The Sun.
London, England, 1866-03-24 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES. The Government have half abandoned
thier first course with relation to Reform, and
have gone half way to adopt another. They
have behaved as many a coxswain has done before
now, but as we hope that neither of the two who
are to steer the University boats this morning will
demean himself. The unlucky man in the stern
sees that he has got his crew into a nasty piece of
water, so he resolves upon shifting to the other side
of the course, but the bow of his boat is barely
turned when he reflects upon the danger of the pro-
ceeding, and hastily shifts back again. The crew
lose their heart, the coxswain his presence of mind,
the lookers-on their patience, and the University
the race. The Ministry are in peril of a similar
catastrophe. Lord Grosvenor's amendment, and
the notices of motion which have come from various
quarters supplementing it, have convinced them of
the aversion of the House of Commons and the in-
difference of the country to a mere instalment of
Reform, and they now propose to propitiate the dis-
like of a partial scheme, not by introducing a com-
plete measure, but by giving a formal outline of
what the completed measures of an undefined future
might be. Mr. Gladstone announced last night
that if the Franchise Bill should pass a second read-
ing, the Government would inform the House as to
their views upon the Scotch and Irish franchises
and the redistribution of seats, and, in order to do
so most fully, their views would be embodied in
Bills to be laid upon the table. These Bills would
be meant, however, only for information ; there
would be no intention of proceeding with them
this Session, but supposing them introduced
• in the manner suggested, the Government would
then, after allowing a decent interval for their
digestion, invite the House to go into Com-
mittee upon the Franchise Bill. As a matter of
curiosity, it would be interesting to inquire at
what time the most sanguine admirers of the pre-
sent bill can, after delays thus foreshadowed, hope
to see the measure carried to the House of Lords ;
but when the preliminary dangers it must encounter
are considered it must be allowed that the question
would be rather speculative than practical. The
plan of action now proposed by the Ministry can
satisfy no one who approves the opinion embodied
in Lord Grosvenor's amendment. It shows a failure
to understand the reason of the objection to a mere
Franchise Bill, and the objection itself is consequently
left unremoved. The question is not as to the need or
the advantage of Reform. So much has been re-
peatedly acknowledged on both sides of the house,
and is not now denied. The point in dispute is
whether it is fitting or statesmanlike that a bill
simply reducing the franchise in existing constitu-
encies should be passed into law, and the question
of redistribution, which every one professes to be
infinitely more important, should be left to the
chances of another session, another Parliament, per-
haps of another Ministry—in a word, to the thou-
' sand uncertainties of the future. We should have
thought that those who saw the prolonged agitation
consequent on piecemeal legislation, the danger that
half maybe accomplished and the remainder left for
more troublous times and new classes of voters, must
have acquiesced in Lord Grosvenor's amendment.
Mr. Kinglake, however, declares that he entertains
as strong an objection asLordGrosvenor to the idea
of separating the question of the franchise from that
of redistribution, but that the proper time to take
the objection is after the second reading, and before
going into committee. He seems to think that the
house is pledged to the principle of a Franchiseßill,
and therefore no obstacle should be interposed to the
second reading of the bill now before it; but, by the
same reasoning, no opposition from considerations
outside the bill should be offered to its passing through
all its stages and becoming law. The truth is, how-
ever, that while the House of Commons has by read-
ing reform bills a second time expressed over and
over again the opinion that reform was desirable,
and has also declared that no reform would be satis-
factory. which did not include enfranchisement,
t
has constantly refused to entertain the consideration.
of mere franchise bills. And it has. acted wiselydmenitn.
doing so. Our electoral. system. rritrhesatainen
they should
members ought to be distribute so
better represent the power and the intelligence of
the country ; and large numbers nowt on the register..
might advantageously be admitted o the, privilege
of voting in reformed constituencies... These are
intelligible and statesmanlike principles. But to
talk of the principles of such a bill aS that now be-
fore the country is a mere abuse of words. It has no
principle. It contains clauses for the enfranchise-
ment of a certain number of voters ; but what would
be their effect upon the House of Commons seems
never to have been considered. It is a moot point

