The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1851-12-03
For the Union.
TUI nc
Letters On Europe is.
England.

its builders e, us look al the strength and
tive durability OF this boosted edi6ce let us know what
IS required to complete, 10 cap and above ALL let us
Critically examine lis usefulness and It's applicability 10
the circumstances OF the times in this nve sgaon il
is necessary first to understand the nature and position of
political parties in Great Britain.
In my last letter said that the wings had accomplished
their mission when the reform bill was passed that
their great leader Lord John RUSSELL hal dslared il 10 be
"hnai measure"-that to 90 beyond the enfranchse-
meht OF the middle CLASSES would be change the basis
OF the constitutional government of England and endan
ger its existence. said that henceforth there was but
little or no difference between the wing and conservative
parties Indeed, but recently the conservatives OF the
Peel school carried those liberal measures Of free trade
which the wings had gone out of office upon II Lord
John Russell be prepared now, is stated by the public
press, TO extend the suffrage still fuher-to reform the
reform bill in ac,--it proves nothing more than that
either from principle or expediency, he has changed
This is not extraordinary conduct with great states
men. Sir Robert Peel is example. Nor can we charge
them with regeneration. II shows that they understand
the necessities Of the age, and In this would illus
rate what have said elsewhere of the power OF Paris
Of the French mndon the great questions of political
and social development cannot be doubted that as the
reform bill was to great extent the consequence of the
revolution OF 1880, the present movement for an ex
tension OF the suffrage in England stimulated BY and
eceves it's force FROM the revolution OF February 1915
Lord John RUSSELL with all his consery asm NAV not be
10 the progressive spirit of lineage The great capital of
the world in spite of the ncongruies between it's ex
sng positive desposm and its perfect intellectual eman
cpaton, rules the conduct OF statesmen through It's ar
ton on the masses. The whig party of England how
ever, will not 20 With the Premier should he be dis
posed to extend the suffrage The petite bourgeoisie in
the large cities, whose ahntes and interests are with
the working classes, may support such movement but
the hdufe boIrgeos: casshe capitalists the farmers
the manufacturers-wl oppose IT, Although the British
government is OF compromises between the different
classes OF socetybeween a monarchy and democracy
between the past and the prexn,it has been in reality
since The reform BILL neither nor less than middle
class governments government of wealth Up 10 the ne
Rod OF the passing OF the reform BILL the nobility and the
squirearchy-th landed proprieorshada
influence through the restricted state OF the suffrage and
corrupt borough system the House OF Commons which
governs both the lords and the monarch The middle
Glass; taking advantage of the political excitement amongst
the masses cansed BY the French revolution Of July and
OF the liberal tendencies OF William the Fourth demand
ed and obtained such extension of political privileges
from that time, placed the power OF the country
in its hands The bill carried agans, the obs,
nate resistance Of the peers and then only by the King
creating new batch. The people enthusiastic at
the result they shouted they eased they drank, they
illuminated they dreamed of uninterrupted happiness
for the future But how they deceived The mass
OF the people found they still unrepresented and
their condition not in the least improved The suffrage
WAS pOunn
and hftyround renters in the country True, in afew
Of the most popuous cities las in London) the working
classes able control the elections and send radicals
10 Parliament, Blu, they so few-noi more than IF
teen to twenty in house OF six hundred members
and OF such little weight that the working people could
hardly be said TO be represented at all. When their
enthu sasn was over, and when they saw how they
had been used enfranchse the middle classes, while
they cheated out OF the suffrage themseives-wben
in fact they j, still oligarchy, though
broader bass-they conmsnced organization, and
10 sgltae the question afresh.
There had always been a more advanced a
radical party than the wings but had acquired
much influence, for the very that the wings pre-
vious to 1892, had identified, pretended TO identify,
themselves with the But after the reform bill
became law, and the people still disiraucbised,
parties assumed their natural characters The wings be-
the opponents OF their former allies, and, in the
hes hit OF their inga,tude and assumption laughed at
petition from their former friends 10 extend the suffrage
OF over three millions signatures The voice Of three
millions OF workingmen without political rights was
subject Of merrimen, to wing Parliament Nor would
the whgs-ihe newly acknowledgements tina, the re-
form bill was means 10 end. II was the end itself.
To go further would be TO make the government Of Eng
land too democratic IL would give that element such
preponde a,ing weight would destroy the mo,archca
and aristocraiical elements. Property, and no, ndivd
ual rights or the interests Of labor had been the ba-
ais OF representation AT fret and until the recent act
which extended the suffrage landed property mos,
largely represented. Since them and AT the present
ment capital. money or that real nominal property
employed in all the manufacturing and commercial opera
tons OF the country, rules the legislature This Mammon
rovernmen-he worst, the meanest, and the most de-
ceptive OF governme utterly incapable OF i'm.
proving the condition Of the Millions which the legi,l
mate end Of all governmens"be greatest good OF the
greatest number"
The rate OF wages in every department OF industry has
decreased greatly within the last twenty years, without
corresponding increase the abundance and cheapness
OF the necessares of life The poor have become poorer
paupersm prevails to a frghtfu extent And It was left
for the whigs for this middle class government TO make
poverty criminal, and cree, prisons, under the name OF
workhouses, 10 punish it, The wings applied the hor.
bic and unchrisan principles OF Mahus in separating
the vile from the husband TO restrain population.
know that this picture Of society in England will stare
those who have only the surface minds have
been carried away from close examination OF the
which beautiful crust covers There are patriotic but
superficial men, who seeing but the glIet cupoia the
ornate decorations OF the temple Of British liberty and
knowing not that in the gloomy caverns beneath there
an amount OF poverty OF wrechedness-nay, Of starva
,on-to which country in the wide world can furnish
paralIel are exravagant in the praises OF England.
These gentlemen much 10 admire and justly in the
perfea liberty Of speech OF and OF the press
,hev ace wonderful amount OF wealth, which, accord
ius 10 political economists is the evidence OF nations