The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-02-15 00:00:00

THE NEW REFORM BILL.

THERE is something peculiarly significant of the
weakness of the present Administration in the phi-
losophic coolness with which Lord JOHN RUSSELL
on Thursday announced that it was not the inten-
tion of the Government to bring forward any mea-
sure for the amendment of the representation of the
people. It was in 1851 that Lord JOHN RUSSELL,
in order to get rid of the inconvenient motion of
Mr. LOCKE KING, inspired his Radical supporters
with hopes of this instalment of the Charter being
granted by promising a comprehensive measure on
the subject. In the very commencement of the
Session of 1852, before his colleague (Lord PAL-
MERSTON) threw him out of office, he brought for-
ward a long Bill, in which he grouped the little
Boroughs, and reduced the limit of qualification to
the humble assessment of £5 annually. The pre-
sent Premier had no sooner been installed in office
and kissed hands on his appointment, than he
declared his intention •of repudiating all finality
notions, and proposing a reform of the Reform
Act. And now, after all these promises, and the
profound cogitations of the last six weeks, the
expectant voters are told to wait a little longer, for
positively nothing will be done. It is like playing
the tragedy of HAMLET with the part of the Prince
omitted. It was the chief object of the great majo-
rity of Ministerial voters, and, without it, why should
they care whether the Earl of DERBY, or the Earl

of ABERDEEN, is prime minister, with this differ-
ence, that, with the former, they may believe what
he says, whereas the promises of the latter are so
much waste paper. It is true, that, after the old
plan, a Reform Bill has been promised for the
next Session; but is there any man in his senses
who entertains the slightest idea that the ABER-
DEEN Cabinet will survive the present one? It
is too preposterous even for Radical credulity,
and they must quietly make up their minds to
be disappointed, or instruct iheir representatives
to follow the example of the unbought votes of the
Romish Brigade and remain in opposition. But
speculation will naturally arise as to the cause
of this unexpected postponement. Is it that
Lord ABERDEEN has not found Lord Joni
RUSSELL. so Conservative as he hoped for ; or, on
the contrary, is the former not sufficiently Liberal
for the latter? Is it that Mr. GLADSTONE cannot

surrender his old Conservative opinions to the de-

mends of his new allies, or does Sir WILLIAM
MOLESWORTH insist that no measure can be satis-
factory which does not comprise a resort to the
Ballot ? Have Cabinet Councils shown irrecon-
cileable differences, from which the only resort was
doing nothing at all? Whatever be the .cause, it
is clear to all that the vaunted union which was to
amalgamate all party differences .has resulted in a
dead lock in which promises are substituted for per-
formances; and while we should view with distrust
and suspicion any measure which would interfere
with the constitution of the House of Commons,
we cannot but consider the absence of it, under
present circumstances, as unmistakeable evidence of
Ministerial weakness.