The daily republic. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1853-1853, 1853-08-12
THE REPUBLIC.
WASHINGTON:



FRIDAY MORNING, AUG. II, 1858.
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Reform Measures in the English Par
lament.
The constitution Of Englsad being an an
written charter, owing it's authority to usage
and legislation, is constantly undergoing inn
provements Of the most important character at
the hands Of Parliament. Amendments Of The
law Of suffrage and representation, of the &C.
clesiastical, educational, and judicial systems,
which could in the United States only be Of
fected by the authority Of an organic cenven-
tion, are in England subjects of daily discus
sion and gradual reform.
1t is very gratifying to every citizen Of the
United States to observe that in these discus
sions the experience Of our own system is con-
stantly appealed to whenever there is reason
for relying either upon analogy or example; as
the word America does not occur in the seven
volumes octave Of Clarendon's History of the
British Government, it shows that we have
grown somewhat of late years in the estimation
of our Britannia neighbors.
England readily adopts our Improvements in
the industrial arts or mechanical construction.
She has copied the models of our ships, adopt
cd our reaping machines, locks, sewing ma
chimes, cotton duck, and cordage. She has
availed herself Of every moral and material i'm
provement which we have demonstrated, SO
far as it may have been applicable to her con-
dilion. She is Of course long way behind
us in true progress, because she still suffers
from systems and prejudices from which we
are free. But since she seems inclined to i'm
prove, and has been elevated to that point Of
wisdom at which she does not disdain to receive
instruction. there can be no doubt of her rapid ad
vancementin all the elements ofprosperity. She
has yet however some important truths to learn,
as well as many prejudices to forget She
should change her policy in regard to Ireland;
and if she will not raise its citizens to social
and political equality; if she cannot encourage
the same industrial employments which have
rendered England itself SO populous aud pow
erful, she should at least ''let the people Co."
that they may get food and raiment in a
foreign land. This last however she has
been unable, and probably unwilling, to
prevent, at least since the year Of the famine.
The comparative political quiet which has
regned in Ireland since immigration to Ameri
ca has been fairly opened, will suffice to
show how much Of misery and of hostility
had been engendered by the former policy Of
keeping down a population by an armed po-
lice, weakening their physical ability to resis,
by drafting their able bodied men into the
army, destroying their confidence in the pa
trio,sm of their leaders by the seductive in1u-
ence of honors and rewards, or preserving the
population from starvation by employing them
upon unnecessary public works-a temporary
bounty to be ultimately repaid by enhanced tax
alton of the property and enhanced privation OF
the laborers of Ireland. Nevertheless, immi-
grafton has relieved the people Of Ireland and
the government Of England greatly, and with a
little more liberality or more enlightened
wisdom England might find in Ireland source
of strength, instead of its being, as formerly,
a constant subject of suspicion and weakness
Amongst other improvements, however, the
English Parliament has taken up and reformed
the charter Of the East India Company. The
principal feature in the bill now pending for
the renewal Of the charter Of this enormous
corporation is the reserved right of the Legis-
lature to modify or amend it at any time that
it may become necessary to do SO. AS the
East India Company governs one hundred and
fifty millions of people, has an army and navy,
can declare war and make peace, and possesses
all the powers-executive legislative, and ju-
1inio al mir - i, ob
viously important 10 Great Britain to reserve a
greater control over its actions than heretofore.
There is, however, in this connexion one
evil common to both England and ourselves,
and one which the Parliament is endeavorirg
to correct. 1t is the evil Of official corruption and
the abuse of patronage. In England it presents
a more extended surface than in the United
States. There it has spread amongst the voters
of the country to such an extent that the price
of seat in Parliament is as well known as that
Of box at the opera. One of the medtated
remedies for this evil is the secret ballot which
geauce Of his landlord, perhaps 5y enabling
him to take the money of the candidate and
then vote his sentiments with impunity; the
inducement to corruption may thus be de-
stroyed by rendering the qmid pro quo more
uncertain.
In like manner means are to be taken to
present the abuses of political patronage, which
has been carried on to disgraceful extent in
certain dock-yards and boroughs. But the
same evil seems to prevail in the East India
Company, to such an extent as to have been
the subject Of particular Parliamentary inquiry
Tho following extract from the debates upon