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Leader (1850-1860), 13th November 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1228

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      Untitled Article

      four or nVe of such amnesties , still , at this moment , all the leading men of the movements of 1848 and 1849 are in exile . No wonder that , under such rule , the population of Baden has actually decreased ¦ within the space of the last nine years in consequence of wholesale emigration . The violence of reaction ' may be guessed from the single fact that even a man like the historian Gervinus has at last found the country too hot , and crossed its frontiers in order to avoid a sentence of imprisonment which

      the Prince ' s judges had pronounced upon him . This is the more remarkable as , in 1848-9 , no leading politician had worked harder to " stem the democratic tide" than Gervinus ; for which very reason he was afraid , at the outbreak of the Baden revolution of 1849 , to remain in the country . Can we wonder that such a Government , and such Princes , should convert even men like Gervinus and Dahlmann—formerly the pillars of constitutionalism in Germany—into professed republicans , as they have indeed both become ?

      In the question of hierarchic arrogance versus secular power , which a few years ago was pending in Baden , the Grand-Duke at first took the right side . With as little ceremony as he had shut up liis own elder brother , he laid hands on the truculent Catholic priests , who had ventured to set up the supremacy of the Pope over the rights of the State . But , wonderful to relate , he by-and-by entirely changed his policy . From a resolute antagonist of the pretensions of Rome he subsided into a submissive vassal of the Papist Church . He entered into negotiaiious for concordats , and , in fact , declared all white that had been before black . Whether this strange metamorphosis had been brought

      about by the influence of Louis Bonapai-te , as some significant facts vrould appear to indicate , we do not pretend to affirm for certain . It is , however , very sure that the Grand-Duke Frederick has repeatedly exhibited a suspicious leaning towards the Tuileries—as in tJie case of the bridge at Kehl , when he set the rights of the Federal Diet at defiance , and granted of his own free will the establishment of a standing communication which may yet prove fatal to the military interests of Germany . In this respect , the Baden ruler is a very unsafe person to deal with , and his policy may one day turn out to be of the despicable pattern of the Rhinebund Princes to whom his ancestor belonged .

      Untitled Article

      THOUGHTS , FACTS , AND SUGGESTIONS ON PARLIAMENTARY REFORM . No . 1 . We have , at length , the word of the Premier that measures of political progress , in keeping with the spirit of our national institutions , but calculated to mark their attainment- of maturer growth , are in preparation by the Cabinet . It were an injustice to Lord Derby to entertain a doubt as to the meani ng of his guarded but significant words . Throughout the land they will be interpreted in the only sense in which , under the circumstances , they can

      candid and sober-minded persons will probably think that , all things considered , Lord Derby was right in asking for time , during the long vacation ^ to consult with those in whom he places political confidence , and to consider well" whether , m his peculiar position , he ought to undertake the task of framing , and carrying a comprehensive Reform

      "Bill Having had , however , his three months for investigation and reflection , undistracted by anxieties regarding war abroad , or the condition of trade or agriculture at home , he returns to town , reassembles his colleagues , unbosoms himself to them as to what can and ought to be done , receives , as we are bound to presume , their general assent to the basis he has confidentially submitted to them for a safe and efficient change in the representation ,

      sets the ablest artificers among them to build upon that basis , and then , when challenged at the Mansion House dinner to say what next session was likely to produce , replies in terms to the effect above stated , leaving all the world fairly to infer that , having counted well the odds , so far from withdrawing from the greatest competition of his life , Lord Derby " has made his book , " as he himself would sa } - ^ and is " going in to win . " Before the notable race is run , and before we can even tell how many competitors will eventually start , let us look to the stakes , and weigh well the value of that which is to be lost and won .

