The Sun. — 1854-03-06 (London, England)

POSTPONEMENT OF THE .REFORM BILL.  The postponement, and only too probable suppression, of the Reform Bill, may be regarded as the first of those sacrifices which the country is called upon to make at the altar of the implacable demon of battles. The sacrifice is doubtless a great one, yet we can hardly hope that all similar sacrifices will be made with equal cheerfulness and alacrity. The ready approbation with which the House of Commons met the proposal to immolate this great, liberal, and beneficial measure on the shrine of their country, or, at any rate, to sequester it from public view for a decent period previous to its execution, must not, we fear, be anticipated when the Chancellor of the Exchequer asks, as he may probably this very day do, for an increase of the public burdens, which may curtail our incomes, abridgeour pleasures, and confound our plans. It is one thing to surrender, from a sense of patriotic duty, the disfranchisement of a borough, which with all its faults has, at any rate, had the good taste to return one good member to Parliament ; or to postpone the enfranchisement of a number of ten-pound county voters, who, whatever be their abstract merits, will have the drawback of swamping a county influence in which one is interested ; or to adjourn the granting of the representation to a minority in a borough where one's party has hitherto reigned supreme. These are sacrifices which every true patriot makes with pleasure ; but the proposal to forego hard money, or money's worth, is not likely to be received with uproarious cheers, or carried, if carried at all, with a burst of acclamation. We fear there is no denying it,—wherever the desire for reform resides, it is not in the majority of the House of Commons. Ministers may see clearly the wisdom and policy of passing into a law with as little delay as possible provisions with regard to our electoral system, which will obviate the necessity for a considerable time of any further change, and, by adopting the state of the representation to the state of society, may at once insure the smooth working of the representative machine and delicate sensibility of the political balance. But the House of Commons does not share in this conviction, or, if it does so, it is content to let it sleep with other convictions till some imperious emergency shall occasion a disinterment of buried principles, or the necessity of appealing anew to popular favour shall cause men to look about for some topic of interest and excitement. Ministers may give what reason they will for deferring or abandoning their Reform Bill, but the one reason of infinitely more weight than all others put together is, that they have not the means of carrying such a measure through such a house. If a Reform Bill is framed on the old system, on the precedent .of the measure of 1832, it will require for its success conditions very similar to those of that stormy period. There must be union, there must be enthusiasm, or a bill which combines against it all the corrupt influences of the country, by striking at them all, is sure to miscarry. There can be no want of union among the antagonists of the Reform Bill ; a common interest and a common danger secure this without concert or preparation. But where is the bond which is to unite and organise its supporters? Every private abuse has its natural champion and indefatigable defender, hut who will enter the lists on the part of the public ? The great majority of the House of Commons seem to have no vocation whatever for this task. Impressionable they doubtless are, but there has hitherto been no attempt to make any impression upon them. If the house has been ready to make the Reform Bill a holocaust on the altar of Bellona, the country has shown no wish to interrupt the rite. Iphiienia is bound to the altar, but no Diana comes to rescue her. Calchas, in the form of Lord John Russell, raises the knife, and there is no Agamemnon to avert his face. The public mind of this country, though clear in its convictions and ardent in their pursuit, is certainly not qualified to entertain many ideas at the same time. The majority of the middle and the upper classes are too much absorbed in those lucrative pursuits which the prospect of war has as yet but little interrupted, to spare time or attention for a scheme which requires to be considered and analysed in order to be understood, and appeals rather to the understanding than the passions ; and the people—those by whose voices and whose influence the first Reform Bill was carried, and by whose opinion the second must pass, if it be destined to pass at all—are engaged so entirely in contemplating the preparations for war, and have thrown their passions and thoughts so completely into this one novel and exciting subject, that questions of domestic policy fail even to get a hearing, and the national pugnacity, fairly aroused, leaves no room  for any otheX. sentiment. Since, then, the house will itot act without the people, and the people have not sufficient leisure or eagerness to drive their legislators into a Parlia mentary suicide, we suppose we must give up all hopes of passing this bill, good as it is, and adjourn to a future, and perhaps a remote, time the correction of abuses which, little interest as they may excite within Parliament or out of doors, are nevertheless of the highest moment, and materially interfere with the working of our constitution, and detract from the credit due to representative institutions in general. There seems to be no help for it, and it is neither prudent nor dignified to protract a struggle with impossibilities. We must, however, remark that the proposal and withdrawal of such a measure at such a time is, though probably unavoidable, an evil of a very serious nature. The war must be very-unlike other wars if it remains all through its prosecution as popular as it is at present. The public mind is flattered by the exhibition of our strength and spirit, and dwells upon our coming glory without counting the cost. If discontent, the inevitable concomitant of protracted hostilities should arise, every one will be furnished on the highest authority with a manual of grievances ready prepared to his hand, and we shall not be surprised to find the call for reform, which is so silent now, loudly raised at a period when it will be next to impossible to attend to it. The county householder will have been taught to feel his grievance in being deprived of the franchise. The other classc intended to be admitted to the suffrage by the :provisions of the bill will complain, under incteisei burdens, that they hare no voice