think
that great condition is observed, especially at a period when
you are more and more establishing the franchise of England
on occupation alone, if you allow a town under the operation
of the freehold franchise to become a great manufactory of
split votes, from which at a general election bands
of voters can be poured forth to elect members of
Parliament for districts with which they have no local
sympathy, and in which they really have no local interest.
In this bill of the noble lord I don't find any condition or
any means by which that great injustice can be rectified.
The fourth or disfranchising clause of the noble lord's bill
disfranchises upon a very great scale • because it enacts '
that the occupation of a building jointly with land shall
not confer the right of voting unless the building be of £5
yearly value in counties. That is a new clause, and, if
carried, it would disfranchise a great number of voters in
counties and rural boroughs. I know that the noble lord
has a horror of disfranchisement, which he proposed in
every bill he himself brought forward, but which he ob-
jected to in the measure I introduced ; but, as simplicity is
the order of the day, and as the noble lord will not go out
of his way to establish a just franchise for the counties, he
ought at least to have refrained from such a measure of
sweeping disfranchisement as is contained in that clause, •
which only applies to rural voters. (Hear.) The county
franchise in this bill will greatly reduce the influence of the
landed proprietors and the landed interest of this country,
and I object to that reduction. (" Hear, hear," from Mr.
Bright.) I tell the hon. gentleman, who seems alarmed
and annoyed at such an expression, why I use it. I look
round Europe at the present moment, and I really do not
see any country of any importance (excepting England) in
which political liberty could be said to exist. I attribute
the creation and the maintenance of our political liberty to
the influence of the land and to the tenure of land in this
country. It is a country in which there are large proper-
ties to which men can rally—(hear)—and that in my mind
is the only security in an old European country against
that centralised form of government which has prevailed
and must prevail in every European community where there
is not that counterpoise, where the tenure of land does not
supply those large properties round which men can rally.
It is to that tenure of land you are indebted for your public
liberties, because it is that tenure of land which makes local
self-government a fact in England, and which allows the
great body of the people to be ruled by traditionary influ-
ence and habits, instead of being governed, as they are in
every other country, by mere police. (Hear.) Believing,
therefore, that this proposition for the reconstruction of the
county franchise has a tendency to diminish that just and
salutary influence of the land of this country, I highly ob-
ject to the proposition of the noble lord. (Hear.) Now,
the third principle of the measure is the redistribution of
seats. Let us see if the application of that principle, as pro-
posed by this measure, be a just and wise one. There are
two schools whose opinions obtain on this subject. First
there is that school of politicians who wish entirely to re-
construct the borough system of representation of Eng-
land, or, I might say, who wish to subvert it. The opinion
of those who belong to that school is that what is to be ob-
tained by a public Parliamentary election in this country
is the declaration of the opinions of the mere numerical
majority, and, with that view, they would subvert the exist-
ing system of representation in regard to boroughs, and re-
construct it in a manner that should produce that result;
that is what I would call the American principle, and in
America undoubtedly it works exceedingly well. But the
circumstances of America are greatly different from those
of England. America is a colony, although a large inde-
pendent state ; its population is continually increasing, its '
wealth, its resources, and its territory are continallyin-
creasing ; and while their legislative assembly or Parlia-
ment, is elected upon the principle of the mere numerical '
majority, they have a first-rate assembly founded upon that '
principle suited to the wants and condition of the country.
There is no other state in America—no other country on
the other side of the Atlantic, that can produce a represen-
tative assembly elected by so large a number of persons ;
therefore in their case and for their purposes they have a
first-rate assembly. But that principle would not apply to
England. (Hear.) So if we were to take the numerical ma-
jority as the only test—inferior as we are to many countries
in regard to numbers—if we had an assembly elected upon
that principle it would be not a first-rate, but a very second
—a very third-rate assembly. The other school is that
which holds the principle, that this being an ancient coun-