New-York tribune., 1867-08-20
THE REFORM BILL TIE PEOPLES VICTORY

The British people are once more to have
representative government III reality For cen
turies the House of Commons has been the
peoples house in theory only; but the Reform
bill which has just received the queens as
sent, and is therefore now the law OF the land'
has household suffrage as its basis and this
must have the effect of giving the masses
eventually controlling voice in the legisla-
ton of the country. Previous to the passing
of the Reform bill of 1892 the Government OF
England was altogether in the hands OF an
oliearchy. 1t mattered not which party,
whether Wing or Tory, was in the ascendant
for the time being; political power, the right
TO rule. was regarded as the hereditary and
inalienable possession Of the privileged class.
Parliament was then n purely arist0cratc
body-a sort Of close borough, filled with
the sons, and brothers, and relations, and
dependents of the peers of the realm, and the
guiding principle of legislation was the inter-
ests of the few, not the welfare of the many.
But with the development of the manufactur-
ing industry of England, the middle class grew
rapidly in wealth and power and feeling Its
strength, demanded a wider political freedom
and better chances of winning political distinc-
an agitation that shook the Kingdom from
center to circumference; and the alternative
presented to the governing class was Reform
or Revolution. The former was conceded, and
privileged aristocracy, by accepting middle
class liberalism as an ally, averted Its own
overthrow, and gained a longer lease of power.
Under the legislative regime inaugurated by
the bill Of 80, the middle class has tlourished
beyond all precedent in English history, beyond
all parallel in universal history; but its
influence has been mainly directed toward
the advancement of its own interests.
Meantime, the great body of the people have
been, during the last thirty years, silently
receiving a political education whose inevita-
BILE tendency was to prepare them for the
manly and successful assertion, at no distant
day, of these constitutional rights. That day
has come-come sooner than the intoerant
Tories feared, than the timid Liberals
believed, than the most sanguine
Radicals anticipated, and it has been
hastened unquestionably by the rapid march
of Freedom in this Republic during the last
four or five years. From the period of the
English Revolution till the passing of the Re-
form bill of 1882, Aristocracy had everything it's
urging its claims, which could not safely be dis
regarded by the governing class. And now De-
mocracy strong in practical intelligence, and
skillful organization of its forces, steps forward
and demands its rights in such peremptory
terms that refusal is out of the question. It's
triumph has been great in obtaining those
rights long and obStinately withheld, but
greater still in that its hereditary foes have
been the unwilling instruments through which
the victory has been won.
Speculation is rife rs to how the new power
which the Derby-Disrael bill has called into
political existence is likely to develop itself,
and as to what effect its movements will have
upon the fortunes and destiny of the nation.
The ultra Tories, like Lord Cranbome and
Gen. Peel, are dreadfully apprehensive OF evil
results, and do not hesitate TO declare that,
now the people are admitted to power, the
glory of old England has departed forever.
Many of the so-caled Liberals secretly share
in the apprehensions of these prophets of evil,
and even some of those known as Radicals
profess to have their misgivings. But, for our
part, we know not how any individual having
an enlightened faith in mans capacity for self
government can entertain doubt as to
the fitness of the classes enfranchised by
this new Reform bill for taking a part
in the government of their country. people
who can endure what these have endured, and
who can seek redress of their grievances in
the way in which these have sought it, may,
we think, safely be trusted with power. But
that there will be, rs the consequence of their
enfranchisement, breakup, ere long, of old
party combinations, an obliteration OF old
party lines, is pretty certain. 1t is reported by
Lord Granville that the Tory leader exclaimed,
when his bill was passing through the Com
mons, Don't you see how it has dished the
"Whigs9n 1t has "dishedn the Wings but
it will most assuredly "dishn the Tories like
wise and that it will have the effect of dis
integrating the Liberal party is moro than
likely. Indeed, Matthew Arnold, himself Lib
eral, in his last lecture in the Poetry Chair of
Oxford, recently delivered, tells us that
the new Democratic power which has
suddenly appeared in England has no SYM
pathy with, no affection for, middle-class
liberalism at loves and admires," he says,
"neither tho legislation of middle-class Parlia-
"ments, nor the local self government of middle
"class vestries, nor the unrestricted competition
"of middle-class mdustrialists." If this is its
attitude toward tho Liberals, and If alliance
with the Tories is out of the question. then