Year: 1868

England Gaining ON America.


Were it not for the landed aristocracy OF
the British islands, fortified by immense


wealth and by that prescriptve right to exist
Whlch centuries give, there would be every
| probability that the English would reach
about the same stage OF democratic progress
before the close of the century that America
already has. Household suffrage in England
and Scotland is likely to be followed at no
distant day by universal suffrage, and the
overthrowlof the Irish church by the ove--
throw OF the English establishment and
the complete separation OF church and state.
The momentum the Liberal movement has
acquired since the close of the American war
is wonderful. The obstacles placed i'm its way
by Tory governments and by the very con-
servative liberalism of some of the Whig
leaders are swept away like cobwebs AL
ready the derTier resort of dissolution of
Parliament has been decided upon by the
Tories now in power. Defeat has followed
defeat in the House of Commons, until Dis
raeli, shrinking from resignation as from
death, has concluded that there is no way
but to endeavor to mend the fortunes ofhim-
selfand his party by sending the members
back to their constituents. Both parties TO
the contest would have been glad to avoid
this test of their relative strength; the mem
bers, because the expense ofa new election is
very great, and the government, because the
voters who were enfranchised by the Reform
bill of last year will now for the first time ex-
ercise their rights. The result of the elee-
ton in December can hardly be doubtful. 1t
will cost vast sums Of money ,-pelhaps an
other million pounds, the sum it is said the
members of the present House expended for
their seats-but it is Gladstone and John
Bright who will triumph and not Disraeli and
Stanley. The dissolution will enable the
prime minister TO hold the reins of power for
a few months longer, and that is probably the
most he expects to accomplish by it.


With new Parliament such as may be
expected to be returned from the republican
lied constituencies of England, it is not ex-
travaSant to hope that so far as the tempers
of one branch OF the legislative department
is concerned the government of Great Brit
ain will become the most liberal in the world.
Female suffrage will be adopted in England
hrst. Indeed the ladies of that country do
not hesitate to demand the right to vote un-
der existing, laws and test case is now
pending before the Court of Common Pleas
in which women of Manchester, seven thou
sand in numcer, claim that their names must
be placed On the list of voters for that city
inasmuch as they are householders and nav
rates. The foundation of their claim is a
principle of legal Interpretation that will
seem strange enough to those who are not
conversant with the methods of constituting
public laws. The new law gives the ballot
not to every male person." but to "every
man." Now both in England and in this
country nothing is better settled than that
the word "man" in statutes imports human
being of either sex, unless there are express
words limiting its signification to the mascu-
line gender. The masculine pronouns have
the same breadth of meaning, and, as is well
known where penalties are denounced against
nam who commits crime she does not escape
who is guilty of the same offence. Still
the plaintiffs in this particular case viii
probably gain nothing further by their efforts
than the indirect advantage which arises
from provoking diseassior,=>-..1==a-i,-7. =
public attention


Taking it for granted that the English fran
chise will soon become as liberal as the most
advanced Radical ON either side of the At
lantic can desire, there st i'll remain the upper
branch of the legislative body and the Execu-
tive to be liberalized 1t is clearly not the
latter that will offer the greatest resistance.
Already the rising tide of democracy reaches
the loot OF the throne. 1t is but few days
since a member of the House of Commons
affronted that the good Victoria ran Y ay to
Balmoral in Scotland in the midst of minis
terial crisis, broadly limited that Queen who
neglects her merely nominal duties should
resign. Taking the suggestion of the Irish
Commoner for text, an English publica-
tlon, the "Echoes from the Clubs" which re-
fleets some currents of public sentiment with
tolerable accuracy, declares that the abdica-
tion OF Victoria and the succession of her
son would be the signal for the uprising of
the democratic element in politics and the
immediate overthrow of the monarchy. An
Edward or an Edward vi might keep his
seat and outride the storm, but not an effete
scion of feeble race, like Albert Edward.