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to walk back to office . No wheel is being left unturned to bring about that result . There is great competition for the character of Keform Minister , and this competition -is the opportunity of the Liberal party—the opportunity for carrying a much larger measure in 1858 than was possible in 1853 . It is essential that the principal men of the Iiiberal party should agree upon the main
provisions of a more decisive hill than would have been possible in the interval . But who should be chosen as their spokesman ? Who should be elected foreman of that jury ? Who , by his zeal in the cause of Reform , by his consistency , by his known principles , by his attachment to the question , stands conspicuously marked out for the post ? Is it Lord Palmerston ?
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TORY RADICALISM :. XiObd Dbeby and Mr . Dishaeli are the representative men of the new Government , and the embarrassments of the party in power ; the one because he has no ideas , the other because he has too many . Trom neither has the country received any distinct explanation on the subject of Parliamentary Reform . The Earl has pledged himself to nothing . The Commoner only sees the question looming in the future " These , then , are the statesmen of the Cabinet . While they are retentively silent or solemnly oracular , the smaller voices of Toryism have wandered into hustings declarations on the franchise and on electoral districts in violent imitation of
Radicalism . But the attempt at creating a sensation fails when it is remembered that nothing is so unmeaning or irresponsible as the liberalism of a Tory subordinate tintinabulating to his constituents in a country town . All the popular professions we have heard within the last fortnight have proceeded from outsiders ; within the charmed circle of the Cabinet a listening world recognizes the unquestioned supremacy of platitude . A Minister without a policy is in no risk of compromising himself , as the
man keeps a secret best who has nothing to disclose . Beyond the guarded precincts , however , Tory Radicalism flourishes rankly , and flashy indiscretions are mouthed by great law officers as glibly as by junior lords . Sir Fitzroy Kekdt pours out the abundance of his heart on Reform no less freely than Lord Henei Lennox , who tilts upon the pale horse of St . GtJeobge against the casques and cocked hats of imperial France . If we are asked to estimate the value to be attached to these promissory
manifestoes , we must set them down as the bad debts of liberalism , for the signatures are one and all worthless . When the Attorney-Gteneral is consulted on the subject of a Reform Bill , he will not be iavited to put into effect his own large views , but will submit , as many other examples of suppressed genius have done , to the cold discipline of his party . That is , if such a question ever be seriously propounded within the Derby Council . All calculable contingencies point to the return of a Liberal Ministry at feast within a year , while it is not
improbable that the change will take place within the present session . Thus , Lord Deuby will be relieved of his burden ; Mr . Disbaeli will be 6 nce more free to attack the Bank Charter , make motions on the abate ofihe nation , and furnish forth with hotly-seasoned paradoxes the tables of Parliament ; several gentlemen will retire with names enriched by a Right Honourable prefix ; and the untrained Tory Radicals of all ages will resume the Beats whence they may consistently view with alarm any attempt to unsettle the constitution . Lord Palmehston ' s
Administration was an incubus ; we are scarcely ^ sure that Lord Debbt ' s is not a danger , with a continental courtier at the Foreign-office , and a composite cosmopolitan , without a trace of national sympathy , leading the House of Commons . Lord Dbbbf is not a Liberal ; bub that is his least disqualification as a Prime Minister . constitutional
He cannot govern upon the principle which assigns the conduct of affairs to the leader of a Parliamentary majority . The Tory party has been dismembered and scattered , and when Mr . Diskaem looks upon the attenuated remains around him , he may regret the impotent and suicidal revenge which irreparably dissociated him from the friends and followers of Sir Robebt ? Peei ,.
Mr . Disraeli has no liberal instincts , and he is a more important member of the Administration , we think , than Sir Titzroy Keli-y . Therefore , we cannot understand why any expectations should be founded upon the loose professions of a delighted Attorney-General . The Chancellor of the Exchequer said in Parliament , not very long ago , that he would gladly see the power of the Crown increased , instead of enlarging the privileges of the people . He is for the legitimate and salutary influence of landed property , and we know what that means in the Tory vocabulary . He is against Reform , but willing to be in
favour of it for a consideration . However , in his case as in that of his master , he has a clear right to be Chancellor of the Exchequer—if he can—according to the spirit of the Constitution . But what if he violates that Constitution by an unwarranted clinging to office ? He has no privilege to act as leader of the Commons unless he is the leader , unless he impersonates the principles of the majority in Parliament , or of what he believes to be the electoral majority put of doors—a problem easily solved . He must be the instrument of Lord Debby ' s policy and his own , or his retention of place is an imposture . The issue involved cannot be tried too soon
in Parliament ; if decided by a majority against the Ministers , they must resign or dissolve ; and the radicalism of Lord Deuba ' s juniors will embarrass none but the Radical Tories themselves . The most Throne-and-Altar country gentleman in England need fear nothing from a Reform Bill introduced by the statesman who oBce said that if the Ballot were established , he , as an English landlord , would not only see how his tenant voted , but watch him put his ticket into the ballot-box .
