The Sun.
London, England, 1866-02-21 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESOAV EVENiNG, FEBRUARY 21, 1866.

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LONDON, TVEDAESDAY, FEB. 21, 1866.

Y'S Bill for
The introduction of 111rLL~.
tension of the Franchise has the Ex-
enabled th
Commons to consider the claims c House of
3 of a lleferni move-
ment founded, not on the cries of party or
of popularity-, but on a definite and the gain
recognised
principle. This principle, too, is one which nc,
can dispute, and while it meets the objectionswh:he
are raised in many quarters against a considerable
reduction of the suffrage, it answers on the other to
the well-grounded appeal of the friends and
advocates of the working classes. In a
speech characterised by great moderation,
clearness, and ability, 'Air. CLAY introduced
his measure, whose simplicity required little
explanation. Ile does not propose to interfere with
any existing franchise, so that the supporters of a
property qualification will have nothing to com-
plain of, neither does it extend to the counties for
reasons which were subsequently explained. It
provides that any man of full age, not otherwise
disqualified, but not having a vote by any other title,
shall have the right to demand to submit himself to

-------;--
an examination by the Civil Service Commissioneusi, 1
and, on passing the examination to their satisfae---
tion, according to the rules of the service, shall re-
ceive a certificate which shall entitle him to a place
on
the register. It has been
suggested that the
full age specified should be 25 years rather
than the ordinary 21, and this change Mr. CLAY
expressed his willingness to adopt, as well as a pro-
posed extension of the necessary time of residence
from 6 months to 12. Mr. CLAY expressed hiq
belief that there was no mechanical difficulty in
the way of his plan. Having served many years
ago on a committee appointed to consider the working
i of civil service examinations he found that the gen-
tlemen connected with the Commission apprehended
! I no difficulty in allowing every man in the country
to be examined if he wished. The arrangements
nepnlrltoeipdr
eolusyepd
eNxTarlynisninlatpiolen.
pTapheertestis
ietoh baerfeottmodbede
on are
candidate and transmitted to the
civil service commissioners by an appointed officer.
Mr. CLAY is careful to avoid anything like local
examinations, since there might be a suspicion of
' the impartiality of the examiner. The test itself is
to be very simple, including only reading and
writing, and the first four rules of arithmetic ;
in fact, the sort of examination through
which our outdoor custom-house officers have
to pass—such an examination, in fact, as no man of
ordinary intelligence and education need think twice
about, and no man of ordinary intelligence and
application need doubt being eventually able to pass.
The merits of the bill are very great. In
the first place, it admits without any delay
whatever all those members of the educated classes
who are now excluded for various reasons by the
property qualification. " There are clergymen,
members of the learned professions, teachers (some
24,000 in England and Wales), who could
readily pass this examination. We next
have 60,000 commercial clerks and assist-
ants in shops, the greater part of whom
are able to pass an examination, and of these two
classes very few have votes. But, beyond this, there
is another class who could pass an examination
without difficulty—l mean the best educated of
the working classes." All these classes, as Mr.
CLAY justly observed, we have expressed our will-
ingness to admit to the franchise, and various pro-
posals have been made to include them. All of
us, said Mr. CLAY, have declared that we were
ready to admit the best of the working men if we
could find them out ; and here is a way to find
them. You cannot, of course, guarantee a man's
integrity or capacity by such a simple test, but
you can at least insure that he has the means of ac-
quiring that political knowledge without which
political privileges are useless. You are at least
certain that he will be able to judge for himself,
and not be wholly dependent on the partial
or prejudiced accounts he may receive from
others. The great difficulties in dealing with un-
educated masses are of opposite character, because
they arc inclined to one of two extremes, credulity
or prejudice, both strongly indicative of unenlight-
ened minds. The obstinacy which refuses to admit
a doubt of its own infallibility, and the simplicity
which accepts unquestioned every confident asser-
tion, are near akin in reality, although they are very
different in appearance. The man who can pass an
educational test may be liable to both, but he is less
likely to be so, and certainly more capable of receiv-
ing indirect instruction than the absolutely illiterate.
The most democratic advocates of a reduction of
the franchise base their claims upon the intelligence
of the working man, and it is in fact the high rate
of intelligence among our artisans and mechanics
that constitutes their right to demand a voice in the
Government. Nc one presumes to say that a totally
ignorant man has any claim to such a voice, and
therefore, as Mr. CLAY points out, the grievances
complained of would be altogether removed. Yet
there would be no principle of permanent.exclusion,
no class distinction to produce irritation and dis-
content. With a few months' application of his
leisure hours any man can master the necessary
knowledge, and this sacrifice, as Mr. CLAY remarked,
would be the best guarantee for the honest sincerity
and earnestness of purpose. A man who cares enough
about his vote to study for it may fairly be trusted
with it, for the application required would be most
unwelcome to those idle, unsteady, or reckless
spirits, who would be dangerous voters. No one
could reasonably complain of his exclusion, since
the answer would be ready, "Why do you not learn
to read and write ?" and every one, as Mr. CLAY
said, would be ashamed to call that a grievance.
The two franchises of property and intelligence
might, as the hon. member for Ilull urged, be very
safely left to keep each other in check. " The man
who voted from a certificate of education would
always oppose the lowering of the property qualifi-
cation, and would say, ' Let my neighbour take
the same steps that I took.' The householder
would always be opposed to the debasement
of the educational standard."

