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power to do it . Freedom and free institutions give you mighty and irresistible ardour in a great cause ; they do not give you silent credulity and blind following in a petty one . The people of this country are carrying on this struggle , they are pouring out their money and their blood under the belief that they are crusading against despotism . But in this belief they are miserably deceived . They are crusading with * , and indirectly for , despotism . The object that their statesmen
have in view as purely a diplomatic one , to diminish the preponderance of Russia in the Black Sea . Hence the country and the Government are all at cross-purposes . The country , in sublime oblivion of our magnanimous ally , wonders that the Government does not openly declare itself to be crusading against despotism , as embodied in the Czae , and heartily take the nation into partnership in the crusade . The Government , on the
other hand , is disconcerted and scandalised at the uproarious . interference of the nation with its deep designs for cutting down the Russian fleet . The Government , of course , when they want to raise the wind , appeal to our hatred as freemen of Russian influence in Europe . But how will that influence be diminished if all the points demanded at the Vienna Conferences are gained ? Suppose Russia is bound by a paper treaty not to meddle with her friends and accomplices , the
Greek Christians in the Turkish empire , will she be bound , even by a paper treaty , not to league with German despots , and lend them the aid of her piratical arms to put down in blood the rising liberty of their peoples ? When the Principalities are made neutral , or independent , or Turkish , or whatever it is to be , how will that diplomatic transaction guarantee Hungarv against having the same fearful
odds cast against her again in any future struggle for freedom ? Compel Russia to accept a clause binding her never again to interfere by force or diplomacy for the maintenance or extension of despotism in Europe , and you will at least have asserted a principle , and « made the House of Romanoff feel that jphatthey now suffer is the punishment of their crimes .
Our polity is republican , but our diplomacy is monarchical ; it is the only thing really monarchical which we have remaining . This little shred of the old system dragged us , in spite of real and essential character , into the Revolutionary war . We fought to avenge the dethronement of a dynasty and the murder of a King , being ourselves in the full enjoyment of those liberties which were the fruits of an
exactly similar operation . Wo have allowed the Foreign Office to fix the objects of this war , and of course they are the objects of a Monarchical diplomacy , not of an essentially Republican nation . They are strictly limited by regard for the sensibilities of that group of despots from whom , in virtuo of a name , we continue to receive " the most satisfactory assurances . " Free institutions arc on their
trial . They are trying to bo at onco what they are and what they are not—a hard trial for any institutions . Oh for 0110 frank , unmistakable Europea Commonwealth ! It would blow secret diplomacy to the winds , and make war , if it did make war , for those objects which can alone justify the shedding of blood .
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WEIGHTS AND MEASURES . The world , no doubt , is right in betaking itself at once to the use of that which answers its present purpose , without waiting for that which , out of all abstract possibilities , is demonstrnbly to be preferred : or else it might not bo difficult to show that when men began to count , they ought to have left out their thumbs , and contented themselves with their eight fingers . Probably , however , they could not then spare tho extra digits from their limited arithmetic , and they certainly did not sco what complexities of calculation thev incurred for their descendants by sent
thus indulging themselves with tho pre convenience of the thumb .. Ten has boon made tho period of recurrence with a universality which prevents our remembering that it has no natural title whatever to tho honour ; for , « s forns principle is concerned wo might just an well stop nt 7 or 11 , instead ^ of 0 , 2 nd begin again ut 8 or 12 , instead of 10 , and so on for all succeeding periods . Ihe question in one of convenience . Tho cliief advantage of tho period ot 8 over that of 10 , for general use , lios , perhaps , in its capability of porpotual bisection down
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THE NEWEST NEW WORLD . The House of Commons did notable work on Thursday last , in profound unconsciousness , we believe , of its real scopo and value They gave a constitution which upon tho whole we may pronounce admirable , to a country which is the heir-apparont of tho coming time—one day destined to bo tho mistress of India , the protector of China , tho rival of
America . In a thin House , after a debate of no great force or insight , the foundations and landmarks of a nation were laid down in the new constitution for Victoria , the chief of the Australian States . The colonists were represented by a rather incongruous opposition , composed of exofficial Whigs , semi-official Tories , and Irish Radicals . But on the whole their views seem to us just and reasonable . Let us endeavour to winnow them from out the bushel of parliamentary chaff in the morning papers .
