The Sun.
London, England, 1866-03-14 00:00:00

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LONDON, -WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 1E366.

The Ministerial Reform Bill has been read a
first time, but it can hardly be thought by the most
ardent supporters of Government that it has been
received with anything like cordiality or approved
by the House. The distinguishing feature of the
debate has been indifference on the part of the lead-
ing
speakers, but the most significant thing of the
whole is that all the chief opposition made to the
bill at this early stage has proceeded from the
Ministerial side of the House. Mr. GLADSTONE
has found " troops of friends" of the candid sort,
and doubtless their advice and reflections have been
as encouraging and exhilarating to him as such com-
munications generally are. The debate last night
was amusing, and contained great variety ; but
that arose more from the personal tone it assumed
than from any intrinsic interest manifested in the
measure, or for any zeal and enthusiasm for or
against it. Mr. LOWE'S speech was a very elaborate
one, and his strictures on the Government were
very telling against them. It is well known that
the right hon. gentleman is no friend to Reform,
but at the same time he can see very clearly the
errors of those who are or pass to be devoted ad-
herents to its cause. In particular his criticism on
the doings and sayings of Mr. BRIGHT were very
much to the point, and that his shafts struck home
was proved by the circumstance that the hon.
member for Birmingham repeatedly inter-
rupted him, in or out of season. The extreme
inconsistency of Mr. BrdonT's cause was ably ex-
emplified by the member for Caine in his eloquent
and effective discourse. Now we have the Ministers
following the advice tendered to them at Rochdale
by the hon. member for Birmingham, and intro-
ducing a , . billfranemse ; but, says Mr. LOWE, the
hon. member was not always of this opinion, and to
prove it he read a passage from a speech he de-
livered at Bradford in
1659,, in which the oracle
declared that " the question of distribution is the
very soul of the question, and unless you get that
i
you wll be deceived, and where
the bill is passed
v have You are not in
to lament that
you may po--
the position in which you would wish to find your-
selves." Mr. BIIIGIIT and his friends took very
good
care that the bill then under discussion
Should not
pass, and he now stands convicted before the coup_ ,
try of having opposed a measure which went much
further, and would have effected far more than the
fragmentary scheme now before the house. Mr.
LOWE truly said that the House of Commons held
a proud position, and was far above any other de-
liberative assembly that ever existed, and that they
must be careful to keep up its character. More
true than pleasant were his remarks on the weak-
ness of modern Governments. Formerly men in
an official position made up their minds as to the
advisability of this or that proposition, and kept to
it, but now every thing that is awkward is called
an " open question." This is a very correct defini-
tion of things, and shows the necessity for sending
men of discretion to represent the people in Parlia-
ment.

We differ from Mr. LOWE as to the incon-
veniences and injurie6 which he thinks will accrue

from the admission of many more working men to
the franchise. We have not experienced these
evils as yet, and notwithstanding the returns that
have been made show how largely this class has
added to the voters of late years, the sense of the
nation, as represented in the House of Commons,
will always triumph over the influence of class pre-
judice and interest which the right hon. gentleman
deems likely to intend if the present measure be

carried out.

Mr. VILLIERS did his best to support the Bill,
but he was more successful in those parts of his
discourse in which he addressed himself to a general
view of the question than when he came to parti-
culars. The right hon. gentleman adduced the
instances of Catholic Emancipation, the repeal of
the Corn-laws, and the introduction of the first
Reform Bill, to prove that gloomy prognostications
were not always fulfilled. If, however, as Mr.
VILLIERS declares, now is the accepted time for
amending the representation, why not go on and
complete the good work, instead of trying temporis-
ing and experimental schemes, andleaving for a future
time the difficulties and irksomeness of settling the
vexed questions that relate to its corpletion. The
truth of Mr. LowE's observation about weak
Governments was exemplified in that part of Mr.
VILLIERS' speech in which he said that this was a
bill " respecting which those who are intimately
allied with the people, and have their confidence,
declared that though it is not all that they desire
they are ready to accept it." This is not the
speech in which the Ministers of a great country
ought to introduce a measure that concerns the
interests of the community. If the members of the
Government do not possess the confidence of the
people they are not fit for their position, and cer-
tainly it is quite out of character that they
should employ political dragomen to interpret for
them -what are the desires and hopes of the nation.
There is too much of all this clap-trap in the mea-
sure before us. It goes too far for the moderate
men ; but it bears no relation to a proper scheme
of Reform—a comprehensive measure for adapting
the laws of representation to the spirit of the age
and the wants of the people. It is not a grand
idea, a decided plan of action, such as a Ministry
might glory to succeed in carrying, or be proud to
fall in endeavouring to further its high and heroic
objects. All parties concerned in its concoction
have made a compromise, and we cannot recognise
in this bill any of the zeal which was to distinguish
Mr. GLADSTONE as a shining light in the cause; while
we can find little of the pristine energy which
made the name of Lord RUSSELL associated with
the measure of 1832. Then, again, we have Mr.
BRIGHT very tame and unequal after the fervour of
his protestations of 1859, when he was ready to
move mountains rather than let an insufficient and
incomplete measure sully the annals of Parliament,
and offend the taste and militate against the wishes
of the nation.