Mr. CLAY had no reason to complain of the re-
ception which his bill met with. Mr. GREGORY and
Mr. HonsmAN alike supported it in speeches of
considerable vigour. Lord ELcHo gave it a ques-
tionable approval, while the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer, while humorously declaring that not a
word should be got out of him as to the intentions
of the Government, paid tribute to the force, ability,
and sincerity with which the bill had been intro-
duced to their notice. Mr. lionsmAN's speech was
very severe on the professing Liberals, and the
cheers and laughter with which it was greeted
showed that in the opinion of the House his strictures
were not altogether undeserved. All the ardourof the
advanced Liberals had, he declared, been expended
during the recess, and as for the member for Bir-
mingham, though he went up to boiling point on
Jamaica, he was frigid on Reform, while the philo-
sophical Liberals had only shown their philosophy
by the patience with which they endured delay.
Mr. HORS3IAN took the Government to task for not
expressing some approval of a measure based on so
sound a principle, but added that he supposed their
silence proceeded from envy, since their only idea
of statesmanship was to admit a mob. How was it,
he asked, that the Reformers below the gangway '
bad no voice in the matter ? " How comes it that
they have given no response whatever to this pro-
posal
to base the franchise on intelligence ?" It is
the very thing, they tell us, they have been roaring
for all their lives, and I should have expected that
the moment the hon. member for Hull resumed 111
his seat there would have been so many
starting up to second the resolution that you, Sir,
would have been perplexed which to name. But
they all remained fixed to their seats." Satire
ffoeuarle
ndteid on truth is always painfully severe, and we
independent Liberals deserve but too well
the character which Mr. HORSMAN gave them. His
remarks on the Manchester School are of very wide
application, and when be declared that such a bill
was unwelcome, because intelligence is fatal to
agitation, he gave the measure the highest praise it
had received. " We know," he said, " that as the'
schoolmaster advances the agitator. recedes,
and
that an educated multitude no more believes in
demagogues than it believes in ghosts." This is, in
fact, the truth long ago expressed by one of the
earliest Reformers—" Education makes men easy
to lead but difficult to drive; easy to govern, but im.

possible to enslave." It is this which is the great
.security of Mr. CLAY'S Franchise Bill, and which
Ahould commend it to public support.

