The Sun.
London, England, 1859-10-01 00:00:00

13,-Ach 4.11. STAAIPEJ„ 51)

LORD I. RUSSELL ON P .IRLIAM.EN-
!LARY REFORM.

The following is a more extended report of the
speech of the noble lord on Parliamentary Reform,
than appeared in The Sun of yesterday. His
lordship said—With. regard to Parliamentary Re-
form, I likewise have had a great part to bear.
It was my fortune for many years to contend un-
successfully in that great cause ; it was my great
good fortune to succeed at length in improving the
representation of the country. (Loud cheers.) I
say in improving the representation of the country,
because, whatever feat s were entertained-at the time,
and whatever alarms were suggested to the minds
of the timid, whatever objections were suggested to
tht. thoughts of the prejudiced, I think it is now gene-
rally acknowledged that the greater admission of
the people at large to the councils of the people's
own house has conduced to the happiness and wel-
fare of :the'community, while it has not injured any
of our time-honoured institutions. (Cheers.) And
let me say for the future—without going into ques-
tions partly of detail and partly of statistics—what
are the general principles by which my public life
is guided. I observe that among those who are the
advocates of Parliamentary Reform there are some
who conceive that Parliamentary Reform can only
be completely obtained when the whole frame of our
constitution is altered—when it no 'longer consists
of those parts which have hitherto acted so harmo-
niously together—but when the State shall -be
foundednpon some new principle hitherto unknown
to our constitution. Now, let me at once say, that
all my humble labours have been employed, sin-
cerely, to improve our existing institutions. I have
not found fault with the great principles of liberty
established by our ancestors. I believe that the peo-
ple of this country have enjoyed freedom under those
institutions. I see nothing in the improvement of
those institutions which should at all tend to shake
their foundations. But I believe that, while they
continue from time to time to be improved, it
would be rash and unwise to attempt those organic
changes which would unsettle any of the great
foundations of society. (Cheers) I say this, like-
wise, in all humility, because I feel that to attempt
to frame, as some have proposed to do, a new sys-
tem of representation, is a task entirely beyond my
abilities and my strength, and I should never ven-
ture to enter upon the task of amending the repre-
sentation at all if it were necessary that the whole
frame of the representation should be placed upon
a new basis. (Cheers.) Gentlemen, the matter of
representation, as, indeed, the whole matter of
government; is one of extreme complication, and
requires great nicety in the adjustment of the sepa-
rate parts. You have most of you seen, I dare say,
the machinery for spinning cotton into cotton
thread, :You observed the power of the immense
machine, and the way in which that power is di-
reeted by the fly-wheel to a number of different
wheels, some with a horizontal movement, and some
with a perpendicular movement. The power passes
to the whole machine. You have afterwards seen
its most minute parts and most ingenious contri-
vances—at one time advancing, and at another
receding—producing the thread; and you have
seen that, finally, human hands adjust
those threads where necessary, even to the
most minute, intricate, and complicated work-
manship. Well, no doubt, that is a sight
which displays immense art, and great mecha-
nical skill in those who contrived it, and even in
those who now superintend its working. But, de-
pend upon it, that machine which produces a
cotton thread is not more intricate, or more com-
plicated, than the machinery by which good go-
vernment is produced. (Applause.) And, while we '
are mere workers in that machinery, there have
been men among our ancestors who, not only by
their heads, not only by the vastness of their con-
ceptions, the fertility of their minds, but at the
sacrifice of their lives, the shedding of their blood,
have contrived and given us this great fabric in
which we live and have our being. (Applause.)
While, then, gentlemen, it is necessary, in dealing
with machinery of that kind, to be cautious and to
consider every step that we take, at the same time
it has been my opinion—an opinion which I have
expressed in the House of Commons, not, only in
speeches, but in a direct resolution to that effect—
that greater numbers of the people are entitled to
the franchise of voting for members of Parliament,
and that the strength of the whOle constitution
will be improved by that admission. (Cheers.) And
here again let me refer to the general principles of
our Government. In other countries—in some
countries, at least—there is an abstract principle
of government. In France and in the United States
everything is based upon universal suffrage. .It is
singular enough that I should have to name France
and the United States, as having the same prin-
ciple of government. But so it is ; and the person at
the head of the State, and the representatives of
the people in both countries, are chosen by uni-
versal suffrage directly ; in both there is a Senate
between them which is only chosen indirectly by
that means. And what can be more different.
what can be more distinct in practice and working
than the Governments of these two countries ? The
institutions of France, no doubt, suit the people of
France as the institutions of the United States suit
the people of the United States ; but for my own
part, I am going to point out to you what is the
principle of our own Government, which is, I
think, a totally different one. The principle of our
Government is not to go upon abstract right—not
to found anything upon a theoretical assertion that
every man has a right to take part in the Govern-
ment, but it is to find everywhere where are the
fittest pdsons in whom a certain degree of power
shall be placed, and to give the power to those
persons. (Cheers.) Now such is the case, if you
will allow me to illustrate it, with regard to our
judicial proceedings, which are very complicated,
as I say the whole of our proceedings are. We
have in the first place a person to preside who must
undergo a long and laborious education, who must
have appeared in the courts of law, and must have
acquired a reputation by showing that he could
apply the learning he has acquired. But, then,
although this person is a person of high station, of
known learning, although he is acting in the face
of the world, yet there is a fear—a very natural and
justifiable fear—that if he were to decide all the
cases of criminal and civil justice—that either from
servility or venality, or some impure motive, he
might sell or delay the course of justice. What is
done then ? There are certain persons chosen in
whom reposes the ultimate decision of the case.
Certain qualifications are required in those per-
sons. They are brought together impartial and
disinterested. If they gave their decision alone,
it might be an ignorant, uninformed, and yet honest
decision, but you have from the judge all the law
and learning—all considerations that point you to
a right issue. But you do not allow those ,con-
siderations to act alone—they have to be judged
by the honest and impartial decision of the jury.
Now, I have stated these things. They are passing
before our eyes every day ; they have been long
established—they have entered into our habits, and
perhaps we hardly consider them with so much at-
tention as we should do, because we are so much
used to them. But I am going to apply them in
a similar way to the constitution of our representa-
tive Government Under our representative Go-
vernment we do not divide the country into districts,
and say that every man in that district should have
a vote, and include 40,000 or 50,000. Any appren-
tice or clerk to a land-surveyor could make a re-
presentation after that fashion. It would be easy
to do so; but our system is different. Our system
says
sys em
says that we must search for p?rsons in whom this
franchise may be safely placed. We must find
men vho are sufficiently intelligent to know the
interests of their country, and who are not in such
a needy condition that they are likely to be seduced
by any bribe from that course which their intel-
ligence may point out to them. (Cheers.) When
we have got these persons and made that selection,
then I say we are likely to have a good choice of
the representatives of the people. In 1831, when
considering this subject, Lord Grey's Government
proposed a £lO franchise, and, as one who con-
sidered the subject then, I am able to say they took
it up with great caution. They placed the fran-
chise where they thought it would not be too
low, and we have now to reconsider that subject.
At present I think it is too high (Cheers.) That
is a matter for consideration and examination—all
that I am here stating to you is, in this autumnal
time, when we have not the heats of House of Com-
mons debates. lam now stating the general prin-
ciples upon which I think we should proceed, the
general principles upon which all our institutions
are based, namely,the general principles of seeking
for that which is best, and which will practically
promote the freedom and happiness of the people,
not relying merely upon abstract theories or !rea-
soned deductions. (Cheers.)