_
point whether, though brought in by the Govern-
ment, it would not increase the force of the Opposi-
tion. No one can guess how voters newly enfran-
chised are to be brought to consent to their own ex-
tinction. The Ministry have left all such considera-
tions unconsidered, and invite the country to follow
their example. Only last night we had evidence how
little attention had been paid to the statistics which
have been collected. Mr. Gladstone told the House
of Commons, on some unknown authority, that the
£lO householders had increased at a more rapid rate
between 1832 and 1851 than from 1851 to the pre-
sent time. Those, however, who have studied the
Electoral Returns know that the voters who were at
once freemen and £lO householders in 1831 were all
claEsed as freemen, and that it is now impossible to
separate them, and hence that the apparently great
increase of £lO householders between 1832 and 1851
is simply due to the fact that the old freemen house-
holders died out, and their representatives and suc-
cessors were put on the register as householders
only. The point is important as bearing upon the
gradual enfranchisement of the working classes by
increasing wealth, and it is significant that the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, who was evidently
alive to its importance, should be misled with refer-
ence to it. The notion that laying on the table
bills which are not to be proceeded with can meet
the just objections to the Government plan of pro-
posing only an instalment of reform is absolutely
untenable; and the resolution to treat Lord Gros-
venor's amendment as a vote of want of confidence
betrays a temper which we may almost term femi-
nine. There are limits to the demands which ought
to be made on the confidence of the most trusting,
and while the House of Commons may be very
well disposed to support the Administration, it
ought not to be called upon to take what
we have already characterised as a leap
in the dark. We hope the opportunity for medi-
tation afforded by the Easter recess will lead to
calmer counsels, and a better view of the respect
due from the Ministry to the House of Commons
and to themselves. It is unworthy of them to re-
sent a caution which members of Parliament owe
to their country. On a question of such Constitu-
tional importance as a reform of our representative
system there is no place for humouring individual
caprice. No subject of legislation can be suggested
more grave in itself, more far-reaching or more en-
during in its influence. It is not a question whether
one remission of taxation should be preferred to
another, or whether an obnoxious rate should be
repealed. What Parliament is called upon to con-
sider is not merely the representative system which
shall endure for the present generation ; the forces
to be now called into existence may control the legis-
lation of only 30 or 40 years, but they will direct
the course of future reforms, and so exercise an
endless influence. The destiny of the country is at
issue, and it cannot be surrendered to blind chance
on the one hand, or petulant spleen on the other.

" THE ANGLO-AMERICAN TIMES" ON THE
INDEPENDENT STATES OL AMERICA.—None of the
independent States of the American Continent
can thus far stand any comparison with the
United States as regards progress in power and
prosperity ; but it is gratifying to observe that
nearly all of them are at least making marked pro-
gress, and that many seem to approach the time
when they will exceed in rapidity of progress every
State in Europe. Brazil, Chili, the Argentine Re-
public, Uruguay, and Peru have fully recognised
the importance of foreign immigration for the de-
velopment of the resourccslof their countries, and are
making efforts to secure its continuance and steady
increase. All these States have recently made great
progress in the construction of railroads and tele-
graphs, in the increase of their navy, and generally
y
in the improvement of their internal administra-
tion ; and if they cannot yet offer to the foreign
settler the same advantages as the United States,
they are undoubtedly in a position to hold out to
millions of Europeans prospects which they vainly
look for in their old homes. All the other States of
Central and South America begin to be alive as to
the importance of immigration ; and even the Im-
perial Government of Mexico is making laudable
efforts to atone for its obtrusion upon an unwillifla
people, and its attempted destruction of one of the
American republics, by encouraging foreign immi-
gration. The example of the United States, whose
population rose from 3,929,827 in 1790, to
31,429,891 in 1860, shows to what power the other
American States might arrive in about seventy
years. The territorial capacity of nearly all the
American States for such power we cannot demon-
strate more conclusively than by the following
table, comparing the area of the leading American
and European countries, which we extract from
the New York _lron Age:
American

