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Leader (1850-1860), 18th February 1854, Edition 1 of 1, Page 160

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      which -would cover the allowance of two General officers in the field . There is , we "believe , one reason why both officers and men do not attain , their rights— -why they li « tinder the misrepresentation and invidious attacks of these Tribunes of the Till . It is that thtejr permit themselves—and the fault evidently ti ^ miorte with the officers than with the men—to carry out the purpose of Horse Guard officials in separating them from' the body of the people . TOe frequent assertion'that the military spirit has ^ no > means died out in the English people , and | nftt a direct appeal to their more generous symjajithies in favour of the soldier would be met by a fop ^ r response , is now amply confirmed by our ^ ajy experience . There is no doubt that the people Wnffi be quite willing to do Justice to the soldier ~ td' ' giVc % & the private soldier comforts equal to those which his own class can realize in occupations perhaps more irtsome , but certainly less ristfiol ; and to render to officers not a paltry allo ^^<^ on money inveated , but a generous remuneratidn for the duties performed .

      "''' ' % better timeldwever- iscondhgboth for people iipa ' jmAy ; Both , wiU be wanied by the Grovern-^^^ & ^ m ^ country , both-vi ^ Uretijby the opportunity of b&i ^ appreciated We do not mean that the tme mHefttfble them to obtain all they want by pressure upon the necessities upon the Governtieiit ; we have no sympatliy with the base and ttiwaMly cry of p Connell , " England ' s danger is 3 teela ^( l ' s ppportntnity ; " nor should we hesitate in S ^ &t ^ g any attempt to use the necessides of the cbunffcry as a means , of extorting conditions from

      Government . But occasion for common Exertions , and for , the display of a conmnon spirit , cannot : fail to Increase the respect bfjjte gpvernors for the go ^ rn ^ of ^^ people for its military defenders aid ^ p ^^ iitat ^ es ^ bntKefield ^ fbiittlei On such pccasions itlii £ Government will . accept the support ^^ & ^ P » o |^^ witli ^ ^' ' 'iixatei- generous desire to ^ i ^ rc ^ te that support by ^ a more ample trust ; and ari "earnest of that is given even in the obstinacy with which . Lord John Russell insists upon

      throwing a reform before Parliament m time of war , ^ The necessity of the time will require an extension ^ of the militia ; it is probable that all Idp ^ seai inay once more be catted upon to take their aliafe in military duties ; with the responsibility of sucL service , the spirit that sustains responsibility will revive ; andTaJust appreciation of the soldier yill incline the civilian to increase his reward . 'We have noted with pride that the vanguard

      of the British troops now hastening to the scene of war is a as it should be , that privileged brigade of Guards j whose peculiar distinction of home service exposes them to the vulgar and ignorant detraction of orators , who are apt to talk of the household troops of the British Grown as if they were the ianissaries of despotism , instead of the fiower ^ bf the organised and disciplined national defence , first in rank at home , and foremost in action abroad . Those who witnessed the inarch

      of the Guards , last Tuesday , down the Strand , amidst the enthusiastic farewells of a population still , we rejoice to find , alive to the susceptibilities of patriotic emotion , will be loath to deny the essential unity of the army and the people . There are some who believe that the British troops will encounter no sterner service in the opening

      campaign than the strange and holiday romance of a summer camp on the shores of the Sea of Marmara . For ourselves , we find it difficult to believe that our soldiers can be advanced on the theatre of evcntd so momentous without adding another blazon to their glorious standards . It will he a heartstirring emulation—that brotherhood in arms of the inheritors of the meteor columns

      of Napoleon and the unbroken squares of Wellington . May they never march again but side by side ! Certain we are that wherever British and French troops take ground , they will leave the traces of their footsteps as indelible as the traditions which are the virtue and the soul of armies .

