The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-04-18 00:00:00

THE REFORM BILL.

IT was confidently announced, that on Monday,
last week, Lord JOHN RUSSELL would declare the
decision of the ministry to have no more to do
with his abortive scheme for altering the represen-
tative system, and we fully expected to have been
able, in our last paper, to report the official decla-
ration of defeat. It appears, however, that the
task was too unwelcome to be readily undertaken,
and it was left till the Tuesday, the last day before
the Easter recess, when Lord JOHN' made a mov-
ing appeal to the House about the sincerity of his
motives, his zeal for reform, and his intention to
press forward the measure 'at the first favourable
'opportunity. He bespoke the indulgence of his
opponents, and even ventured to deprecate the
withering sarcasm' which he was conscious his
humiliating position was deserving of from the
Conservative leader. So affecting an appeal was
not made in vain to English gentlemen, and he
was spared the infliction which he so evidently
dreaded. We scan readily give credit to Lord
JOHN RUSSELL for the sincerity of his professions
in seeking to make for himself a political capital
out of this hackneyed theme of Reform, which
ought to have .been considered settled more than
twenty years ago. It was, perhaps, but Christian
charity to allow him to hide "his' mortification at
defeat under the plausible pretdt of his regard for
the interests of the country; but no personal con-
siderations for the individual, however well-inten-
tioned, will do away with the glaring fact that the
Reform Bill was 'uncalled for and unnecessary, that
in its details it was mischievous 'and impracticable,
and that its introduction at this time, .when every
one must have known the utter impossibility of
its being carried, or even discussed, was a shame-
ful trifling with the public interests. If we can
assume a convenient forgetfulness of all Lord JOHN
RUSSELL'S antecedents, we may assume that he
was really sincere in his proposition.; but his
honesty is no proof of his common sense, and this
indeed is the great error of popular credulity in
elevating a man of such moderate mental calibre
into the position of as responsible minister. We
have only the alternative of attributing his errors
to his heart or his hettd, though perhaps it should
be to both. Either he knew, or he did not know,
that no time could be less opportune than the pre-
sent for the discussion of a great constitutional
question. If he did know, what excuse could be
pleaded for his persistence in, bringing forward
this Reform Bill, involving greater changes and
more momentous consequences than the measure
of 1832 P If he did not know it, and had not sense
to perceive the utter impracticability of his pro-
posal, with what pretence can he occupy the
responsible position of leader of the House of
Commons? The course pursued tends to corro-
borate 'the version which was given of the myste-
rious resignation of Lord PALMERSTON. The latter
would not •consent to the absurdity being perpe-
trated, and Lord JOHN RUSSELL would not give
it up without 'resigning his place in the cabinet,
because his thread-bare political honour was in-
volved in a promise to do something, and, his
former scheme having failed, he had become sud-
denly enlightened by a writer in the Edinburgh,
Review. The Ministry was tottering and could
not afford to lose either, so Lord ABERDEEN; the
invariable peace-maker, suggested a compromise,
of which we have just seen the fulfilment. Lord
JOHN RUSSELL, like a petted child, was to be
allowed to bring in his measure; trusting to the
chapter of accidents for a plausible excuse for its
postponement, and the oppositiOn of his colleagues
was soothed by the evident certainty of such a
postponement being inevitable. The whole affair
was a clumsy ministerial hoax, and should most
appropriately have been performed on the Ist of
April; but it is melancholy to think that, while
the thunder of war is at our gates, and powerful
fleets and armies are equipped to do battle with
the vast empire of Russia and hazard thousands of
precious lives in deadly conflict, those who are en-
trusted with the direction of public affairs should
be playing the parts of angry school boys.
It is but justice to notice the forbearance with
which the principal Conservative members received
the ministerial explanation, and even expressed
sympathy with the speaker for the evident mortifi-
cation under which he laboured and' which he felt
so keenly; but we cannot coincide with the ostensi-
ble motive for this generous consideration, nor en-
tertain any apprehension for the apparent conse-
quences of an opposite course. It is said that
some difficulty was experienced in preventing Lord
JOHN RUSSELL from resigning
his office, an event
which must have led to the breaking up of the
coalition, and great pretence is made of the serious'
result of such a change at the present time, when
foreign affairs are so involved. We must confess
that we cannot perceive any serious evil would
result from such a course ; indeed, it would be'
rather beneficial than otherwise.; for, when the
greatest activity and intelligence are requisite in
order that this country should bear her part well
in the impending struggle, we would mach prefer

to see the direction of public affairs in the hands
of men possessing more ability and more honesty
than the present incongruous herd of ineapables.
Had Lord DERBY been permitted to remain at the
helm, in all human probability there would have
been no war nor rumours of war rendering expen-
sive armaments necessary; and even if such a state of
affairs on the Continent as at present exists had been
unavoidable, we should at least have had the satis-
tion of knowing that the best that could be done
would be done—an event which is now by no
means certain.

We can hardly pass without remark the claim
set up by Lord JOHN RUSSELL to the kind consi-
deration of the House on account of the sincerity
of his motives, his disregard of party interests,
and his patriotic zeal for a full development of
constitutional principles in our representative sys-
tem. Such a position is utterly untenable. He
has ever been a party man in the meanest sense of
the term, seeking his individual advancement, or
confining his notions of party to that family influ-
ence, that knot of RUSSELLS, GREYS, and ELLIOTTS,
which has been the bane of the country. His
principles have been merely the emanations of ex-
pediency to suit the purposes of the time, and his
measures have been a kind of political capital upon
which he has traded for purely selfish objects; while
his patriotism is sheer pretence, for the Empire
might go to destruction, so long as Lord JOHN
RUSSELL enjoyed place and pay. In 1835, he
induced the House of Commons to vote that no
measure relating to the Irish Church could be
satisfactory unless the surplus revenues were appro-
priated to secular purposes ; and yet, having gained
his object by resuming office, he was content to
carry on the Government for six years without
pressing the measure upon which he assumed his
position. In 1841, he proposed measures which
he knew were impracticable, in order to have a cry
upon which to appeal to the country, for which he
purposely dissolved Parliament, and was ignomi-
niously defeated. But one of the worst acts of his
political life was in 1852, when, having surrendered
office from his own inability to conduct it, he formed
a league with the ultra Radicals, whom he had
previously opposed, in order to render Government
impossible to his successors. Lord JoaN RUSSELL
may lay claim to such patriotism as belongs to
Whiggery, but, when we find him consorting with
such men as Messrs. COBDEN, BRIGHT, HUME,
and Co., he must, like matey others, be judged by
the company he keeps, and, therefore, we have a
right to look with suspicion on every proposition
which emanates from such a tainted source. Let
us trust, however, that the majority of intelligent
Englishmen are still alive to the honour of their
country, still mindful of their constitutional privi-
leges, and still determined that the mighty inte-
rests which are at stake shall not be frittered away
in concessions to Radical clamour. We have for a
time at least been spared the infliction of a new
Reform Bill, which, under pretence of settlement,
would have unsettled everything ;. and, long before
Lord JOHN RUSSELL will have another opportunity
of showing his political tact by Constitution cob-
bling, it is to be hoped that the country will have
dispensed with his services, and that his colleagues
will be replaced by men who have some principle
in common, and one mind to do the best for the
interests of our common country.