The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-02-12
nord perbx,s Govornmont.

Lord Derby's Government.
MON he Tribune.
The British Parliament meets this year under
peculiar and exceptional circumstances. For
many years past the sovereign in opening the
q, annual sessions of the Legislature, has had
little TO do in reference to purely domestic mat
ters beyond offering congratulations on the ex-
panding prosperity of the nation. But this
time the case is materially different Popular
excitement in respect to an extension of the
franchise to the laboring classes is at fever
height. On this subject the people manifest an
earnestness and a determination which cannot
Dossibly be mistaken by their rulers. They ao1A
have the politics. rights so long and so unjustly
,Uitbbeld from them by y proud and selfish
oligarchy, and the resoluteJ Jtones 10 which they
now demand these rights show that they are in
no mood to be trihed with Never since the
memorable period Immediately antecedent to
fbe passng of the Reform bill of 1882, when
reyoition was imminent, has the popular mind
in England been so profoundly moved as at
present. But purely political troubles are not
The only threatening clouds on the horizon.
There is the serious conflict which has arisen
bet Ween he employers OF labor and the work.
ingmen, and which has led on the part OF the
latter to an organization for self-defense and
selt-protection having its ramihcatlons IN every
mart of the kingdom, and which, silently spread
ing and working for some time past, already
makes itself felt as the embodiment OF mighty
mower. There is also the sad condition OF the
Door in London and the other large cities and
DOWNS the miseries of whose pitiable indigence
have been wotuly aggravated by the unusual
severity of the present winter, and the want of
employment tor large numbers OF operatives
now on the verge of starvation. And last.
there are the troubles in Ireland where
cruelty unjust system OF land tenure, and an
ecclesiastical establishment obnoxious to the
great bulk of the population, by producing in
the minds OF the people a ranking sense of
Injustice and breedingl alwide-spread disatfec-
tion, have made rebellion an ever-present
danger.
attention of the British Parliament. aud with
which the classes now ln power will be COM
PEELED to deal-and that not as the subject of
Parliamentary Reform was dealt with in the
last session. We altogether mistake the present
temper of the masses in England, ii they this
time allow the Loves and the Blchos of the
Commons, and the fossil reactiOnists who
abound in the House of Lords, to dispose of
their claims by sneers at their ignorance and
Venality, and to meet their just demands by
unjust reproaches and cruel taunts.
The question arises-and it is. one of the
highest interest," not only to the people OF Eng
land themselves, but to the friends of popular
freedom and constitutional government in other
Countries-how will the Derby Ministry and the
Tory party act under the circumstances? Will
they gracefully yield to the popular pressure IN
the matter of reform? And will they honestly
grapple with the social questions demanding
adjustment in the interests of the masses OF
the operatives of England, of the tenant far
mers and Roman Catholics of, Ireland, of the
pauperized and famishing multitudes with
which the great centres or population in Eng
land are overcrowdeded? So far as the Ministry
itself is concerned, the programme for the ses.
sion, outlined in the Queens speech, may be
accepted as furnishing pretty hopeful answer.
Not to speak Of the very natural desire on the
part of Lord Derby to retain power, there
is a liberal element in the present Gov
ernmentl of which previous Tory administra-
tions have been devoid; besides which, we
may fairly assume that Lord Derby is un-
willing to incur the tremendous respon
sibility of risking a revolution which a
stubborn resistance to reform is almost certain
to precipitate. With the speech from the throne,
then, as presumably embodying the views and
policy of the Administration, there is no room
to caVil. But what of Lord Derby's followers
In the two Houses of Parliament? What of the
''country gentlemen"-the fox-hunting squires-
the county magnates-the heads and eldest sons
and younger sons of the great territorial fami-
ies-the naughty mobiles, in whose eyes pre-
scriptIve privilege is about as sacred as Holy
Writ? VIII these support the Derby Govern
ment in liberal policy? We believe they will
not. 1t is almost certain that the great bulk of
them will continue to resist reform as the
threatened destruction of their dearly prized
power and privileges, and that Lord Derby
will find himself compelled either to abandon
The main points set forth in the Queens speech,
or to introduce measures altogether inadequate
10 the eXigencies OF the times. In either case
his Ministry must fall, and with that fall will
commence desperate struggle between the
aristocracy and the democracy; for the party L
succeed him in office must be prepared t
satisfy the demands of the people, or to bt
themselves in turn hurled from power, to be re
placed by the well-tried champions OF popula
rights.