The Sun.
London, England, 1867-05-21 00:00:00

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LONDON, TUESDAY, MAY 21, 1867.

- s-

A great advance was made last night in the work
of Reform, and the House may well be congratu-

lated upon the passing of the third clause, and the
virtual settlement of the borough franchise. The
Chancellor of the Exchequer made a statement

which was very favourably received by the House,

the course of which he said that the Government

had taken into consideration the clause moved by
the hon. member for Newark, and had agreed that
it was a desirable one. Cheers from both sides
greeted the announcement that the policy recom-
mended in the proviso might be effected by clauses
in the bill, and if so that it should be done. Some
inpiiries will have to be made as to the best manner
in which the plan can best be carried out, but the

right hon. gentleman said that on Thursday he
hoped to lay clauses on the table which might

carry out the desired object. At the same time
he proposes to suggest to the House the mode in
which the general progress of the bill shall be con-

ducted, in order that it might be sent up to the
House of Lords at a convenient time. Mr.
CHILDEIIS and Mr. lIODGKINSON having with-

drawn their amendments, Mr. LowE rose upon

,he proposal that clause three should stand

part of the bill, as amended, and dcli-

vered one of his striking speeches.

The right

hon. member for Caine has been very reticent of

[ate, but he more than made up for his silence last

night, and went into all the old questions of consis-

.ency, dislike to dissolutions, and so on.

With all

due respect to Mr. LowE and others who follow in

the same track, we would suggest that it was quite
time this sort of argument should close. The public I
are weary of it, and, indeed, feel rather indignant
that so much valuable time should be wasted in the
reiteration of old jokes and the utterance of thread-
bare criticisms. Mr. LO WE began by declaring that
it would be a very good thing if the clause in ques-
tion were reprinted and reconsidered, because it was
" probably the most important ever submitted to
the House of Commons. The necessity for so doing
was proved," he said, " by the fact that no one could
possibly understand the pour of it, as it now stood,
for it had been more cobbled and amended than any
clause was ever before." He, however, seemed to
comprehend its meaning only too well, for he forth-
with plunged in ntedias res, and informed the House
of the great perils which would be incurred if this

mischievous scheme received their sanction.
would seem strange, and, indeed, almost
incomprehensible to those who have not been familiar
with Mr. LOWE'S speeches that he should take so
extreme a view of a question which is of so much
interest and importance to the community.
The reason is that he is against all Reform,
moderate or sweeping, and regards all changes with
a jealous eye. We hope at any rate that this
oration of last night will be the last he will think
necessary to deliver on the subject of Reform, and
that he will allow those who earnestly desire to
see it settled to proceed with the neces-
sary details of doing so. He treated the
Conservative members of the House to a
long dissertation upon the course they had deemed
it advisable to pursue, and told them that they
had abandoned their post of defending the tradi-
tions of the country. Mr. LOWE seems to be hor-
rified at the prospect of household suffrage, and
has devoted all his energies and the resources of
his great eloquence-to illustrate its evil tenden-
cies, and to point out the depths to which they
would fall if once the pernicious plan ware adopted.
His prophecies on the subject are most lugubrious,
and he evidently feels no faith in the good
sense or right feeling of those classes which
are to be enfranchised. We rejoice that
the House of Commons takes a truer and wiser
view of the matter, and relies with confidence on
the patriotism of those classes to whom the fran-
chise is to be entrusted. Mr. LOWE concluded by
an impassioned appeal to the gentlemen of Eng-
land not to do the thing they contemplated, and
asked why they should fling away all these advan-
tages for nothing ? We look upon the matter in a
very different light from that in which the right
hon. gentleman contemplates it, and believe that
the very reason he urges against it is the one
which speaks most strongly in favour of
their doing so—" With stake of every kind, with
an amount of material prosperity, happiness, dig-
nity, and honour which you have enjoyed for the
last two hundred years, such as never before fell to
the lot of any class," how is it, asks Mr. LOWE,
that you can do this thing ? We should think all
right-judging persons would believe that these very
blessings and benefits of their social condition ren-
dered it more incumbent upon them to seek to study
the claims of their poorer fellow-countrymen, in-
steal of endeavouring to avoid the responsibility.
Mr. HENLEY made a very good speech, in which
he showed that the Conservatives had adopted the
best policy ; and considering the time the subject
of Reform had been before the House it was abso-
lutely necessary to settle this matter, instead of
waiting until the pot boiled over and a worse state
of things was the result. We consider that the
cheers which followed upon the passing of this
clause from both sides of the House were very sig-
nificant, and showed the feeling of the majority
in an unmistakeable manner. The Ministry
may be congratulated upon the great advance
which they have made, and those who are