The New York herald., 1851-09-30

infinitely lees force 70 the mind ~ ths
Again. commercial aud social ssisvsucss usually
enecs tne wnoie mass OF the community, a1d the
chances are that little calm discussion win dispose
OF them, while the exotemsat oonseu lent on their
agitation rarely extends beyond Ne original osiects
Of discussion. Bat whether the immediste cause
Of popular discomfort Is the high pice Of bread or
the misconduct Of court, or the ealsmites Of war,
or the pressure Of unjust law, the 6fst thought
Of the unrepresented classes Is to secure the rght
Of voting, that they may forthwith make "a end of
whatever happens to be their inmediats grievaacs
Therefore, We say, we yield to no one N our desire
Of seeing this question settled. We desire to get
rid Of the everlasting olanor going on among the
excluded classes; desire to deprive the disasct.
ed Of so handy and permanent q vehicle Tor their
dsafection, and We need not add that We fully re-
cognise the assistance which some members OF the
working class might bring to the legislative efi ,i-
ency of Parliament But just in proportion ~ we
appreciate all these advantages Is our reluctance to
see the matter takenh sstily in hand and our dis
trust OF all rough and ready remedies. And We
must take leave to say that most of the remedies
for the owledged defects of represen ntston
which We have yet seen proposed are exceedingly
rough indeed.
For example, we are not liable to misinterpret the
wish 80 often expressed in favor of sweepiRg msa-
sure, to mean the concession of c5, or perhaps
even lower, household suffrage. We pass over
all the objections that may be fairly brouSh.
not, perhaps, In its intention, might altogether
swamp any very meritorious and nseful classes Of
the community, which might sacrifice the rural
population to that ofthe towns. or rice vasa These
are considerations which no thoughtful statesman
would willingly overlook, though they are seldom
mentioned by the violent partisaus of household
suffrage, except to be pooh-poohed with the bois-
ferrous contempt Of Ignorance. Nor, again, will we
dwell on the obvious expedien,y of 50 contriving
sny change that it should entail the least prospe
OF permanent agitation for the purpose Of re vok-
ing IL. But taking this idea of household suffrage
purely by ITSELF will any say that there is
chance Of its working well. or satisfying the peo.
pie for any length Of time In our opinion it would
include those classes with whom the franchise is a
matter OF creditable pride, but who not wholly
without other means Of akihg their influence felt;
while would exclude those with whom the
is, rightly or wron yy considered after Of life and
death, and whom all experience shows US will con-
tinue to plague us till they get it. Look at France,
where even the restricted suffrage of the 3lst OF
May is enormously more compre hensive than any
household suffrage ever proposed in England, and
where, noyertheless the cry for the restoration of
universal suffrage is infnitely more violent th IN
any movement directed even against our own
present system Of representation. We may fix the
exact line of demarcation few shillings higher or
lower, we may cut the country up into as many dis
tricts as We please, and adjust to . man the exact
numerical force Of cach there will still remain the
grand difficulty how to provide for the excluded mil
Ilons of the working classes. And We ,ver can re-
peat too often that the great problem for states
letting in deuge to overwhelm all the existing
ir stitutions of the empire.
1t is now two or three years since Lord John
Russell showed the surpassing superiority Of his
brawlers for household suffrage, when he limited at
the possibility of ring franchise to the members
OF mechanics institutes, or to workmen who had
in vested given sum in any sa yings bank. IL mat
ters little whether in the first each member has
a separate vote, or whether o collective one-as in
Kossuth's scheme for parliamentary reform in Hun
gary, and in Mr.. Rowland's Hills plan for mum
cipal suffrage for the town of Adelaide, in Austria
ha-is given to Q greater or less number of
individuals. 1t is enough that any such proposal
would NEE, the precise difficulty that We have been
explaining, and it would meet it by what would
virtually be system Of double election! For the
virtue Of double election does not consist in any
complicated machinery Of colleges and p.esi tents,
but in the simple principle Of passing the Gle ,toral
body through such q refining process as would
leave us only its best and worthest element. Some
times, as in France, under the Restoration, or in
the American Senate, this process takes place by
two distinct elections Here the election wouli be
made by the parties themselves, and the standard
OF each mans education or econ ,my woud decide
how far he was at for the responsibility Of share
in directly nominating a member of Parliament.
Any such scheme would give US precisely what We
want, and save us from precisely what we drea1.
II uld give US the good will and the assistance OF
the working class, while 1t would free from any
necessity OF simultaneously admitting the nuisance
OF their Ignorance, numerical preponder ince, and
liability to sudden passion under the pressure OF
occasional distress. No man would have IL in his
power to tell the operatives that capital making
laws against labor, for TO participate in making
laws would oSly need the exercise Of self-denia
and eforss at selfiuprovement. Such process
would thoroughly engrait the working class into
our social system. We should immensely profit by
their co operation and their contentment, while the
ordinary inhrmities Of human nature would, we
fear, be only too certain q guarantee that the
registration list would never be inconvenently
overcrowded i. |, unne cessary to specify the OBJ
vious provisions IL any such schemes for djustng
the limits Of boroughs and preventing the manu-
factuTe Of sham votes. IL Is enough that we have
sketched an outline, which, in our opinion q. least
is far more liberal, rs well as far more comprehen-
sivc, than any which we have yet heard promul-
gated from Manchester. And IL may guide the
people to the leaders most worthy Of their conf
dence and attachment, when We remind them that
the first practical scheme for giving any direct legs
lative influence to the purely working class pro-
ceesed, not from any loud spoken demagsgue, but
from the whig Prime Minister Of England.