The Sun.
London, England, 1859-02-02 00:00:00

ous and decided Reformer, and which has
taken the Viscount under its especial pro-
tection, is writing a series of, anti-reform
articles, seeking to show that there is no
necessity for any change, and even this day in-
quiring " for what purpose, or with what definite
object are his hearers to do all that he recommends
to be done ? " There is that " sentimen-
tal (!) question," the extinction of Church
Rates, and the abolition of the Game
Laws, which "The Leviathan" suspects to be " of
much the same character." There may be a notion
that there would be some effort to produce more
economical government, but that is all a mistake, for
the extension of democratic power and democratic
principles would rather lead to extravagance than
otherwise. Such is the argument of the Times,
and there can be but little doubt of the concurrence
of Lord PALMERSTON.
There must, however, be a large and comprehen-
sive measure of reform this session, and although
it may not be exactly the bill of Mr. BRIGHT, he
will be entitled to no inconsiderable portion of the
credit to be obtained therefrom.

It is impossible to accept the political article in
he new number of the Quarterly as in any way an

indication of the views entertained by her
MAJESTY'S Ministers in regard to the great pro-

blem now upon the eve of attempted solution—the

Reform of Parliament. The argument advanced

by the Reviewer is one that no sane person, in
either Lords or Commons, would have the temerity
to advocate from his place in either branch of the

Legislature. It is a great deal more than a mere

declaration in favour of the principle of Finality.
It is an avowal far more flagrant in its way than
that memorable one made once upon a time in the
House of Peers, by the late Duke of WELLINGTON.
Upon the occasion referred to, it will be remem-

bered that his Grace contented himself with the
intimation that, according to bis view of things, so
far the country had gone in the way of reform,
and that it should thenceforth go no further !
But the Quarterly Reviewer is a good deal bolder
than this in the irritating temerity of his political

dogmatism. He writes not only as though the
country ought not to advance further, but as
though it ought not to have advanced by any
means so far! Precisely at the very time when

everybody is pointing forward—when everybody
is pressing on, with more or less eagerness—when
all alike are looking for improvement, advance-

went, developement—this Sir Oracle, of the Quar-
terly, is proclaiming loudly the doctrine of Retro-

gression ! He is po-itively for retracing our foo
steps. Instead of aspiring to witness the bettering
in 1859, of what was done in 1832, he is for undoing
what was done in 1832, either in 1859, or as soon
afterwaids as might be in any way practicable.
Upon' the whole great question he expresses him-
self thus explicitly—" Reform," he writes, "is a
road which conducts to a precipice. At the first
halt there arises a cry, Advance.' Another stage
is passed, and reasonable men hope that they have
reached the goal, but suddenly they find the num-
bers greater than ever of those who cry, Advance,
advance !' In vain the wiser heads endeavour to
stop'; .an irresistible force impels them onwards.
They become still more conscious that they are
approaching the brink, and they eagerly desire to
retrace their steps while yet they tread upon the
solid earth. But on they must go in spite of them-
selves, and although they know that they are has-
tening to ruin. Let the middle classes of this
great country, the manufacturers, the respectable
trades people, the farmers—all, in short, who em-
ploy labour and pay wages—pause before they put
themselves and their property under the dominion
of their men. Unless they offer a steady and
timely resistance the fatal boundary will be passed
when they will no longer be able to control the
movement and save the State." After such a series
of pusillanimous declarations, it is surely easy enough
to recognise the fact that in its capacity as a poli-
tical organ the Quarterly's occupation is gone as
irretrievably as that of Othello. For all the
influence it can ever exercise now upon the politi-
cal judgment of its contemporaries, it might from
this time forth be published at Coventry
or at Jericho, as at Albemarle-street, Piccadilly. It
was surely high time, in truth, with such evidence
before us, that Mr. BENTLEY, or some other enter-
prising Conservative publisher, should announce
the speedy commencement of a new quarterly
periodical. The old Quarterly, by the avowal
of views so utterly senile and antiquated, has to
employ the expressive phraseology of prospectuses,
but left a hiatus, the filling up of which has become
a desideratum. As though the opinions expressed by
the old Tory Quarterly in the current argument
upon Reform, from which we have already quoted,
were not sufficiently opposed to the general aspira-
tions of the community, the reviewer writes
flagrantly, as follows:—" Of all the fallacies," he
observes, "that have been promulgated by theorists
about our constitution, the grossest is that of the
equi-balance of the three estates—independent and
coefficient. It is a state of political society which
would not exist a month. Supreme power (how-
ever nominally distributed) must, in practice, be
vested in one authority. With us that authority is
the House of Commons ; but, in order to prevent
that authority being wholly popular and supreme
over the other two, the Crown and the aristocracy
have a disguised but well-known and acknowledged
influence here, which preserves the real balance,
and obviates those dissensions and collisions to
which the same powers, operating in sepa-
rate and wholly independent movements, would
be liable. The present admixture of in-
terests in this house creates a certain
elasticity which has acted like springs, and has
prevented violent collision with the Crown and the
House of Lords. Take away these springs, and we
must run the risk of jostling against each other."
No fear of the Reviewer jostling with any one. He
is in nubibus. He has surely been slumbering for
the last two or three centuries in the mountains
where the giants are supposed to play skittles when
it thunders. Startled from his long sleep by this
wpi
lodne
r thee
_d the
new agitation for Reform, he stands looking down
u
doingsv
eoryf
Rp ouri generation amazed and be-
VAN WINKLE of Politics.
" For what practical end, indeed," he asks, is
Reform demanded, and what are the advantages
we hope to obtain to counterbalance its dangers?"
He is dismayed and astounded at the rashness of
Lord DERBY'S Government in promising to deal
with this purely supposititious difficulty. " The
legacy," writes the reviewer, " was bequeathed to
the present Government by their predecessors,
and [words could not be plainer] we heartily wish
they had declined to accept it !" The Quarterly
then has clearly abdicated its former position. It
is dreaming and doting over the memory of a
Toryism that is no more—that is not only dead,
but buried and almost forgotten. It is the poli-
tical organ of no party, of no section of a party
anywhere discoverable in either House. of Parlia-
ment. As a sign of the times all this assuredly
furnishes the community with a negative augury
full of encouragement.

The Speaker arrived at his residence on Carlton-
terrace yesterday, from Ossington Park, Neward, Lady
Charlotte Denison is expected early next week.