The Sun.
London, England, 1866-04-07 00:00:00

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seats has assumed a most fortunate position ; it
stands even for the moment in the good graces of
those who never liked redistribution of seats before,
but who I fear will continue to retain their liking
for it but a very short time longer. You will see,
gentlemen, that when the views of the Government
on this question are stated, they will be found in
the estimation of that portion of the community to
be very unsound indeed. (Cheers.) And, in point
of fact, the very persons who contend that we have
committed an unpardonable error, and rendered our-
' selves guilty in the face of the country by producing
onlyone half of our Reform Bill, will say when we
come to produce the other half that our guilt will be
greater still. But, gentlemen, I will only ask you for
the present to believe that in determining to submit
the plan, to the present Parliament during the pre-
sent session, first and foremost of the question of
the franchise, whether we have acted rightly or not
we have acted with deep reflection, and we have
acted with a sincere and single-minded desire to pro-
mote the interests of the common cause. But now,
gentlemen, strange enough, these very persons are
the men who, complaining of us so bitterly for not
having produced a large measure, are likewise the
men to complain of us for having introduced any
measure at all, and say that we have given no rea-
sonable grounds for introducing this measure. In
fact, that is true. This measure, simply considered,
is a measure of additional enfranchisement involving
a sensible reduction of the franchise ; it is a men...
sure which for the last 15 years has been before the
country, and it has during these 15 years received
the unquestionable and unanimous support of every
party and of almost every public man in the coun-
try. Well, gentlemen, Lord Clarence Paget, who
spoke at the banquet last night, when he proposes
the navy estimates, does not begin by proving the
necessity for a navy, but asks only for the sums of
money necessary to keep it up. So we were under
the belief that we werebringing in a proposal which
had received constant adhesion from every quarter,
and we thought it idle to go back to first elements,
and waste time in discussing the theoretical rights
of man, and the expediency of applying or recog-
nising those rights upon this or that principle.
(Cheers.) But, gentlemen, if we are called upon to
assign reasons for this measure there is no difficulty,
in assigning them. The first reason—and what we
thought was a sufficient reason : what I still believe
is a sufficient reason—for an assembly composed as
Parliament is of Englishmen, was the reason that it
had been repeatedly, solemnly, constantly, delibe-
rately promised. (Cheers.) But if that be not
enough, it is not difficult to point to the many con-
siderations that show the necessity of the introduc-
tion of such a proposal at the present time. Now,
gentlemen, if I speak of this bill as a
bill of which the merits turn specially on the question
connected with the enfranchisement of the working
classes, I do so with reluctance—l do so with
pain—I do so under protest ; because, like those who
have preceded me, I decline to recognise those dis-
tinctions which are so ungenerously and offensively
asserted to exist in this happy country between class
and class. (Cheers.) Nor was a more important
or a more questionable truth ever uttered in public
assembly. I believe that in this country you will
never have one class combining against other classes
of the community except when excluded from the
franchise. But still, if we must meet our opponents
on their own ground, I would ask whether the pre-
sent adjustment of the electoral franchise is alto-
gether fair as respects the working classes of this
country. (Cries of " No, no.") Now I raise this
issue fairly, and I raise it fearlessly, to a tribunal
not composed of the working classes, but composed
in the name of the middle classes of this country.
Now, gentlemen, I take not the number of the
working classes, for if I took the numbers I should
be overwhelmed with accusations that that meant
deFeToTeLiii insWordrokyouitklitwe
subject of numbers, but I will take simply for a
moment this fact--I will take the income of the
working class. I want to know whether the work-
ing class of this countryis at the present time repre-
sented in the constituency in fair proportion to its
income. (Cries of " No, no.") It is a little diffi-
cult to get at anything like a precise estimate upon
this subject yet still, dealing with the last figures
.
before us, it is not difficult to come near enough to
the truth, and arrive at an answer to the question
which I have put. Now, we know pretty well what
is the sum assessed to the income tax ; and the sum
assessed to the income tax, although it includes a
portion of the earnings of the working class, yet,
for the present, I will assume it to belong wholly
to those who are not of the working class. That,
gentlemen, is somewhat above three hundred mil-
lion pounds a year ; and probably the income which
belongs to those not of the working class may be
between £300,000,000 and £350,000,000. Now,
what is the income of the working class? That
is still more difficult to reach by accurate estima-
tion ; but it has been the subject of very careful and
interesting inquiry, and I believe it would be a
moderate estimate, speaking of the three king-
doms, if we placed the income—the aggregate in-
come of the working men of this country—at nearer
£250,000,000 than £200,000,000.