Countries. Sq. Miles.
United States 3,045,715

Brazil 3,000,460
Mexico

Argentine Republic 82,000

Turkey (in Europe,
Asia, and Africa) 1,805,000
Sweden & Norway 292,000
Austria
France
Spain 174,000
Great Britain
Prussia
Italy
This table deserves to be studied by all who feel
an interest in the " manifest destiny " not only of
the United States, but of the whole American
Continent. It presents, in a few lines, the most
cogent proof for the great future which is in store
for most of the American states, and for the pro-
vidential mission which is yet reserved to the
Western Continent in the annals of the human
race. In the list of European countries we find
only one, Russia, which, in point of territorial ex-
tent, towers above the present states of the Ameri-
can Continent. But, if it be takeninto consideration
that more than one-half of its territory will always
remain either an uninhabitable desert, or, at least,
capable of only a very thin population, pros-
pects of Russia, in so far as they are conditional
upon territorial extent, are reduced to a level with
those of two of the American states, the United
States and Brazil. Turkey we need not take into
consideration, for no one disputes its speedy doom
to disintegration. Sweden and Norway can never,
on account of their climate, obtain a rank among
the populous states and grand powers. Thus there
remain only six in the list of European States to
compare with the States of America—Austria,
France, Spain, Great Britain, Prussia, and
Italy. The future history of Europe would
hardly contradict us if we excluded even
Austria from this list, for the heterogenous
races which inhabit it are all advancing in
divergent directions, and the unity of the empire is
being weakened every year, and with increasing
rapidity hastening to its inevitable destruction. But
even leaving Austria in its place, there are on Ame-
rican soil six States exceeding any of the named
European States in point of area, and having before
them the prospect of greater power. America, with
a density of population equal to that of Europe,
would be four or five times more populous and
powerful than Europe, and it will, therefore, be a
match for Europe as soon as the density of popula-
tion will be about one-fifth of that of .Europe.
The latter point is clearly attainable within a
future not very remote. The United States, in
consequence of the increasing emigration from
Europe, have already exercised an influence upon
the comparative rate of increase of population on
the two continents, which has astounded the Euro-
pean statisticians and statesmen. The few months
which have elapsed since the conclusion of the civil
war have already given to the European immigra-
tion a new impetus, which for the future holds out
the prospects of such a dimension of emigration,
and such a rate of increase of population, as
are without parallel in the history of nations.
What, then, would be the average transmigration
of Europeans to America, and the aggregate rate of
increase of population on the American Continent,
as compared with Europe, if most or all of the
other American States could fully comprehend the
secret of the success of the great Transatlantic Re-
public? And what could more delight every true
American than such an event ? How soon would
the dictatorial policy of Spain and France-
in American affairs, and their encroachments
upon the rights of the feeble States, come to an
end, if they were sure to meet in America, in-
stead of one, seven States which are fully their peers?
And what would become of the irresistible influence
of free American institutions upon the people in
European countries, if not only the United States,
but the majority of all the American States, ap-
peared in their eyes as El Doradoes, where
millions of their friends and countrymen easily
succeeded in finding their own homestead and an
independent position, for which they are so often
struggling in vainin their native countries?
We see that a Community of Customs is now
proposed between the independent States of the
American Continent, and the people of the United
States are agitating for an International Commer-'
cial Convention at Panama, or at some central
point, to take into consideration the common
interests of all the American States. Gradually
the influence of the Republic is showing itself upon
all the independent Powers of North and South
America, and, ere long, will be seen illustrated, on
a grand scale, that saying, " Westward the star of
empire takes its way."

European
Countries. Sq. Miles.
Russia (in Europe,
Asia, & America) 9,000,000
Russia in Europe,
alone 1,900,000

Columbia (U.B. of) 480,800
Venezuela 426,712
Ecuador 240,000

Bolivia

Chili
Paraguay 84,000

THE DANGERS OF THE STREETS.—Owing to the
alarming increase of street accidents, the vestry of St.
Marylebone have unanimously resolved to place two
"rests" iu Oxford-street as refuges for pedestrians in cross-
ing the thoroughfare, one to be placed opposite Charles-
street, which leads to Soho-square, and the other nearly
opposite Park-lano.