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AN EXPOSTULATION WITH REFORMERS . Tjiehe has been in existence for two months a political league denominating itself The Northern Reform Union . Its centre of action is at Newcastle-upon-Tyne , and it comprises the most respectable Liberal politicians of that locality and of the various northern towns . An address has been issued , under its sanction , with about thirty signatures , more or less influential , many of them being well known . In this document the Reformers insist upon ' Manhood Suffrage ' upon the principle of representation coequal with taxation . They trace the evil workings of the existing system ; they point to the insincerity , incapacity , and corruption of the Legislature , to the selfishness of parties , to the apathy and servility of the electoral ^ lasgpnntt tlieT'Sairfor an elcteird © "d ^ frirfl ( Bb ~ as the remedy . " How far this extension should go has been the subject of frequent and earnest debate . Such controversies , when examined , will be found to lead to ono conclusion ; and that is , if anomalies the most absurd and monopolies the most pernicious are to be avoided , the franchise must be treated as a right inherent in the individual . "
The address goes on to say : ¦—" To make it depend upon any sort of property qualification , brings us , by a short step , not only to injustice , but to absurdity . To him who occupies a tenement of a rental of Ten Pounds , is accorded the supposed possession of intelligence sufficient to enable him to vote for a representative . Let the same man remove to a house of Nine Pounds' rental , and he becomes politically fatuous or superannuated , although at the same time ,
perhaps , one of the most intellectual men in Her Majesty ' s dominions . Again : a freehold tenure of Forty Shillings per annum gives the holder a vote for a county member . Such a tenure may be bought for a very moderate sum . The man who purchases such a tenure in half a dozen counties may vote at the elections for all six , and be thus represented six times over ; whilst the owner of an estate , however large , in one of these counties , is represented only once . "
All this is plain and true , moderately expressed , and competently reasoned . To oar own columns we can refer in proof that we do not deny or abandon the principles here laid down ; but what we fear is , that the Northern Reformers have proposed to themselves a work beyond their strength . We will put one question , which we hope will be fairly and frankly answered . Do they practically believe that it is possible , by any exertions of the advancing Liberal party , to make the next Reform BUI one that shall grant universal suffrage ? Is there a possibility ,
or the shadow of a possibility , that this will be effected ? If not , why beat the air with a cry very like clamour , instead of combining with that powerful body of politicians which is prepared to accept , and to demand , a large , yet not a final , development of our Parliamentary institutions . The advocacy of' * Manhood Suffrage' is perfectly logical in itself ; but public opiuioa sees in it something resembling an extinct rallying shout , the ghost of a forgotten agitation . Political movements are never successful which have not in view a
distinct practicable object . Are there fifty men in the House of Commons willing to vote for Manhood Suffrage ? Would a general election return fifty such men ? Certainly not . The Reformers will reply , of course , that the result depends upon public opinion . But to create the new machinery , the old machinery must be employed . To elect a new Parliament , you must poll the present
iFe classes of electors ; to pass a new Reform Bill , you must move the legislature , consisting of the hereditary Peers , and a House of Commons returned under the ten-pound householder , forty-shilling freehold , and Chandos clauses . It is to be hoped , at all events , that the Northern Union will lend its assistance to any Liberal project not including all the points set forth in its own programme . * With another passage in the address we cordially agree : — - " Manhood Suffrage ceases to be Manhood Suffrage if one man be permitted in any way to control the vote of another ; it is indispensable , therefore , to join to Manhood Suffrage the Vote by Ballot . It is by no means easy to state with decorous gravity the arguments < so called ) which are uttered by the opponents of an arrangement at once so simple and ao salutary . One portion seems to make it a matter of taste only . It is ' un-English , ' they suy ; and , according to them , in order to prove a poor voter truly ' English , ' it is requisite that he should risk being ruined , together with his family , once in every three years ! Another portion hold that absolute secrecy could not bo effected . In associations of workmen , in the most princely institutions of commerce , and in the clubs of our aristooracy , we see it in practical operation , —giving the complotoat secrecy , if the voter desires it . The examp le of its successful working in Australia will not bo lost upon tho British people ; for It ~ " ! 8 ~ Hbsurd " -to-lmnglno-thnt-they « -wiU-long-8 uffer- 'tlie- ' mother-country to have a smaller share of liberty than the colonlos , and that tho farthest extremities of our dominions shall bo freer than tho groat heart which gives Hfo and animation to tho whole . Tho Property Qualification of candidates is ao cpnstantly and notoriously evaded , that no ono can now seriouBly object to its boing dlsponsod with . Scotch members are not required to possess it . Why should thoao who represent English and Irish constituencies bo askod to submit to a toat from which Scotland ia wholly exempt . "
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No . 416 , March 13 , 1858 . J THE LEADEB . 253
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 13, 1858, page 253, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2234/page/13/
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