The national Republican., 1867-07-23
THE SUFFRAGE BILL IN PAR
LAMENT. rH FHg

TUT sunni tiino post tho chBhsh PoVPio
have been carrying on q pretty extensive
and sharp discussion upon the question Of
extended suffrage. Both in and out Of
Parliament the best minds Of the realm
have been devoted to the consideration Of
this subject, and there seems to have been
q mighty effort to solve the problem, and
to reach that ultimate settlement OF the
question, SO that the nation may be salts
fed with the adjustment, and general
harmony be secured. AT length II ap-
pears that Mr.. DIsRAELI has reached the
solution Of the perplexing difficulties
which seemed to environ the subject, and
has introduced bill which goes far ahead
Of what the most intense Liberals pro-
posed. Indeed, tho Liberal leaders seem
to have been taken aback, and now stand
amazed at the temerity Of this cunning
and fa5seeing English statesman. They
scarcely know what to think or say.
Neither Mr.. GLADSTONE nor Mr.. BRIGHT
ever thought Of proposing SO liberal q
bestowal Of the elective franchise upon
the people as is now offered by the bill in
troduced by Mr.. DIsRAELI. If the features
Of this bill are correctly stated, it gives q
vote to every man who rents q house, be
the rental what it may. II the tenant pays
the rates, be they much or little, he has
the ballot. Mr.. GLADSTONE, we know,
never thought Of giving the vote to the
man who paid less sum than &c or CT
per annum, and Mr.. BRIoHr hardly came
up to the point Of asking for what has
been termed household suffrage. The
Liberal party, by this bold strike of Mr..
DIsRAELI, is completely dumbfounded, and
for the present seems to be drifting almost
without purpose.
The English newspapers are variously
exercised upon this new state Of the ques.
tion, and hardly any Of them appear to
comprehend the reasons which have in.
Huenced Mr.. DIsRAELI in bringing forward
so radical measure. One influential
journal gives voice to its surprise in the
following language. It says:
There is scarcely any political opinion
held so steadfastly in England, that we
cannot now easily conceive it fading away,
and there is no man Of anything like real
intellectual force whose career we can an
ticipate."
The course things are taking in Great
Britain forcibly reminds us of what we
have often seen in this country, viz the
radical become q conservative and the
conservative q radical. The real facts in
the case are often developed in this wise {:
the real radical gets frightened when he
sees that his doctrines and theories carried
to their legitimate ends will lead him
much farther than he had proposed to
himself in the first instance to go, and he
therefore turns back in alarm, and hesi-
tates to press to the ultimatum OF his
theories. Then comes the whilom conser-
vative, and takes up the work where the
radical has left it, and carries 1t forward
to its contamination. We shall not be
surprised, therefore, to see the tory party
in Parliament become the real reform
party while Mr.. GLADSTONE and Mr..
BRrGHr and their friends become the fu-
ture conservatives Of the realm. These
things have often been repeated in connec-
ton with reforms, and it may be wise
decree Of Providence that new class OF
men who have always been looked upon as
cautious should be His chosen agents in
perfecting the work which another and
perhaps less influential class have COM
menced. Sir ROBERT PERL and his party
opposed, for time, with much bitterness
the efforts of the corn law league for
cheap bread, but that great reform was at
length completed with Sir RoBERr as its
champion.
There is a class Of people, both in this
country and in England, who gravely
stand aloof from the movement to give
the people suffrage for fear that the ig-
norant masses, as they are called, will use
the ballot for mischieyous ends. We are
asked to consider that unlettered and de-
based millions, many OF whom are stepped
in sottishness and sensualty, and when the
degradation and stupidity Of this great
crowd is depicted. as it is in that book
called "London labor and The London
moor" 1t is triumphantly asked, Would
YOU give to this people the right to vote p
Our answer to tits is, "Why notH" 1t il
true, it is Difficult matter, very difficult
matter, to govern these people. Did il
ever occur to these objectors that it nigh
be worth while to let these people govern
themselves for time ? We have observed
that selfgoyernment is the best govern
ment, because in the first place it inspire
selfrespect-the first and most potent in
centive to reform. The policy has beeI
to degrade men by telling them that the,
are not ft to govern themselves, and ther
we denounce them because Of their unfit
ness.
There is doubtless mass Of Ignorance