The bill confers upon the Colony an absolute control over its own affairs , its lands , its revenue , its public offices . It creates a Government responsible to , and removable by , the popular branch of the local Legislature ; it places in their hands the appointment of every public office , with a single exception—that of the Governor . This is a large and liberal constitution under which a new people may healthily grow and develop . But the Opposition have pointed out two or three serious impediments to its successful working which , if we had more trust in parliamentary wisdom , we should count on seeing removed .
The qualification of a member of the Legislative Assembly is a freehold estate of the value of 2000 ? ., situated in the colony . No other property but freehold will suffice , and no other locality but Victoria . The result of this absurd restriction is to throw the representation into the hands of a very small , and not a particularly eligible , class . And to make their monopoly secure , it is provided that each member shall make a solemn declaration that " he has not collusively or colourably obtained a title" to this property for the purpose of a qualification . Note the result of these provisions .
" Freehold property alone creates a qualification "—This was once the law in England , but it became so odious and oppressive to shut out wealthy manufacturers , merchants , fundholders , and shareholders , that in the first year of the present reign it was repealed , and landed property of any tenure , and chattel property of any kind , may now create a qualification . Mr . Bbight qualifies out of his mills , Mr . Cobden out of his Consols . " Every Member shall make a declaration , " Sfc . —It is computed that more than half the Members of the House of
Commons might be shut out by a scrutiny which it ia proposed to apply to every Member of a provincial Parliament . There are fifty-three Scotch Members , for example , who are exempt from the necessity of any property qualification , on the ^ specific ground that estates are small in Scotland . Six representatives of universities are exempt , in order that men competent to represent the seats of learning may not be shut out for want of land or money . Fifty or sixty heirs-apparent of Peers , or of persons qualified to be Knights of the Shire , are admitted without any
question as to property in possession . Perhaps there aro as many manufacturers and fundholders who qualify from chattels . And lastly , there aro undoubtedly a largo number ot persons to whom property has been legally conveyed for tho purpose of creating a quali-1 fication . None of these classes , or any corresponding classos , are admissible in tho colony . This ia rather strong . Provisions sufficient to protect tho authority and dignity of a Parliament which has lasted for seven hundred years might bo adequato , avo ahould think , for ono , which has not lasted quito fifty months . Perhaps there is something in tho nature of a colony which makes extra precau tions necessary . Hardly ; for no other colony has adopted them . There is no
property qualification for the Lower Chamber in Canada ; none in the Cape ; none in the neighbouring colonies to Victoria—South Australia and New South Wh ales ; none across the straits in Van Diemen ' s Land ; none in the British Isles in the Southern Pacific-New Zealand . Almost the last news from the Antipodes was an insurrection in Victoria , in which nearly sixty men were killed . Tho insurgents caught with arms in their hands
have since been tried by Melbourne juries and acquitted : acquitted on the ground that they had been subject to taxation without representation . One may predict the consequences of sending to such a people a constitution which carefully shuts them out from any place in the Legislature . These diggers create the wealth , bear the burdeas , and pay the taxes of the state ; if they are excluded from all share in its management we may predict a thunderclap .
Another point urged by the Opposition was the reduction of an enormous Civil List granted to the Crown ; as this , however , is not a permanent burden , but reversible at any time by a vote of the Local Parliament , there is no serious danger here . They also propose to restore certain provisions , which Lord John Russell struck out of the original measure , limiting the class of bills which the Governor will be authorised
to hold over for the consideration of the home Government . There is no greater hinderance to prosperity than uncertainty in a people of the laws under which they live . That just and necessary measures , which have been duly considered and deliberately adopted in the country to which they apply , should need to travel thirty thousand miles round the globe , and be subject to an official in Downingstreet before they come into operation , is a grievance which no people will endure a moment longer than they must . If this be not cured , it will cure itself in a very peremptory and effective manner on the spot . But with all its drawbacks the Victoria Constitution is a great and generous measure , under which that singular colony may grow into its destined prosperity and power . When London was raging for the Reform Bill the foot of civilised man had not been planted on the sliores where now sits the city of Melbourne with its eighty thousand inhabitants ; before London has achieved true administrative reform , a new state , holding in a strong grasp the rod of empire , will have set ita stamp upon the scroll of nations .
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June 16 , 1855 . ] THE LEADER . 565
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 16, 1855, page 565, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2095/page/13/
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