The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-02-08
REFORM IN ENGLAND

The telegraph yesterday brought the news thai
sduring the delivery of the Queen's speech the
people cried Reform" So on certain memorable
occasion there was a great mass meeting in Asia
Minor, crying aloud for the space Of two hours
sGreat is Diana Of the Ephesians." We are not
sure that the crying Britons Of the nineteenth cen
tury could furnish better reason for their clamo1
than the jewellers at Ephesus for theirs In the
first century. The telegraph at the same time
also reports that there are over 25000 able-boded
iaborers at this time out Of employment in Liver
pool, and that great distress is prevailing Dosh
thero and in other large cities of England in con-
sequence Of the unusual stagnaaon OF business.
Whether or not ssReform" is to give bread, coal
and flannel, to these $1,000 sufferers and the nun
! dreds of thousands of others not thus specially
designated, We do not know.
i The case seems to be somewhat parallel to what
is now passing before our eyes in the United
States where q kindred breed of agitators cry Tor
universal suffrage, impartial suffrage and manhooo
suffrage-troublhg themselves little, if at all;
| about the real wants Of the freedmen, or making
auy wise or adequate provision for 5heir future
welfare and prosperity. The inference is lneylta-
BILE, that in both cases tho demagogues first pro-
duced the dissatisfaction aluong the masses, and
now keep up the agitation fol no other reason than
the furtherance Of their private ends-of inter
est or ambition.
But let us see what it is the people OF England
want; and this, it is to be presumed, can be best
learned from one Of MIR. Bn1aHT's speeches. We
will take his last, from which it will be seen tlat
ohofa
be, is thorough demagogue, and skil-d in all
the artful devices of revolutionary eloquence and
by NO means averse to the use Of force if force be
necessary, to carry out his schemes.
lZHe said that eight years ago he told the un-
franchised worllngmen that the monopolists Of
political power in the country would not willingly
surrender that power or any portion of it, and that
no class which was excluded could rely upoa the
generosity of any other class for that Justice which
they demanded, and that therefore, although large
numbers Of the middle classes we're then, and are
now, in favor Of the enfranchi cement Of large
number Of the working class, yet that they would
not make that great effort which is necessary to
wiring political power from those who now hold it
and extend it to those who are now and were then
excluded from it,. The working classes FAUST carry
on this movement for themselves, ETC., etc.
And again he says:
: But our critics say that You are dangerous on
| account Of your numbers. But you cannot help
being numerous The fact is, the millions cannot
suffer but that the few who are tinid and in some
degree ungenerous in this matter take The alarm.
If You had been better governed the LAST ono hun
dred years. if the land had been more IT, the hands
Of the people and less in the hands Of small Glass;
if you had fewer wars, lighter taxes, better in
structior and free trade, why one-haf of those in
this country who are now called the working
classes would have been in comfort and position
equal to those whom We call the middle-class. But
this is the great difficulty now, and it is the great
difficulty ofour opponents. You are too numer..
ous to be let in with safety; and they are finding
that you are too numerous to be kept cut with
safety. g.. 80
Z MIR. BR1eHT went on to ask what would they
have. Would they prefer that, instead Of engag-
ing in this movement in o perfectly la.!ful way,
I:you should do as men did fifty sixty ars ago,
and ns they ara now doing in Ireland, efe"t the
desired change by insurTection and revelation 2
| One OF the two modes must be taken. If there be
a deep and widespread sentiment Of injustice no
longer tolerabAe, them Judging from all past histo-
~ Of all people, one Of two modes will taken
either that mode so sad and SO odious, Of secret
conspiracy, OF that mode so grand and SO noble
which you have adopted. This suggestion, the
reporters tell lib, was received with great applause.
.Mr. BRIGHT then stated clearly the real griey-
ance of the people. You are the citizens, he said,
the native inhabitants of country which is called
constitutional and what is meant by that is, that
your government is not the despotic government
of monarch nor the oigarchical government Of
an ohgarohy; but that it is government, largo
and essential portion Of which is conducted by
honestly ly-elected representatives of the people;
and the grievance is this, that this constitution,
so noble in ts outline and SO good in it's purpose,
is dafaced and deformed, and that when you look
at it it seems in this respect absolutely worse
than any representative constitution existing IN
the world. For believe there is no represen-
tation whatsoever ut this moment in America or
il Europe TINT is SO entirely deforned from its
natural just, and beautiful proportions as is the
representative system OF this country. What can
be- more cleas than this, that the aristocracy of
land and Of wealth usurp the power OF both Houses
Of Parliament? The lords represent themselves,
and genel ally the great landowners, With great
fidelity. But, at the same time, VIC must admit
and deplore that at least one-haf Of the House Of
Commons l. in fast alliance with the majority in
the House of Lords. Now, there is no security
whatsoever for liberty under the government ur-
Jess there be an essential power in fair represen-
tation Of the nation.
Mr. BRIGHT said that on careful inquiry he
found that not more than 100000 votes in gem
eral election we're registered. He found that
in the election OF 1859 only S20 900 voters ut most
could be: leckoncd. In some boroughs there is no
contest, because there is no freedom OF election.
!: The consequence of this state is, that when the
Queen orders her ministers to appeal to the coun-
try it is at the very utmost an appeal to 100000
electors, and in an probability the appeal is an
swered by registered voters numbering from S0O-
600 to 4oO, 600. He continued as follows: s.There
lis no form of government much worse than That of
sham representation. a Parliament like ours has
members enough, and just sno1gh Of tho semblance
Of representation to make it safe for it to do almost
any thing it likes aga nst the true interests of the
nation. There is not representation enough to make
lit truly responsble to the intelligence, virtue and
opinions Of tns people. He instanced the case in
1915, when Parliament beat back tho people who
protested against the corn law of that period, By
horse, foot and artillery. This was Gone by Par
Lament Of landholders for the purpose OF incrcas-
ing their own rents BY sacrificing the comfort,
plenty, health and lives Of tho people. Look at
the very moderate Reform Act Of the last Parla-
ment, and Waa it not defeated by a Parliament OF
landowners and OF rich men, who have wholly des-
pised that great national opinion which has boon
exhibited during the last three or four months, re-
sisted that measure with q apertinacity never ex-
ceeded, and with an amount Of intrigue and u''-
fairness to the government which they burst not
for one single night have attempted if they felt
any red responsibility to the people OF this coun-
try.