The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1858-12-31

was being tried in France before q tribunal O
Correctional Police, for having spoken ill of tn
Institutions of his country-Mr JOHN BRIGHT wa
arraigned at the bar of Public Opinion in Eng
land-upon similar charge. In the great Speed
which that gentleman delivered, upon the subjec
of Parliamentary Reform, some few months since
and which was extensively copied at the time into
the American papers, there was nothing that W,
can recolect which was particularly new Of
TRANCE 1t did not present as we remember on,
ingle proposition, which had not time and again
been mooted by himself or some other champion
of the Manchester or Liberal school. Mr.. HENRY
BERKELEY has long been the steadfast and consist
ent advocate of the Ballot and his annual Motion
in Parliament in favor of its introduction has al
most come to be considered among the Standing
Orders of the session. Not less untiring or un
successful has been Mr.. Cox, of Finsbury in hi:
efforts to promote the of Universal Suffrage
The wish which was expressed by Mr. BRIGHT in
his Speech, that the institutions of England
might be made to assimilate more nearly to those
of the UNITED STATEs-was, therefore, neither O
novel one nor peculiar to himself. On the con.
trary-the very importance which has been at.
tached to the uttcrances of the Member for
Birmingham, the occasion alluded to
and the highly animated discussion upon the sub.
ject of American institutions, to which his Speech
has given rise in the English papers, are sufficient
indications, in themselves, that such are the senti-
ments of no nconsiderable or unnfuential body
of persons. Therefore it is, that so many of the
principal journals have lately contained leading
articles conrovertng the propositions of Mr. BRIGHT,
and criticizing unfavorably the government and
institutions of the UNITED STATES, that Members
of Parliament in Addresses to their Constituents,
have reviewed his arguments at length,-and that
Noble Lords, even have chosen them, as subject
for lectures before Workngmen's Institutes and
Popular Lyceums. To this latter class of produc-
tons belongs the discourse recently delivered before
the "Hull Literary and Philosophical Society,"
by the Right Hon. the Earl of CARLISLE better
known perhaps, in this country by his former
title of Lord MoRPETH His Lordship, it will be
remembered, has been in this country and may be
presumed, therefore, to know something of our
institutions, of which he has given in this lecture
by no means fattering representation. After
reading to the Society from his published ''Traves
Gin America" his Lordship is reported to have
spoken as follows:
Now, however, that am not speaking from the book
or from the printed page but to living and
and in reference to the actual hour must permit myself
70 say that almost everything that heard or read
concerning the United States since the period Of visit
has not on the whole tended to increase Of my adm-
ration OF their public proceedings favorable
and sangune antcipations of their coming destiny. On
the contrary cannot but feel that many the failures
and draw backs at which venture hint have come out
as time wears with greater frequency and with deeper
shade The pickering luminosity of classes the jealousy
and hatred of the respective geographical divisions the
spirit of political eseeking and corruption the loose
ness and dishonesty of commercial operations high
handed ruanism Of the outlying districts the lust of
territorial aggrandsemen disinclinaon of the more
polished refined and upright portion of the citizens
take prominent part in public AFFAIRS the absence of
fair play in the deliberations of the Congress- and of dig
nifty and independence the judicial bench but above
ALL the intensity and ferocy which gather round every
face The portentous question of Slavery appear to me
to have assumed more terrifying, increasing and
ing proportions.
ain such things certainly cannot feel more
inclined my countrymen exchange the form of
government the institutions, or the frame of society
which they possess for those of the great American Re
public" tCheers.l
Now-upon the conclusion to which the Noble
lecturer has come as stated in the last paragraph
we have quoted, we do not propose to comment.
In our own observations heretofore, upon the po-
sition assumed by Mr.. BRIGHT we have expressed
with perfect frankness our decided doubts as to
the expediency of even that partial and gradual
characterization of English institutions, which
he proposes. Independently of any personal
interest which, as member of the aristocracy,
Lord CARLISLE may have, in the preservation and
perpetuaton of the power and influence of his
order, we believe that in the repugnance which
he manifests to exchanging 'the form of govern
''meut-the institutions, or the frame of society,"
under which Englishmen now live, as they have
lived for centuries past-''for those of the great
american Republic -there is both wisdom and
good sense. We greatly question-particularly
after our own domestic experience in that behalf
the advantage either of frequent Elections, or of
an Elective Judiciary. We are quite sure that the
great mass of the English people are wholly IN
prepared for the blessings of Universal Suffrage
although we believe that, practically speaking, they
already exist in Engand-at least to as large an
extent as in Baltimore. Neither can we
honestly recommend for imitation by the
English Parliament the morals or the
manners of onr own legislative bodies Upon all
these points, apprehend, that our verdict would
be the same as that of the Earl of CARLISLE. But
while we believe that we are not insensible to the
real defects of our own institutions, we are not
willing that they should be made responsible for
evils for which they are in nowise justly chargea-
BILE. We may admit that they are not what we
ourselves would wish, or Mr.. BRIGHT, at
distance of three thousand miles, may
imagine them to be-but they are by no means,
so bad as Lord CARLISLE has painted them. Some
in fact, nearly all-of the evils which he has laid
to their charge, may and do exist under any and all
forms of government, and under a democratic
form, perhaps, less than any. Such, for example,
Is the case with that ''bickering animosity Of
''classes" which stands first in his catalogue o.
charges against this country, and which all history
shows to be greatest not where the distinction be-
tween classes is-as with US, only that natural and
fortuitous which is created by disparity O
gifts or fortune,-but where it is an artificial and
impossible barrier established by law. The very
apology which, in a subsequent portion of his lee.
ture, Lord CARLISLE felt constrained to make fol
this frank avowal of his sentiments was in itsel
an admission that the luminosity of classes j.
not entirely unknown in England He says
81 am aware that what have Just taken the liberty t.
say may be subject to suspicion, because it is
be concealed that from of the terrible
racy to whose have heard high
been engaged since the Revolution of 1888 Now fairl,
say, if believed that to be the case should
democrat but believe that the truth is very nearly tn
reverse"
So too-the Jealousy and hatred of the re
"spective geographical divisions'-to which Lore
CARLISLE next alludes-is clearly not ATTRIBUTABLE
to political causes to the effect of political in
stitutions-being, he himself confesses
geographical in its origin. Such animositie
may and do exist as frequently under monarch
cal as under democratical form of government
No degree of sectional hate or jealousy known ii
this country, has ever equalled in intensit
that which existed between ''the respective geo
graphical divisions of England and Wales, TO
centuries after the conquest of the latter--whcl
has only recently died out along the Borders and
the Highlands of Scotland-and which at this day
embtters the ill-assorted union of England an
Ireland. The same may be said with respect t
''the spirit of political self-seeking and corrup
''tion'-which forms the next specification in tn
Noble Lords list of charges. 1t has been, we be
lieve, the vice of courtiers, equally with dems
gogues, and fourishes not less luxurianhy undo
the bureaucracy of Russia than the democracy
the UNITED STATES So, also, ''the ruffanism
"the outlying districts '-as the very meaning
the word "outlying' indicates-s properl
chargeable, not to the prevalence of any partcr
lar form of government, but to the absence of a