Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-08-29

political currents Of the age as little as
the obsolete Nominations of james the
First the present time, unless the leaders
in the forum bend before the practical
issues, which at present so violently |
agtate the nation.
The conflict between fcudal and demo |
crat ideas is fast coming to an end, and
every vcstige of privilege and rank is |
succumbing to the pressing needs of the
time
The recent agitation over the new
franchise bill IN the English Parliament,
and Mr. Gladstone's speech upon the
measure in the House of Lords, indicate
II very critical state of affairs III British
politics The franchise bill is very nearly
equivalent in its provisions to what is
known in purely republican forms of
government as universal suffrage. Some
restrictions of Il formal nature distinguish
it from Il universal suffrage, as practised
in this country. but the real object of the
bill is to exclude from parliamentary
franchise no adult male subjects of the
queen save criminals, raupcrs, and
trampS.
The bill has Il deep held upon the sym
pathics of the lower and middle classes of
English woikingmcu. and their earnest
zeal for it should meet with approval
even among the conservative forces of the
English nation. The bill passed the House
of Commons by II unanimous vote, but
excited the most strenuous opposition in
the House of Lords,
Mr. Gladstone. in his speech in favor of
the bill, made mastery effort to save
the peerage of England from the greatest
mistake and the greatest danger which
has ever threatened that body.
He warned the peers that the rejection
of the bill would not only mean the most
serious crisis England has ever seen since
the struggle over the corn-laws, but
that it would endangcr the very existence
of the House of Lords, as Il branch of the
British legislature.
The speech of the great English states
man was powerlcsS against Il body en-
trcnched. rs they We're. in obsolete
traditions of rank and privilege.
Sir Stafford Northcote. the Tory leader.
replied To it. repudiating it as revolutions
AIRY and inSurgcnt. and boldly vaunted
the long established right of the peers as
an independent branch of the legisla-
ture.
In the fall the bill will again he brought
forward for Il third reading. and it will
! doubtless meet with Il similar result.
! although il is said the Earl of Wcmys~
is endeaNoring to effect compromise
Should the bill fail to pass the House of
Lords at the third reading public indig-
nation will he cllcctually aroused and It
I serious crisis must cnSue.
The Imperial Parliament of Great Brit
ain wasting its energies aS il frequently
| does over trtiing questions of local per
I hereditary privileges when matters OF
; national Importance are at stake. Early
' education and inherited tendencies nc
count in IL measure for the mulisl
i obStinacy with which the English arstoc
t racy oppose the present great conflict be
=, tween feudal and democratic ideas. Tn,
l maintenance of old forms from which tn,
I life has long since passed out the sticking
for "prvilegc'' based as it is upon
: injustice and wrong. are not the least o
the evils inflicted upon such as are born
upon English soil. 1t is time that new
: political institutions should illuminat,
= the old historic structures and ever!
8 vestige of hereditary rank and right be
u done away with
5 For the world has made wonderful
= stride in the way of liberty of thought
i, and action in the last decade of life, /
u distinct and permanent advance in the
Z subject of franchise by the people, which
Il in no revolving circle of human affairs
= can be erased. An English editor goes Il
the gist of the thing, when he says
] AlrttuN lnt expanding anu pTOSptlllll
= industries of the New World are throw
= ing an ominous shadow across the Ole
World, and are affecting some of it
habits and practices. But over ano
~ beyond all these, the free thought
{ the liberty of action, the calm indie
, pendence, and the sense of tn,
dignity of man as man, and the perfec
= equality of all before the law and in thu
i eye of the constitution now existing il
d, America, are developing Il race of men
who, through correspondence with hom
:, relations, the intercourse of free travel
- the transaction of business, the free out
y spoken language of the press are grad
= ually disintegrating the strong conserva
a, tive forces OF European society, and thu
a preparing the downfall of the monarch
If zeal aristocracy, military and eccles
II astical systems, which shackle an
N strange the people of the Old World,
80 The overwhelming exodus to America. I
~ the homes of fifty millions of free men
restricted by no shadow of privilege, cil
cumscribed by no barriers of rank an
tradition, should be.a legibe prophecy t
81, the English mind
= There has long been a. prevailing ide
+ among the English workingmen that tn
G. time was approaching when the prescril
T. tive privileges and immemorial rights {
IF the arstocracy must be abridged.
~. England has yearly been growing MOI
" radical in her opinions and has long beel
tbllllbIlc ny lHt lTulltlllSt {
IL the people. That there should exist &
C. the same time and in conjunction wit
nr this democratic form of government
IT, Self-perpetuating aristOcracy, which sha
rs chec k-lnate every move of the representi
o. tive body of the people and hold itse
n alool from every outgrowth of publ
- sentiment is ananomaly in the history
n nations, which must sooner or later i
n done away with"
To- The English people, conservative q
MS they are, have been roughly shaken i
* some of their convictions of late. and
IS few ancient landmarks toprled owe
oO Even Disraeli in his radical extension {
40 suffrage, FASTENED their decline an
W doomed hereditary privilege to speed
Ir extinction when he chose to convince I'll
nd English people that no one should cniu
ms the nations highest honors but thOs
If who best deserved them
is Above all others Gladstone towers VIII
nd IN his nifty years struggle with the for,
most statesmen of the age in the QIIcstiu
ne OF political progress has won the crow
for attainment and cbnrnnta md