The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-11-05
The English Elec. ions.
r. ON he N. Y. Commercial Advertiser.

Fl ON he N. Y. Commercial advertiser.
The English Parliament will be dissolved in
a few days, and the elections will immediately
take place. The result is looked forward to
with great interest, on account of the probable
influence Of the new Reform bill upon the
election OF members. 1t is estimated that
million new voters will be enfranchised under
the new act. This amounts to very nearly
one-half the present electoral vote in England,
and so large an addition might naturally be
expected to result in a much more liberal and
democratic House of Commons than has been
known since the time of Cromwell.
But the Tory fears upon this subject are not
likely to be realized. Several years must
elapse before the English people can realize
the full benefits of the extension of the fran
chse. The influence of the aristocratic and
wealthy classes is so great that the complex
ion of the new House of Commons will scarcely
undergo any change. There may be a few
less Tories and few more liberals, but the
democratic popular element will scarcely be
represented at all. OHe reason for this arises
from the fact that the House of Commons is
essentially composed of rich men. Every
member pays his own expenses, there are no
salaries, and social prestige or exclusveness
will continue to keep poor radical reformers
out of the House until the American plan Of
paying legislators shall have been adopted.
The chief issue in the English canvass seems
w luIu upOu Lu6 lTloll SuuICn QuoSItOus u6
great rival orators and statesmen, Disraeli and
Gladstone, have joined issue upon this subject
Mr.. DisIaeli heads the opposition of Reform,
and opposes the establishment of the Irish
Church by pressing into his service the old
worn-out cry of "No Popery - 1t remains to
be seen how much this will help him. The
Prime Minister is shrewd and far-seeing, and
he probably does not greatly overrae the i'm
mense amount of bitter sectarian hate that
ha ita1 In tiN,,
involving danger to the Established Church.
He takes the ground that the disestabishment
of the Irish Episcopal Church, with its enor-
nous revenues and privileges, will be fol
lowed by a crusade against the Established
Church in England. He is probably correct in
this, as it is scarcely in the nature OF things
that the progressive English people can long
continue to tolerate the absurdity OF State
religion of any kind.
But there are in England alone about twenty
thousand Episcopal clergymen, and of these
nineteen-twentieths will be Mr.. Disraeli's
most active supporters. They are all men OF
education; many of them possess wealth and
high social distinction, and can influence
many persons; and they constitute an immense
recruiting body for the clever Prime Minister.
They will pound the ''drum ecclesiastic'
against Gladstone and Irish Church Reform at
a furious rate, and will be certain to exercise
no unimpOrtant influence upon the issue ol
the election.
That Mr.. Disraeli will succeed in gathering
a majority in the new House of Commons il
possible rather than probable. 1t is no more
probable that the English people could vote to
perpetuate the abuses of the Irish Church
| system than that the Northern people could
vote to restore slavery in the South. But pre-
judioe and sectarian bitterness go long way
in many countries besides our own, and the
| Prime Minister may succeed in procuring {
kind of half-and-half Reform Parliament, thai
will neutralize any real reform, and only con
sent at last to conOede just enough Of justict
to break the force of ths charges of Messrs
Gladstone and Bright, and thus keep himsel
and his friends in power few years longer.
The Outcry AbOut DisfranchiSement.
FROM the N. T. Times.
The falsehoods OF the Democratic press oi
the subject of disfranchisement attain thei
climax in the ErpreSs, which tells its reader
that
"Thirty thousand white men are disfrau
cbised in Western Virginia, two hundre
thousand in Virginia, seventy thousand 1
Texas, ninety thousand in Mississippi, eight
thousand In Tennessee, ntnety Thousand
Missouri, ana large numbers In the OJhe
Southern States, This was done by the radicals
! More than half million whites denied TIA