      There are some considerations connected with a sound and wise revision of our electoral laws to which all parties would do well to give heed , before the contention begins between rival projects , and the passions of men are stirred by the liopcs and fears of party strife . The first of these may be said to be the wisdom and policy of simplifying our electoral system , and relegating every new provision of the new enactment to some plain and palpable principle which everybody can appreciate and understand . What have we now ? A bundle of

      effete privileges tied up along with a score or two of modern concessions , utterly irreducible to any one , two , or three intelligible maxims of state , or to any definite theory of public justice whatsoever . In every county of England , for example , a man is entitled to vote out of a forty-shilling freehold : in Scotch and Irish counties no man is permitted to do so . On the other hand , under the present law , every occupier of a house , or of land rated at 12 / . a year , in any Irish county , has a vote , while noa year , in any J . risn county , nas u vote , yuuw nuworth 50 £

      thing less than an occupation . a year entitles him . in any county of England . In every large town on this side of the Channel there are numerous forty-shilling freeholds , out of which their owners are permitted to vote for the circumjacent county , in which they are not situated , but are not permitted to vote for the city or borough in which they actually lie , and with whose interests their owners are really concerned . Again , we have the freemen voting in right of birth , apprenticeship , or marriage , in certain towns , while no such rights belong to the same class in other towns . We have the

      10 / . occupier in every rotten borough in the kingdom invested with the sham p rivilege of voting for the proprietor ' s nominee , while hundreds of thousands of honest and independent 10 / . householders in tho growing country towns of the empire have no more voice , right , or suffrage , than if they were so many Kalmucks or negroes . Now it does seem to any impartial mind sufficiently clear that , before Parliament goes into committee on schedule A or schedule B , thereby to determine tho balance between cotton lords and corn lords , shipowners , and shoop farmers , it ought , in common justice , to settle accounts with the community at largo , and to put an end onco and for all to the monstrous jumble of anomalies and preferences which now constitute a franchise system . Better aud fairer by much would it , bo to

      declare by statute that every man should have a vote who stood five feet ten without his shoos , or whoso nose waa three inohes long , or whoso eyes were brown and not grey , than to keep up tho present egregious tissue of folly and fraud , or any cobblod or patched amendment of it . Lot some simple and honest test of oitizenship be first laid down , bo it tho possession of intelligence , or tho liability to public burdens , or fi * ed residence in ft given plaoo , or tho pursuit of some lawful and recognised callingwhat you ¦ will—only lot it bo plain , unmistakable , and without any swindle or jugglery ia it , requiring lawyer' skill to unravel . Ana lot ua , by all moans , have an end to tho antiquated and impudent distinction botwoon tho political rights of a man who lives in tho oounty and those of a man

      honouraoly be supposed to have been spoken . Lord Derb y , on talc ing office nine months ago , stipulated that , he should have autumn ' s leisure to consider calmly and dispassionately whether , as head of the Conservative party , he ought to initiate any important change in our representative system . Parliament granted the condition , and public opinion acquiesced in the reasonableness of tho request , and the expediency of its concession . On all hands it was felt that it would be a different thing , and , in some respeots , a more difficult thing , for a Conservative minister to propound a comprehensive projeot of roform , than for any of his Liberaf competitors for power to do so . Lord John Russell had already introduced a bill proposing a 6 / . franchise in towns ,

      a 10 / . franchise in counties , and a considerable transfer of seats from decayed to growing constituencies , and Lord Palmerston had consented , as one of his colleagues , to these propositions . Anything short of these would obviousl y lead only to failure if tried by the present Adminiatx-ation , and to their summary expulsion from power . The Whig chiefs need then but to revive thoir previous proposals in ordor to defeat tho Tories in tho prosent House of Commons , and to discredit them writh the country should they venture to call for another . To bid higher for popular favour might be easy enough in the off-hand judgment of irresponsible counsellors and sanguine friends ; but

      Untitled Article

      POLITICAL EOKESIIADOWIXGS . Privy Council .. —Her Majesty -will hold a IVivv Council thia day , at Windsor Castle , at which Parliament will be further prorogued . The Ministkhs at Guildhaix . —At the Lord Mayor ' s feast on Tuesday her Majesty ' s Ministers were extremely well received . " The Earl of Derby met with what is styled " a complete ovation . " After the banquet , in proposing the health of the Ministrj-, the Lord Mayor s « id that the members of the present Cabinet had it in their power to bring in measures all their own , and if they chose might commence a brilliant and important career . They could modify the institutions of ^ he country so as to make them . in accordance with the wishes of the people ; they could introduce retremhnient , economy , and reform in the administration of llie national finances ; they might cheapen tho administration of the law , and introduce such measures of reform as would conduce to the moral , social , and political welfare of the kingdom . In returning thanks , Lor . l Purby said : — " On occasions of this kind nothing is admissible which in the ordinary sense could bo regarded as of a party political character ; but , on the contrary , < il party considerations and partisan feelings on political questions should be merged iii a peaceful and salutary oblivion . It may be permitted to one holding t' ^ * ltua " tion I do , and having tho doop interest which 1 must have in the welfare of tho country , to compare in accents of congratulation the state of tho country at tins anniversary and tliut in which it was placed when in tins ui i