Mr. GLADSTONE did not think it expedient to
make a reply, which was the more remarkable be-
cause the chief opponent had been on his own side
of the house, they had been very unequally met
by the supporters of the measure, and it
will be some time before any contrary statements
can be made, while what has been said against the
measure will be influencing the public mind and
dwelling in the memory of those who have listened
to the speeches, all above the average in point of
merit, and some distinguished for their reason and
eloquence. Mr. BRIGHT did not say much to the
purpose in his attempt to support the Ministers,
and set to maintain his own consistency. He tried
to get rid of the attacks made upon him by Mr.
LOWE and Mr. HonsmAN by a sort of to quoque
argument, and declared they were disappointed at
not getting into office. This style of argument may
produce laughter in a debate, but it is a very poor
weapon of defence after all, and we should entertain
a more profound faith in Mr. BRIGHT'S professed
horror of " place," if he were not always talking of
it. Mr. BRIGHT has a very bad habit of contra-
dicting all that is said in relation to his past doings
and sayings, and he interrupts a speech a dozen
times rather than allow the House to think that any
report of his speech is correct. This answeredvery
well when Lord CRANBOL'RNE quoted from the
report of the Times about a certain meeting, but it
did not succeed quite so efficiently when, on his
challenging Mr. LOWE as to the authenticity of his
statement, the right hon. gentleman gave the Star
for his authority. Mr. BRIGHT did not rise to
defend the bill, but to explain it, which it was
curious that he was so competent to do, seeing
that he affirmed he had had nothing
to do with its framing. He seemed, how-
ever, to have imbibed a sort of intuitive per-
ception of its merits, and
_ . .

" Take to its virtues very kind,
And to its faults a little blind."
The " difficulties of Ministers" and the " disin-
clination of Parliaments" pleaded its cause with the
hon. member for Birmingham, and he proceeded to
damage it by his support, declaring that if the tone
in which the working-classes were spoken of was not
moderated, either there would be a constantly increas-
ing emigration to weaken the country, or " you will
find some accident happening when you will have to
do something more than you are asked to do to-
night, under the threat, and it may be the infliction,
of violence." A more unworthy representation of
the feelings of the people could not have been made
than this language contains from one who professes
to be their exponent. But it is not in this spirit that
the House of Commons can entertain, or the people
of England consider, the question of Reform. This
new scheme has no decided prospect of success, and
indeed may very likely fail. Neither its adoption
nor rejection by the house will have the effect
that Mr. BRIGHT prophesied. All that we have
to do is to wait in patience, and to persevere in an
endeavour to arrive at the truth ; and if the Minis-
ters are not able or willing to effect their purpose of
Reform, the people will be very willing to await its
solution at a more favourable juncture.

The political affairs of Victoria have reached a
crisis of considerable importance, and it is fortunate
for the colonists that they have at the head of
affairs a Minister so impartial, so firm, and so
thoroughly constitutional as Mr. CARDWELL. The
right hon. gentleman has had more than one pro-
blem to solve since he accepted the seals of the
Colonial-office ; but when he has been left to his
own unbiassed judgment and unfettered action, he
has usually shown himself fully equal to the occa-
sion; .
The situation of affairs in Victoria has grown
so complicated and so serious that Mr. CARDWELL
has been forced to take a decided step, and has
recalled the Governor of Victoria. Sir CHARLES
DARLING has been a faithful public servant through
a long career, but in his government of Victoria he
has shown either a complete oblivion or a total dis-
regard of the fundamental principles of constitutional
legislation. The Governor of a colony, like the
QUEEN herself, should recognise no party, and
should make it his first duty in a time of disturbance,
as her MAJESTY would do in a similar case, to settle
every political difficulty by a strict observance of
Constitutional law. Sir CHARLES DARLING, on the
contrary, has sided with one branch of the Legisla-
ture against the other, completely disregarding or
and in conjunction
superseding the Upper Howse,