New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1856-06-25

would not persist in compelling the unwilling az
tention Of the majority Of the House Of Commons TO
10 this unwelcome subject. He made the usual ar
pument in favor of the Ballot as the only method
Of efsctualy guarding against bribery on the one
band and intimidation On the other. He relied
largely on the testimony Of Mr.. Amssa Walker,
foi mery Secretary of State in Massachusetts, as to
the necessity Of the secret ballot there and argued
its It'll stronger necessity in England. He affirmed
that, although there was large majority in Psra.
mept opposed to the Ballot, still that majority re-
presented ridiculously small number of constitu-
ents; while the large constituencies, and the nom
electors as a body, were unanimous 10 its favor.
And he augured hopefully Of success at some future
day. from that which had attended the repeal Of the
Corn Laws ard other unlikely reforms. The
Boute was impatient Of the debate and cut it short
BY cries of " divide" One member only, Mr..
Peacocke, member for Harwich, spoke in opposi.
ton to the motion and bis Argument chiefly rested
on accounts, from not the best source, respecting
election riots in this city On the division the mo-
ton was rejected by vote Of ISL to Ill, which
certainly ia not minority beyond all hope.
This reformation ia not more Improbable, to say
the least, than many others which have come to
pass within the memory of many men yet sitting
in Parliament. What could well seem more
improbable than the reform in Parliament forty
years before it took place Less than forty years
b. fore, Hardy, Thelwall AID Horne Tooke were
tiled for high treason for agitating this very mat
ter, al the whole force Of the Government was
put on 10 stranele the question along with them.
Even Fox, in 1898. refused 10 join the Society of
the Friends of the People, the purpose Of which
wa a peaceabe reform in the representation,
because, as he explained himself in Parliament,
Though he saw great and enormous abuses, he
confessed that he did not perceive the remedy"
Sheridan, too, had no faith in Parliamentary he
form, and so be went for Annual Parllaments and
Universal Suffrage, because this opened the ques.
ton for discussion, without the possibility OF its
ever being closed by their adoption. And yet in
less than forty years from that time, the great
revolution was peacefully accomplished So Of
Catholic Emancipation: 1t seemed as Utopian
political speculation as ever crossed the dreamy
head Of an enthusiast, ten years before the Duke Of
Wellington, LORD Lybdhurst and Mr.. Peel (Of all
men in the world y made it part of English his
tory-the Coronation Oath to the contrary, not
wirhstandipg.
Then there was the Emancipation Of the slaves
in 1884. Why, it was only two years before then
that the Empire of South Carolina proposed to cut
the United States off with q shilling (if as in the
parallel case of old Sheridan and his son Tom, she
could find anybody to lend it to her), in the full
faith that Great Britain's West India interest in
slaves and manufacturing interest in cotton would
secure her backing and protection. West India
Slavery had it's hereditary seats in the Lords and its
weiehty representation in the Commons. Its
abolition seemed as unlikely thing to happm as
almost anything that could be thought of. And
yet in couple Of years from the days Of Nullfcs-
ton, the great Act of Justice was accomplished,
and slaves could no more breathe the air OF her
colonies than that which hung over England
herself The Repeal Of the Corn Laws was another
OF the iDpractcable dreams which at last forced
itself into the region Of realities and took its place
by the side Of other accomplished facts So that it
lie well grounded confidence which the friends of
the Balot in England entertain of its final adoption
AZ ston as the English people are satisfied that
this INT asure will be guarantee of greater purity
on tFcuOhB IL VIII Dr utunnutu III tome HniCu
will brook no denial.
The parlian entary history of England for the
last hslf century, from the abolition of the Slave
trade down to that OF the Corn Laws is full Of
hope to more than Epglishmen. 1t shows how the
most hopeless reforms have gradually worked their
way out from the recesses of the minds that first
conceived and accepted them until they have writ
ten themselves on the statute book, and projected
themselves into the daily life of the people. The
abolition of the Slave trade, the mitigation Of the
DrscOnic code Of laws, red with blood, the repeal
of the Corporation and Test Acts, the
En- hhcpstiOn Of the Catholics, the Reform in Par
llsment, the Abolition Of Slavery, the Repeal of
the Corn Laws, the Cheap Postage Plan, and may
other improvements in legislation Immediately
touching the condition of millions of people-all
Of them seemed as improbable fifty years sgo as
the Restriction Of Slavery in this country does
now to Atehison and JEFF. Davis. Still, the time
will come when the words Of Erskine, uttered 10
Parliament in 1897 will be recognized as speaking
q universal truth embracing much remoter and
vaster issues than the reform in Parliament aud
- describing the course of other reformaions:
The cause Of Reform was ut all events to be put
down, and all who maintained it were to be stig.
1" matzed, persecuted and oppressed. But the in
" science with which the hopeful changes of the |
" rising world were denounced within these walls |
sis an awful lesson to mankind. 1t has shown |
" that there is an arm fighting against the oppres-
" sOn of Freedom stronger than any arm of flesh |
and that the great progressions of the world, in