.Now, if that be
so, it follows that the income of the working classis
something like five-twelfths,—not very far short of
one-half,--something like five-twelfths or three-
sevenths of the whole income of the country. I. j
take it at three-sevenths, which I don't believe in
any sense to be an outrageous estimate ; that is to
say, that out of every £7 of income £3 is received
by the working men ; and the doctrine of those
who are most restricted in their views is this, that
we ought to look to the representation of property.
Now, as in this country we don't tax as a general
rule property that we may raise the means of carry-
ing on the Government, I say that the propor-
tionate income we ought to raise, if even on the
principle laid down by our opponents we are to
seek for a fair adjustment on the subject, I find
that three-sevenths, or something like it, *of the
whole income of the country is income belonging to
the working class. Now, what is the proportion
of their representation ? We have produced figures,
according to which it appears that 128,000 of the
working class now enjoy the borough franchise, be-
sides what may be called the handful, in comparison,
of the working class who enjoy the county franchise
by virtue of the forty-shilling freehold. Much has
been said on the subject of figures ; it has been said
that we adopt too large an idea of the definition of
working men, and that a much smaller number
would be more correct ; but we have taken a large
and liberal definition, and adopt that large and li-
beral definition ; and in stating our case as much as
we can in favour of our opponents,
possibly between counties and boroughsthere
men en-
be 150,000, or something more, working
and `Talcs. The
we find
maythat
joying the franchise in England
whole number of voters in the constituencies
round numbers, 1,050,000;
of the working people three-sevenths of the
so that while the whole
one-seventh cf the constitu-
are only
income, they
Again, gentlemen, were I to
taxation paid by the working COM.
munity of this country,
lconocky t
0( (Cheers.)
hhee e r s . )
, the case would come out
very nearly in the same form. It is indeed a matter
of discussion, which admits of accurate settle-
ment, what proportion of our indirect taxes in par-
ticular is paid by the different classes of the com-
munity ; but undoubtedly, in my opinion—and I
have had some means of judging—not less than one-
third, probably a great deal more than one-third of
the £68,000,000, at which our revenue now stands,
is contributed by the working population. I ask,
then, with what justice we can ask the working
population to pay rent in proportion to taxes, and
put them off in return with the miserable fraction
of one-seventh of the representation ? (Cheers.)
Well, gentlemen, I think these are reasons—as our
opponents are so fond of reasons—to justify the
moderate scheme that we have laid before Parlia-

.efer to

another point. son from
the comparison land that
which was in 1832. According to the figures I
have taken, the working class at this moment con-
stitute 26 per cent, net 'of the constituencies of the
boroughs of England. According to what would
probably be an estimate nearer the strict truth, they
constitute 21 per cent, or a little over one-fifth.
How stood that matter in 1839 ? In the year 1832
the working class constituted no less than 31 per
cent. of the constituency so that the proportion,
which we are now endeavouring to remedy, has been
not au increasing, but a diminishing proportion.
(Cheers.) Now, gentlemen, is that just ? What
changes have taken place since 1832 ? Has the
relative position of the working clam improved, or
has it deteriorated ? No one can doubt that it has
been greatly improved. Not the most superficial
observer could survey the condition of England in
1832 and again in 1866, without perceiving that in
everything that relates to social duty and to capacity
for the enjoyment of political privileges the working
class has made enormous advances. (Cheers.) I
am far from saying that they have nothing to learn ;
they have much to learn, and much to learn have we
all. But look at. all the points upon which that ca-
pacity and that fitness for duty and privilege de-
pend, and who is there that can for a moment
doubt that the time has come when instead of a
diminishing and a dwindling, we ought to
have a growing, increasing, and an expanding
proportion of the working classes in the consti-
tuency ? (Loud cheers.) Nor was there ever a
time in the history of our country known to us when
our improving agencies have been so busy. Look
at the agencies of the ministers of religion, and look,
to begin with, at the clergy of the Established Church.