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      THE NEW REFORM BILL . £ The following appreciation of tho new Reform Bill may be regarded as sin exposition of pure Radicalism . Art eucli . xandur the guarantee of an esteemed bignature , we are glau to present the opinions of our correspondent , in deference to our principle of ( sincere und freo discussion . Our readers will have no difficulty in discerning the points of difference in the opinions of the " Lkadek" and of " Non-Kloctor . " ] In approaching the consideration of the Reform measure , read a flrat time in tlie House of Commons on Monday night , it is desirnble that we should ohserve

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      what is our actual position as a people possessing " representative institutions . " This is the second Electoral Reform measure in English history . The first act was called for by the disappearance of certain small towns , the growth of certain great towns , and the shifting of population ; in short , by the transition of England from being an agricultural country , manufacturing only for the home market , to being a commercial country , manufacturing for the whole world . The new measure is , we will not say demanded , but proffered on the same grounds : that during the twenty years which have elapsed since the act of 1832 , further shiftings , of population have taken place , and a consequent necessity lias arisen to distribute anew , the seats of the House of Commons . In

      neither instance do the statesmen originating these measures contemplate giving the suffrage to the people as a right . "They give the suffrage to places ; and tbey select places , and distribute seats , -with reference to producing iu the House of Commons a representation of classes , and of classes only . Aceordingly ? when the He form Act was passed , several millions of men were left without the pale of the constitution ; and thiinew Beform Bill only proposes an extension of the suffrage which would add some half million to the existing million of voters : England being a nation of some 30 , 000 , 000 ! Lord John Russell's new theory of the Representation of Minorities has been much ridiculed . In point of fact , it is the minority which has always been represented in the "English House of Commons—the majority never . r

      The new Reform Bill , then , proposes merely a new symmetrisation of seats . The new Reform Bill has no reference to the increase of population ; England , in 1854 ,. is to have no more members in the " People ' s House , " than England had in 1554 , when the population of all England was just about what the population of London is now . An increase of representatives , because of an increase in the number to be represented , is not proposed , because our statesmen have never yet realised the idea of the citizen , as a man , being entitled to a voice in the government of tlie State .

      Thus pur Reform Bills have no reference to principles . They ate the schemes of parties to keep up representative appearances . The system of 1822 , we were told in 1832 , " worked well . " The system of 1844 , we shall be told in 1854 , worked well . " What will work well , not what is right , is , consequently , the aim of our statesmen in electoral arrangement . And thus a Reform Bill is no sign of popular enlightenment or of national advance . England does not become more free because a Reform Bill is passed to extend the franchise . The fact is , indeed , just the reverse . Proportionally to population , fewer Englishmen now vote for members of Parliament than

      voted for members of Parliament four centuries ago . Doubtless the popular privileges of free speech , and free press , enable the popular voice to \> e heard and obeyed—in the end . And it may be , that as unreformed Parliaments pass Reform Bills , and senates of landlords remove taxes on food and industry , our system of representation does " work veil" —in the end . But that country cannot boast of the dignity of freedom which , is subjected to an electoral system , permitting oligarchical administration ; and that is not self-government , which , by agitation , has to threaten civil war before it gains political concession

      It is , therefore , with a sorrowful protest at the narrowness and untruthfulness of the English conception of representative institutions , that we enter upon , the consideration of Lord John Russell's second attempt to harmonise the House of Commons with , the nation . It is , therefore , that we can only look at tho Bill from the national point of view , and inquire —would this Bill work well in obtaining a fair representation of classes ? It is , therefore , that , if we oppose the Bill , we are entitled to oppose it , not because it does not extend the franchise , as a right , far enough , but the franchise , as a scheme for balancing classes , far enough—or too far .

      The Keform Bill of 1830 was the concession of tae Whigs to the ambition of the middle class . Tfie growth of the middle class , with the growth of thecomluercial and manufacturing systems , was the uprising of a money power too great to permitof a continuance of the complete preponderance of tlie landed aristocracy . The Whigs , wise in their generation , and happening to be out of office , caught at a policy from the political theories awakened in the world by the American and Trench revolutions , and rose to power on the cry of reform . Tho Whigs played the game of the middle class : in England by conciliating

      Dissenters , in Ireland by conciliating Catholics , and ii » the empire at large by caressing that religions middle class feeling , which was expressed in agitations for the emancipation of negroes , for education , fi > r the organization of tlie poor , &c . The Reform Act opened the House of Commons to the middle class : and , thenceforward , tho aristocracy , while being permitted to administer tho country how tliey pleased , ami with complete possession of imperial patronage , were compelled to govern in a middle class spirit . Tho House of Commons , under the influence of the commercial system ut' England , and

      under the influence of those great changes in physical science which brought the ends of the earth together , —which created " private business , "— -ceased to be an assembly of senators and orators , and beca-me anassembly of committees , and " men of business . " Hence the Pitt style of Premier-was Bupplanted by the Peel style of Premier ; and the great debaters , iastead of being laughing Sheridans , became lofty and earnest Gladstones—men all reason and religion . But the Whigs , not producing a great man , to > comprehend the great opportunities they had created , broke down ; and it is significant that th ey broke down and lost power , not because they were hot philosophical statesmen and doctrinaire administrators , but because they were not financiers .

