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April 28, iSCO.j The Leader and Sahii'da...
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PROLONGED DEBATE OX THE SECOND READING. ...
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FRANCE AND THE ftlllNE. rpHE state of Eu...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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April 28, Isco.J The Leader And Sahii'da...
April 28 , iSCO . j The Leader and Sahii'day Analyst . 391
Prolonged Debate Ox The Second Reading. ...
PROLONGED DEBATE OX THE SECOND READING . PEOPLE who do not give . themselves . tlie trouble to think . before they talk , have been Heard to express their surprise at so many adjournments of the de . bra . tc on the second reading of the Reform ' Bill ; - and some of them have not scrupled to add the expression of a suspicion that such protracted discussion indicates insincerity on the part of Parliament to deal with the question at all . The suspicion thus expressed is as silly ' the surprise . So far from its being extraordinary that three or four ¦ evenings should have been consumed in the general discussion of so grave a subject , it would have been an exceedingly bad sign of the condition of public feeling , if the second reading of the Pill could have been carried without it . In spite of all the ignorant and idiotic joking in certain quarters about the " littleness " of the measure , it turns out that twice as many ncvy electors , will be created in towns , and three times as many in counties , by the present proposal , as ivere added to the register of voters by the Act of 1832 . Tin ' s calculation , be it observed , is not founded upon the rubbish statistics of Mr . Enwix James , or the rhodomontade assertions , of Lord-lionert- jVLo-n ' tague ,. but on the carefully sifted and scrutinized statements prepared under direction , of Government , and laid upon tlie table by command of the Queen . The total number of borough electors added to the constituency of England and Wales by the first llefonn Bill , was S ] , 859 ; while the minimum estimate of the number that would be added by the second ., ¦ as stated by Sir Geokge Lewis in his speech of Monday last , is 1 * 67 , 000 ; yet the first . Bill is . always spoken of as " the great measure of enfi-auchishnient , " While that now pending- is undervalued by reckless and stupid chatterers as a " little Bill . " The truth is that it is , in iriany respects , a great and important step in advance , and one which ought certainly not to be taken without full and . deliberate discussion and We hardly think that six months . hence ' any rational liiah will' he found to allege that halfa-dozen sittings of the Legislature ought to be deemed too many to be devoted to its consideration . It is of the utmost importance to the success of the measure that all that can possibly be said against it should be said as soon as possible . There is no other way in which delusions can be dispelled regarding its real character and tendency , or thorough confidence as to its wisdoin and safety created in the minds of all classes . Take , for example , the manner in which the preposterous misrepresentations begotten by Whig apostacy or Tory fear have been publicly triedj , condemned , and executed during the course of the present debate . Every form of exaggeration has been recklessly reiterated for weeks respecting- the numbers by whom it was said property and intelligence were about to be swamped in towns . When Lord John Russell , on the 1 st of March , estimated that number at about 200 , 000 , the obstructors were dumbfounded at his moderation . They dare not aver that . such an addition was excessive or unreasonable , and to all the other leading points of the Bill they were -committed by their votes of last session . What , then , was to be done to get up a cry ?
There was nothing for it but to impugn the accuracy of the Poor Law statistics , and to impeach the fidelity of Lord John's representation of the probable eilbcts of the measure , On the anonymous authority of private correspondents ( I . e ., of Tory electioneering agents throughout the country ) , one gentleman after another was pushed forward to declare his belief that the Returns prepared at Gwydyr House were not to be veiled on ; and that , under the pretence of setting the door ajar , Ministers were preparing to throw it wide open . By way of capping the clirnnx , the hon . and learned Member for Mnrylcbone undertook to prove that all tenants whose rates were compounded for would
be entitled to vpte under the Bill ; and that , instead of two hundred thousand new borough electors , we should have half a million . Jlnd the debate closed before Easter , thoso fables of faction would have passed for narratives founded on fact , and have clone their work of perplexing and disturbing the minds of timid , thoughtless , and triinming politicians of all degrees and parties . Happily this mjscjii . oi has boon prevented effectually by the opportunity fatally afforded to the nn-ti-roj'onnors of stating thtjir case in detail ; and the opportunity at the same tlmo n / forded for ita exposure and utter extinction by the Minister for tlie Homo his the
Department . "When obliged to go into proofs , great Mai JPHun practitioner utterly broke down . Mr . Jamks told the House in his own felicitous oil' -hand way , that he had looked into the mutter with his own eyes , written to friends in eighty tliffereiit towns in his own hand , had totaled the columns o ( electoral figuroa in his own and two or three neighbouring boroughs , tlio results of ~ VvIiieh he would give by way of sample . But before the inexorable logic of the oahn mid almost contomptuous HoMb Skgrhtauv , the whole fabric of middle olusa jealousy and aristocratic apprehension sought to bo baaed on xtheso rough and , ready statements vanished into air , Sir Q -mohom