      hall wo wero celebrating tho inauguration , >»» ' — decesso ' r . I need only remind you of tho state or gloom , uncertainty , and distress which hung over tho wlwio oi tho commercial world ; and of the apprehension , doubt , and uncertainty which existed with regard to the . security of our empire in India . At this moment 1 ivjuicu ui think that wo have a much brighter picture lor ? " » '"" plation , and tliat all our surrounding indurations " ™ those of returning prosperity . " 1 IU LonUlnj . lien alluded to tho favourable aspeot of tho rovonue , of commerce , and of tho demand for lu """;* Ho had every reason to hope for a continuance ol l »" bloaainga of peace . With regard to India ho Una w doubt but that tho energy of Lord Clyde , with iiw «' ' crotion and judgment of tho Olovornor-tioncrul , vuiu nmou with her Majesty ' s gracious message , would mo <»| restore mattors to thoiv normal state of tranquillity , m uuui tion to tho treaty with China , for tho aiifL-iJi * - ^ which England is deeply Indebted to tho ""' . " . V ' tha untiring steal , tho determination and onoiW' '" " Earl of Elgin , that dlrttingulahod noblomnn > a . i «»«•» a most unexpected oxtonslon to ourconiinonjhil ''< ' '" , " by tho troaty with tho hitherto secluded , but u \ moans unimportant , empire of Japan . Tho tre « ly >» wo lmvoontorod into ' with that country , w ^ l , if l '"> | W made uso of , tend greatly to tho dovolopmont ol « ' «/•"" morclal interests of this country . » I spook m » i . »•»« Lord Derby , « far tho purpose of glorifying thu t ' ;}™ menfc of which I am a member , but I epoak as n 1- Jff liflhman , in nn assemblage of Englishmen , of tuo pro

      /&Lt;* Paptq A "Km Maawftmr* Ihuutrhts, Facts, And Suggestions

      who lives in the town . If he is fit to vote so Jonoas he lives on this side of the bridge , he is assuredly fit to vote when he goes to live on the other . Let there be , therefore , one aiid the same thin" - in country and town . Then , carrying out the prin . ci p le to its legitimate sequence , let us have one Bill , and but one Bill , for the whole of the Unite d Kingdom . There cannot be a greater specimen of Parliamentary charlatanism than that which is repeatedly presented in the solemn foolery of

      introducing three separate bills for the three united kingdoms . What is the meaning of legislative union , or what is the honest y of keeping up a pompous chatter about the fusion of races and the indissolubility of the empire , if , sixty years after , the tripartite union of England , Scotland , and Ireland , the fundamental rights and privileges of their respective inhabitants , are to reman ? dissimilar , contrary , and repugnant ?

      Whoever may have the honour eventually of supplying the mould in which our enlarged political privileges are to be cast , it is devoutly to be hoped that the need of assimilation will not be lost sin-ht of . We hear much now-a-days of codification , and of the duty of simplifying the laws regarding property and life . Does not the same reasoning applv , m all essential particulars , to the laws which regulate our liberty ? Not one man in ten has occasion to appeal to tnc criminal or commercial law in the course of ten years ; whereas , under a justly widened suffrage , three-fourths of men having houses and families , will have occasion to look into the law of the franchise , and to incur penalties if lie violates it . In the name of common sense aud ronnnou

      justice , then , let us 'have no more electoral Chinese puzzles , but one broad , simple , and comprehensive law for high and low , rich and poor , county and town , and " for every part alike of thu United Kingdom .

      Untitled Article

      1228 THE LEADER . [ No . 451 , November 13 , 1858 .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 13, 1858, page 1228, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2268/page/20/