      The Tones , winning the counties by the Chandos clause , regaining ground in the boroughs by rigid registration , and profiting- by the reaction which is always disastrous to conquerors , seized power in 1841 . They said it was because the country was returning to allegiance to Church and State . But it was only because there was a deficit in the revenue , and because the middle class Relieved that that idol of the middle class , Sir Uobert Peel , could create & surplus . Sir Robert Peel , with all the country gentlemen of England at his back , and with a devoted House of Lords , led , on his side , by the historic Wellington , had the sagacity to detect the facts of the day , and was forced into the most

      absolute middle-class policy . He revolutionised the system of finance : he repealed the corn-laws . The country gentlemen and the House of Lords tore him from place in 1846 ; this is 1354 , and every Budget since 1846 has contained a concession to the " Financial Reform Associations" organised by the middle class . In 1853 , Mr . Gladstone , who succeeds to Sir Robert Peel , his place and his , power , in the estimation of the middle classes , passed a Succession Duty Extension bill , which levelled real and personal property ; and in 1854 the Earl of Aberdeen is risking an impeachment for not entering on war , because it is his conviction the commercial middle class cries * ' Peace . "

      Thus the Reform Act of 1832 , destroying a House of Commons which directly represented only the landed interest , recreated a House of Commons , which , whatever it directly ; represents , has voted a middle-class policy . The Reform Bill of 1854 is demanded ( or proffered ) , not because the existing House of Commons does not fulfil the average notions of fair class-representation , but because there is unsymmetrisation in the electoral arrangements , and considerable corruption or intimidation , partly because of those arrangements . Or if there is any idea that there is not a fair class representation , that idea has reference to the absence of the artisan element in the selected voters in towns . We have therefore , to see whether tho new

      propositions would retain the existing distribution of class representation , or , whether the artisan element would be introduced with any practical influence . That the skilled artisan class is not very active on the electoral question , seems to us to be a fact beyond questioning . But another fact beyond questoning is , that the growth of an intelligent , thinking , artisan class , has been as conspicuous between 1332 aud 1834 as the growth of an intelligent and wealthy trading : class was conspicuous between the birth of Arkwright and the death of Huskisson . Consequently a proper Reform Bill , — proper in the English sense , —would specially aim at the enfranchisement of the artisan class , and the introduction of artisan members of Parliament .

      The Bill has been well described , privately , as a Coalition Bill , into which each member of the Government has pitched his own crotchet , —there being just a schedule , or a clause , to each Minister . But there are three " striking main points in the Bill . These are , Schedule A , disfranchising rotten , or nominee , boroughs ; the new 1 * 0 / . occupation franchise for counties ; and tho new 6 l . occupation franchise foT boroughs . The first would weaken by 29 members the landed interest . The second would increase incalculably the power of the middle class . The last , so long as the condition of tliirty months' residence is connected -with it , would leave tho working-class franchise just where it is . And just

      as these points are appreciated is the comment of the class communities on the Bill . The landed interest would vote naturally against a proposition which directly and indirectly would diminish their hold of boroughs and counties ; and tho landed interest is , therefore , angry and vicious . The middle classes are delighted . The working classes have not yet spoken ; but of their probable opinions , as of tho actual ascertained opinions of the middle class , wo may judge by tho newspapers . In fact , however , on these questions tho provincial press is the best guide of public opinion , for they apply clauses to their own local circumstances , and they live among their readers .

      We cannot bo supposed to regret the of the power of the ; landed aristocracy . But , in the democratic interest , we should n-gret to see electoral changes accomplished which would only substitute for tho too conservative power of the hind tlie too ad fish power of tho " money interest . far

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      ICO THE LEADER . . Saturday ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 18, 1854, page 160, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2026/page/16/