One can feel no delicacy in speaking of it now. The
clergy were a lethargic class, with many honourable
exceptions, but still in the main a body of men whose
eyes were not sufficiently elevated above human
things
the
towards the eternal and imperishable objects
-which •it was their duty to follow. How are they
one m
Churcho tn
ae nt t
this withhold
moment,from
o
nowte1•10 of f man
will National for
clergy
man would think of withholding from them, that they
are a body of men honestly and
their high calling. (Cheers.) The very same thing
which I say of their activity and devotion I believe
may be
,said with equal truth of the activity and de-
votion of the ministers of every. other Church and
persuasion in the country. It has not been in the
Church only, but it has also been in the school. Look
at the vast extension of education, and look at what
has been done by the State. I have not put the figures
together, but I believe I should not overstate the sum
were I to say that from 10, probably 15, and possibly
not far from £20,000,000 have been spent by the
State during the last 35 years in modes and through
channels wholly new for the promotion and extension
of education, and likewise that the spending of that
money has been the means of eliciting from private
sourcesthe expenditure of a much larger sum. What
has all that been but the creation of a vast machinery
for the moral as well as the intellectual improvement
and elevation of the mass of the community ?—but
not the school and the Church only; look likewise
at the Press. Now, what has the State done in
this matter ? It is most important for us to keep
in view that department of the subject, because
what is done by the State is done deliberately
by public authority, and expresses the general
judgment of the nation. Why, the State, gentle-
men, has surrendered within the last 20 or 25 years
more than two millions, perhaps about 2f millions
of revenue, in the paper duty, upon the newspaper
stamp, upon the advertisement duty, for the sake of
giving access to knowledge to the masses of the
community--easier access to knowledge, but, above
all, easier access to that knowledge which is political,
and therefore in every department of human nature
—with regard to what is spiritual, with regard to
what is moral, with regard to what is intellectual,
and with regard to what is political. We have now
for a whole generation of men been engaged with
one consent in endeavouring to increase the capacity
of the mass of the community for the discharge of
public duty. Can there be anything more absurd
—after having participated in these operations, after
having pushed them to the utmost of our power,
Lau...Laying used severvi. means to procure and to
in that way, as they have raised, the working
classes and the masses of the country --then to turn
round upon the very work we have ourselves per-
formed, to refuse to it its natural' consummation,
and to say, " We admit your increased fitness, we
admit your increased intelligence, we have done all
we can to help it on ; but we will still deny to you
that public and legal recognition to which by fit-
ness you are entitled, in the shape of the possession
of the franchise, and a share in making the laws
that govern your country ?" (Loud cheers.) Why,
gentlemen, it is hardly to be supposed that objec-
tions, reasonable though they may sound when they
have been brought out into the light of day, can en-
dure the test of discussion. I am glad, on many
grounds, to meet you here to-night ; but I am glad
especially because it is in these great assemblages of
our fellow-countrymen that the opinions and senti-
ments are formed which become ultimately the
guides of the public mind and of the public policy.
I would that those who say there is no sentiment in
the country favourable to the passing of the mea-
sure of the Government, could be present among
us to-night, and could judge for themselves. Gen-
tlemen, it is not violence, it is not the love of
innovation, it is not a pedantic adherence to what
is necessary to vindicate our own consistency,
that brings us forward as a Government in
connection with this important measure. It is a
deep conviction that we are endeavouring to assist
in the payment of a debt which not only honour,
but justice and policy, recognise as due to the people
of this country. (Cheers.) Have those who find
fault with our proceedings considered the real
amount of the change which has passed in the mind
and temper of the community within the last thirty
years? Do they really look back to what was the
condition of the peasantry 36 years ago under the
operation of poor-laws ? Do they look back to
the petition which was signed, or purported to be
signed, by 3,000,000 of men, and which was signed,
at any rate, by an enormous and almost inconceiv-
able number, praying for radical and fundamental
changes, and evidently indicating a general unset-
tledness, if not discontent of mind, rankling in th
breasts of the mass of the community 25 years ago ?
That was the case. Who could get up such a pc-
tition now ? (Cheers.) But if there is content,
if there is intelligence, if there is fitness, is it not
of the exist-
encethen our business to take advantage
• and to rally them all by
of those qualities, giv-
ing in our proceedings on
them a positive interestbehalf of the institutions of the country ? Why,
at that time the soreand
gentlemen, uneasy state
of the public mind, the mind of the mass of the com-
munity, indicated itself in 10,000 forms. I will
not go.back to those manifestations of violence; I
will not go back to those unhappy and deplorable
collisions between the authorities and assemblages of
the people which now raise a blush on the cheeks of
Englishmen ; but I will speak of other things, and
of one that is familiar. At that time there was a
fund of popularity attaching to parodies of verywell-
known and very sacred and solemn documents of our
religion ; their well-understood forms of expression
were twisted in order to meet popular favour into
a sense adapted to express the wants and sufferings
of the people. I happened, not long ago, in a hum-
ble street in London to hear a couple of men
singing a parody of that kind ; it was a parody
of the Church Service in the Prayer Book,
and the expressions were altered so as to refer
to the great supposed misery and misgovernment
of the people. This was written within the last few
months, and I had the curiosity to wait near these
persons for a considerable time in order to see what
took place. They were successful in gathering around
them a group which appeared to vary from be
six and twelve boys and girls ; and those boys and
girls, lam bound to say, thereby testifying to the
improved condition of the working classes, did pro-
duce various pennies and half-Pennies, with which
they purchased copies of these wonderful produc-
tions. But my curiosity was to see what testimonies
of popular interest they would receive from the adult
working men. It was about six o'clock in the even-