Lewis is probably , the one man in Parliament who has never been caught in an inaccuracy as to a matter of fact , lie has , therefore , a great character to support for knowledge and faithwortln ' ncss . The returns . in question were prepared b } r his direction last autumn , and relied on by him as the draughtsman of the Bill . If errors had crej ) t into them , as of course was not impossible , it was his interest as well as . his duty to repudiate the blunders of his subordinates as soon as they were pointed out , and to disentangle himself at once from the difficulties into which they might have betrayed him . The prolongation of the debate from Aveek to week afforded unusual time for re-examination , and reference back to the localities ; and Sir George Lewis volunteers the avowal that such reference and
re-exninination . was made . Par ,- however , from deprecating criticism , or qualifying his official endorsement of the returns , lie has deliberately and unreservedly renewed'it ,, demonstrating the utter irrelevancy of the odds and ends of facts relied on by his opponents , and * trampling underfoot their incoherent and incredible assertions . Instead of admitting that Lord John . Russell , had understated the number of newly-enfranchised electors in cities and'boroughs , the IIomk Secretary told the House of (¦ ominous that his noble friend had rather overstated their probable number , lie pointed out distinctly the reasons why it would ; be ' simply ridiculous to count all names of the masculine gender on the rate book as new electors where . the tenements .. wiitp . rented at and over £ (> . lie showed by .. reference , to the
very cases relied on by his rash assailants that not one inau m three who occupied a tenement worth , £ 10 or upwards appeared on the burgess list ; and he asked , in a pardonable tone of sarcasm , whether the causes that contributed to keep so many of the classes now enfranchised off the roll would be ¦ / chh likely to prove operative respecting tlie less opulent , class . between six and ten pounds . We think it must be admitted , therefore , that the ultimate success of the iSill has ; been greatly promoted rather than retarded by the prolonged discussion on the second reading .
France And The Ftlllne. Rphe State Of Eu...
FRANCE AND THE ftlllNE . rpHE state of Europe is so bad , that the mere fact of unsettling X it cannot be regarded in the light of a misfortune ; but it would comport neither with the dignity , the interests , nor tlie duty of England to-take any part in the process , unless with a reasonable expectation of being able to advance the cause , of freedom find ' of human advancement . When Lord John Kussell threatened a new coalition against France , the lOmpire . replied by a pamphlet , suggesting a coalition against Ivngland . ; and there is no reason to believe that document If . ** ollicial because it was repudiated by its authors even before it was produced . The fact is , that * in France and in . other parts of Europe people are speculating upon the probability of England ' s repeating some portion of the policy of William Pitt and George 111 ., and the French Empire requires a considerable
stock of Anglophobia always on hand to deal with if circumstances require ; Tlie annexation of Savoy and 'Nice has not only " -ratified the passions of the restless , aggressive portion of the French people , but has stimulated the desire , for a further " rectification of frontiers" in the direction of the Rhine . The . Germans are alive to this fact , iind a few days ago Horr Di : nc : ki- ; k , the member for Berlin , declared in tho Prussian Chamber * , Unit the " common enemy , " France , " was already at the gate . " He
complained that the European Towers had not found courage to resist tho encroaching policy of the Umpire . Russia Ik : pictured as having bur own internal difficulties and her design * on the East . Austria , who , by the bye , is pushing her military preparations with the ; utmost vigour , lie allinnod to bis " meditating vengeance upon the Italian p arvenu ; " while , aeeording to lii » view , England , instead of rallying Urn-ope around her n * of old , had , as ho declared , almost " so } d . her birthright for that mess of pottage , the commercial treaty . " It i , s somewhat amusing to bear that our country has a " birthright" in fighting for continental despots , who have proved , by their treudiery , falsehood , and tyranny , that they wore utterly unworthy of thatunder tho
support ; but Herr Dunckick proceeded to say , circumstances ho depicted , tho Prussia of Fkisoiskjck TJJK Gun AT ought to rondor all alliances superfluous by cniating a union among the German people . This is precisely tho opinion an often advocated in tin ' s journal . Wo believo a united Germany would require no external aid against French Imperialism or any otbcsr marauding force j but if a raul Germany ul the people did require o . ur help in a righteous onuso , it would ni all probiibllity bo vigorously Jittbrdocl . It is , however , to hy . noticed that Horr Dunokisr fouiul » u strong nrguinont hi favour of Gorman unity upon the supposition that thu threw dozen mischievous Httlo potentates oould not defend tho wuntry themselves , nor get England to defend it for thuin . Inw
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 28, 1860, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28041860/page/3/
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