It adds greatly to the vexatious nature of the
' affair of the Jamaica inquiry that so much time is
consumed in preparation, and the distance from the
colony has allowed so much misrepresentation to
be _made with impunity that the opponents of Mr.
EYE E'S policy have had it pretty much their own
way hitherto. It must be evident, however, to all
who take an impartial view of the matter, that a
1 ztrict consistency has marked Mr. EYRE'S course
i fr om the outset of this affair, and in all his reports
to the Home Government, as well as his replies to
the addresses of the colonists, we rind a clear-
I ness of expression, a calmness of judgment,
and a perfect self-command, which prove in-
dubitably that nothing could be more exaggerated
than the remarks made about his vehemence and
violence. No man could possibly have been placed
in a more painful position in an official point of
view, or one of a more irritating nature than the
deposed Governor of Jamaica, and yet his most un-
scrupulous adversary cannot point to any verified
account which shows impatience or an unbecoming
manner. In the letter addressed by him to Mr.
CARDWELL on the occasion of the command being
handed over to Sir HENRY STORKS, which has ap-
peared in the third series of Jamaica Papers, he con-
trives to give expression to his intentions in language
that is alike forcible and moderate. In such
a trying emergency, how many men would have
displayed indignation and excitement, certainly ex-
cusable, and no doubt justifiable under the circum-
stances, but at the same time not consistent with
the dignity and decorum of official life, or suitable
to the requirements of one in an important and re-
sponsible position. In the letter referred to we
find all that can be desired, and far more than
might have been expected. He expresses his belief
that the result of the inquiry will be to
show that the extreme measures resorted to
were rendered necessary by the circumstances of
the case ; and this opinion, as we know, is
shared by the inhabitants of the colony, and
it is amply testified by the numerous addresses
that have been sent to the Governor. Mr. EYRE
states that he will transfer to Sir HENRY STORKS
all the documents relative to the rebellion which
were being prepared in answer to Mr. CARDWELL'S
despatches ; and he declares that he will willingly
afford him any assistance or information which can
render his task more easy.
No one can fail to appreciate the earnestness with
which Mr. EYRE requests Mr. CARDWELL to convey
to her MAJESTY his humble assurance that, "in the
discharge of the onerous and responsible duties
which have devolved upon me, I have ever been
actuated by the single desire to do my duty faith-
fully to my Sovereign, to uphold the honour of the
Crown, and to insure as far as practicable the
safety and welfare of the colony and people in-
trusted to my care." It must be borne in mind that
this is not a mere form of words made use
of at the close of a career, or on the occasion of
retiring from duties for private reasons, but it
is the acknowledgment on the part of a public
servant of as deliberate an affront as could possibly
be put upon a man of honour and spirit. As Mr.
EYRE himself expresses it, he is " giving up to an-
other a government which he has had the honour of
administering for four years under circumstances of
great difficulty and trial." A man who had acted in any
one particular as Mr. BRIGHT and his friends declare
Mr. EYRE to have done in the course of this affair
of the Jamaica insurrection could no more have
written this letter than he could have comported
himself with calmness upon the arrival of his suc-
cessor. Those who feel that they have acted for the
best, and are sustained by the conviction that
their deeds will bear inspection and scrutiny, are
not dependent upon the favours of fortune, and do
not need lucky chances to give them confidence or
impart strength to their proceedings. Nothing
has given the lie more completely to the
scandalous reports which have been circulated con-
cerning Mr. EYRE than his own words; and we defy
any of the faction to show that there are signs of
either heat or haste on the one hand, or of hesita-
tion and uneasiness on the other. On the contrary,
there are abundant proofs that he was the right
man in the right place, and that had the magnates
of anti-slavery societies and the virtuosi of Exeter
Hall been content to forego their scrupulous inter-
ference, no doubt we should have heard that Mr.
Evan was an excellent Governor, and had proved
himself an efficient servant of the Crown in a most
trying emergency.

The extreme haste with which the Government
have acted is well shown by the confusion that has
arisen in many cases. Some of the most conclusive
proofs that were furnished of GORDON'S guilt at his
trial were to have been forwarded to the Colonial-
office, at the request of Mr. CARDWELL, but mean-
while Sir H. STORKS arrived, and everything was
handed over to him. In fact, everything that men
in high places could do to prejudge and prejudice
the cause of one who served them faithfully
has been done by our Government, and for
this dereliction of their duty we trust that
they will be called to account by Parliament
and the country, whatever be the result of the
Jamaica Inquiry. They have used the power en-
trusted to them by their countrymen for the pur-
poses of promoting the ends of a faction, and in so
doing certainly have appeared to go against their
own preconceived notions. We have no doubt that
if Mr. CARDWELL had been left alone he would
have conducted this affair with discretion, and
afforded satisfaction to all concerned in the colony
and at home, with the exception of prejudiced par-
tisans and extreme opinionists.

It certainly seems extraordinary that people sit-
ting here at home, with very meagre, information
as to the full particulars, should take upon
themselves to declare that there was no proof
of a deep-rooted rebellion, and that it was not jus-
tifiable to keep martial law in existence for so long
a period. If it were not on so grave a subject, it
would be ludicrous to witness such assumption and
ignorance. Mr. EIRE'S remarks to Mr. CARDWELL
respecting the demands on his time sufficiently indi-
cate the state of things in the island at the time of
the outbreak and subsequently to it. " For the
last ten weeks," he says, " I have had an over-
whelming pressure of work, arising from the rebel-
lion, and from the arrangements having to be made
for the safety and tranquillity of the island ; there
has scarcely been a day, Sundays even not excepted,
that I have not laboured from ten to sixteen hours,
and often had been called up in the middle of the
night to do so also." We have been told that re-
volutions are not made with rose-water, but the
members of the faction would have had us believe
that they can be stopped by tame measures and
mild remonstrances. Facts are stubborn things,
however, and they speak out with a force and a
meaning that cannot be contradicted in all the
testimonies we receive from Jamaica. It was no
fancied outbreak that disturbed the minds of the
colonists, and it was no needless vigour that was
employed to subdue it. It is, indeed, hard that a
man's merits should tell against him. Had not
blr. EYRE, by his boldness and decision, put t stop

to the machinations of the negroes, the most ranting
speaker at Exeter-hall, and the most noisy dema-
gogue on a platform at a meeting, could not have
doubted the reality of the conspiracy.

LA TEST INTELLIGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

SPAIN.

MADRID, FEB. 20 (Evening).

To-day in the Chamber of Deputies, Senor
Molina announced, in the name of the Press, that
he intended to address a question to the Govern-
ment with a view to the improvement of the position
of journalism in Spain.
On the demand of the Government, Senor Molina
postponed his motion.