The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-24 00:00:00

(From the. _Da' ily News.)
Anti-Reform the •• es two hopes—the one, that
some pretext may y e found for another adjourn-
ment sine die of the great question now ripe for
ill
adjudication by Parliament ; the other, that should
that device fail, conditions and stipulations may be
made during the discussion of the measure that may-
have the effect of neutralising to a great extent its
popular tendency. Various schemes are afoot for
this purpose. It is part of the general plot that
they should be put forward at first as isolated sug-
gestions " of a practical kind," as is said, egregiously
unpretending in their aspect and philosophically
recommended to unsuspicious attention.• Our old
acquaintance, the "voting-paper system," will no
doubt be reproduced with an effrontery as good as
new ; and no end of projects for creating select and
special constituencies for the use of squeamish and
infirm politicians, are ready to be propounded in
committee. Our immediate business, however, is
with a more audacious proposition than any of
these. It is neither moxe nor less than a plan to
render it unnecessary fdr certain members of the
Government, whose prespr.ce is requisite' in Parlia-
ment, to have any constituencies at all t.- '
In the' course of a hing and elaborate speech
against any and every atttempt to deal effectually
with the too long deferred claims of the people to
constitutional rights, Mr. Edward Ellice the
younger coolly told his hearers the other day, at
Cupar, that should any bill seem likely to pass this
year, provisions ought tote inserted enabling the
Minister of the day to nominate 0 offices hitherto
filled by members of tho Legislature, individuals
too obSeure or unpapidar 'to get returned by any
description of constituen , whether pure or venal,
large or small. It is ofte found very inconvenient,
says this worthy mouth ece of oligarchy, not to
be able to place on the Ti sury Bench the particu-
lar men who are most in he confidence of Govern-
ment, and who would be e most unfaltering and
effective apologists of its measures. The fear of
their electors paralyses t courage of some ; and
the mere liability to re-el tion damps in many the
desire to put on the'liver of office. Not a doubt
of it; and that is precis ly the reason why the
great constitutional principle was long ago estab-
lished that the responsible members of the Execu-
tive should be chosen from the men whom the
people were presumed to have sent to Parliament to
watch over their interests, and that a corrupt or
usurping administration might never be permitted
to pack, even for a session, the seat of legislative
rule with its un-elected and irrespongible creatures.
The founders of our liberties well knew that a
popular Minister would never experience 'any diffi-
culty in finding clever and aspiring members of
Parliament to join' the GOvernment ; and that so
long as the policy he pursued was national and
enlightened, such men avoid seldom, if ever, fail
to be re-elected after they had done so. Excep-
tional cases now and then prove rather than inva-
lidatethe rule. But, in the main, it is only when
a Cabinet is felt to be wanting in public spirit, or
neglectful of its duty to the people, that the embar-
rassment is ever known to arise. Good measures
are easily defended ; it is only . bad measures that
need the aid of hard-faced advocacy and support of
merely mercenary partisanship. The want of hire-
ling aid of this description has, indeed been some-
times felt by Ministers who, beginning by specious
professions of zeal for freedom, have apostatised in
office from their early pledges. It may possibly
also with reason be anticipated .by men who, de-
spairing of acceptance by the nation on their
merits, hope to climb up into power by the favour
of the Court and the strength of their family con-
nections, and who would like when they get there
to have the aid of their un-parliamentary auxi-
liaries in Parliament, to talk down opposition to
their anti-liberal and anti•national schemes. They
fear, and justly, any change in the composition of
the Commons House that would reduce still fur-
ther the number of rotten boroughs. The member
for St. Andrew's distinctly says so. • Echoing the
words of his kinsman and leader, Lord Grey, he
laments the extinction of io many of that useful
class of seats by the Act of p 832. He despairs of
actually restoring them, but he is not ashamed to
propose that the same purpose they served should
be accomplished henceforth by other itteans-=•-•
namely, that the Government should have the
power of introducing always a given number of
office-holders, not returned -by any portion of the
community to Parliament, and compelling that
assembly to submit to be bullied, or worried, or
tired out by these " mere mercenaries."
We cannot be surprised that this hopeful propo-
sition commands the signal favour of a cotemporary
distinguished for intrepid admiration of the wisdom
of the Coup d'Etat, and consistent advocacy of the
policy of the Napoleonic regime. Whatever diffe-
rences of opinion may prevail as to the origin or
tendency of that remarkable system, all agree that
its essential characteristic is the completeness of the
way in which political power is_concentrated in the
smallest possible number of hands, and the manner
in which, while certain' forms and ceremonies of
representation are presumed, all real responsibility
iiss wevietryhdtrhaiwngn
inf eeromFrtahne
People. The administration
; public opinion nothing.
Our oligarchs. would fain take a leaf out of the book
of the Bonapartist Empire; and the journals whose
devotion is divided between French Imperialism
and English counteraction of popular tendencies,
naturally dwell with delight: on whatever seems to
be common to the two.