The morning call., 1892-07-08
TIE ELECTIONS IN ENGLAND.

The English elections drag their slow
length along, like novel which sustalnS us
interest by being CONTINUED in our next
Nearly all the boroughs have voted. leaving
the counties TO hear FROM with some OF the
CITY constituencies Up to date the Glad
stoniaus seem to have made gains, but hardly
sufficient TO overcome the strength OF the
combined Wings and Tories, who are
banded together under the vague title of
Unionsts, the idea of the name being TO
create the impression that the advocates Of
local self-government are disunionists. just
so in this country before the war the free
sellers used to be denounced as enemies OF
the Union. though few years afterward
most of them fought pretty Justify to main
tain it,
The peculiar plan which the English
adopt in regard to nominations is leading to
curious results. In Great Britain con-
stituencies do not nominate their own can
didates. The latter are chosen by self
constituted committee of leaders of the
party which meets in London and are ac-
cepied by the constituencies. Thus the
African traveller, Stanley, who naturally
ranged himself on the wrong side IN poll
ties, WAS billeted on a constituency when
knew nothing of him and elected follower
of Gladstone over his head. Mr. Stanley
would probably have been as useless In
Parliament as Horace Greeley was IN Con-
gress. The best thing TO do with him was
10 lay him on the shelf. But if Parlia-
mentary seat be considered merely as an
honor he was as well entitled to it by bis
services to geography and exploration as
any man in England.
The British system is so complicated that
an American finds il difficult to understand.
A resident of city votes for the borough
or city member but if he has property in
county he may vote for that too. Thus a
rich man who lives in London and owns
houses 10 half a dozen counties-as many
men d0-may vote in the counties as we'll
as the city, and his political weight will be
equal 10 that Of seven men who own no
county property. IN this case it is the land
which votes and not the man. When our
constitution was framed the Adams faction
and the Ergnians wanted to insert into it
similar property qualification until Ben
Franklin, observing the disposition to fix
the qualification at $50 dryly observed that
in his part of the country jackasses were
selling for $50 apiece, and if the proposed
provision was adopted the purchaser of
one of the animals would be enable to vote,
while man who did not own one could not,
IN which case it would be the jackaSs that
voted and not the man.
Gladstone in the act of 1884 Increased the
British constituency 10 six millions. and his
reckoning is that these new voters whom he
enfranchsed will support him. That is not
certain. The new voters are mainly ignor-
ant and unused to political power. They
are wholly deficient in the education neces-
saTy to teach man how TO use the ballot
wisely. 1t takes a long time-as we have
learned in this country--te teach a man who
has never taken part in self-government
how to DO his share for his own and the pub
lie interest. Men are not born imbued with
political knowledge any more than they are
born cobber5 and black smiths. It is almost
as likely that the new English voters will
vote wrong as right, and il a ma jority Of
them do vote wrong the solid body IF Con-
seryatiyes, who are opposed 10 Gladstone
because he advocates change, and they are
opposed to change Of any kind, or for any
object because it is change, may carry the
election again. and postpone the triumph Of
self-gOVernment until another Parliament
meets.