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March 3, I860.] The\ Leader and Sattirda...
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THE NEW REFORM BILL. I T is just twelve ...
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THE INTENTIONS OF FRANCE AND RUSSIA. /CE...
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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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March 3, I860.] The\ Leader And Sattirda...
March 3 , I 860 . ] The \ Leader and Sattirday Analyst . 199
The New Reform Bill. I T Is Just Twelve ...
THE NEW REFORM BILL . I T is just twelve months since the Cabinet of Lord Dei ? bv made-their bidding for pbpular approval on the subject of Reform .. They proposed to ' give a £ 10 household franchise in counties and towns , and an £ 8 lodging franchise , while an income tax , a savings bank , and some half dozen professional franchises were thrown in-finally , they proposed to redistribute the four seats forfeited by Sudbuvy and St . Alban's ,. and some fifteen more , to be taken from rotten boroughs ; in all , nineeten .. This bidding was rejected by the coxuitry as wholly insufficient ; it was rejected " Whi and adicals
by Parliament on other grounds , gs , Peclites , R equally desired to oust '" their Tory rivals from power , and for that purpose were alike ready to vote against Mr . Disraeli's BillV but , as their opinions regarding Reform differed widely , they were fain to vote upon some particular point on which they could all agree . An Amendment was-accordingly , framed by Lord Joiin Russell , which censured the Conservative plan in . " euerai terms for not lowering the town franchise , so as to include a just proportion of the working classes . After a good deal of higgling and wrangling amongst themselves , the Peelites and Stafford House Whigs consented to vote for this resolution . Ministers were beaten , and forthwith
dissolved Parliament ; they failed to get a majority m thenown House of Commons , and so the Whigs and Peelites came in , leaving their Radical associates at the door . Then came their turn to bid . While the party contest was pending , the chiefs had declared that , were they allowed but the opportunity , they would prove themselves able and willing to pass a large / and comprehensive measure during the session of 18 5 9 ; or if the summer were too far spent in elections and change of ministry , they were resolved to have an - autumnal session for the especial purpose of dealing legislatively with the great question . But summer and autumn were suffered to pass without anything
being done ; and the Pnhnerstoniah Cabinet has , upon various pleas , contrived , to postpone its bidding until the 1 st of March ,
1860 . At length , however , we have , that bidding , and it will be for the country to say Avhether , on the whole , they think it was worth waiting a year for . In some important features it is identical with that of their predecessors in office ; in others it . differs materially . Regarding the- county fra n chise extension , they agree . Ten pounds occupation , accompanied with the fact of being rated to the relief of the poor , and with payment of assessed taxes , is to constitute the , new suffrage in
counties . Six pounds occupation , with similar accompaniments regarding rateability and payment of taxes , form ' the proposed basis of the new borough constituency . All the minor qualifications , or " fancy franchises , ? ' as they have been called , arc thrown aside on the ground of intricacy and complication ; but the old reserved rights of freemen , etc ; , are not to be interfered with ; those who possess them are to retain them for life , but with the present generation they will expire . Lord John Russell stated , in his speech of Thursday night , when moving to bring in the Bill for England and Wales , that in this part of the United Kingdom the present borough constituency , might be taken at 404 , 000 , not reckoning some 35 , 000 freemen , whose
franchises would gradually expire . He estimated the additional number of borough electors under a £ 6 franchise at about 198 , 000 , or nearly fifty per cent , addition to the borough constituency that now exists . He stated with great simplicity nnd . clearness his reasons for discarding the idea of founding tho franchise on rating instead of rent , confirming fully the objections that have been so often argued in the columns of this journal : and after enumerating the additions which a J 69 , an # 8 , and a & 1 quulificafion would severally give , he disposed of thorn all with the plain convincing question—Wouftl it be worth while disturbing the present condition of things for the snke of a less augmentation in point of nuinbors than that which he was about to propose ? Tho noble lord relics upon the answers obtained by the Into Mr . Joseph Fletciiisb to inquiries
directed to be made by him some yenrsngo in the- mnnulactunne ; districts , us to the usual rent paid by skilled artisans , for tho assumption that his JEO proposal will include a considerablo proportion of tlint deserving nnd intelligent class . A bettor wan than Mr . Fletcher never lived , nor one on whoso statistical accuracy wo should be more disposed to place reliance . Wq must , nevertheless , express our doubts as to whethor tho rositft of his investigations can bo fairly taken as conclusive rogardhifr tho working qlnaaes in other parts . of tho kingdom . Wo know that in the metropolis , for example , six : or seven pound houses arc comparatively unknown . It was this conviction , floubtlcss , that led Mr . Disiiabli and his collonguos to suggest the propriety of having a lodger franchise , hi this respect wo think they were in tho right j and wo should not bo sorry to soo
| that part of their proposal revived and engrafted on that which is now before us . . With respect to the re-distribution of seats , the Derbyite Bill adopted the principle that no borough now represented in Parliament ought to be ; disfranchised ; and to this principle the Pa-LMERSTOn Government , has now given its adhesion . It was by Mr . Gladstone that the expediency of preserving and perpetuating small boroughs as ail essential part of the constitution was most energetically expounded last year . The ricjht lion , gentleman then sat on the Tory side of the House . ,
and voted for the Tory Bill , assigning as one of his chici inducements to do so-its'non-disfranchising character . He now sits on the Wing side of the House , and is prepared , of course , to support the " present "Bill , which has for him tho same conspicuous recommendation . No one can accuse Mr . Gladstone , in this respect , of inconsistency , for he will only do this year what he did last—advocate eloquently the rights of nomination . As regards this fundamental principle , the two measures are substantially and avowedly the same ; and thev are no doubt identical , because the interests and wi > hcs ol the * majority of those concerned in ¦ framing , them are so much
alike as to be popularly indistinguishable . Nor should w <; forget that five sixths of the present House of Commons ( could they vote by ballot ) would gladly resist the pruning of a single sapless bough . Ministers have therefore had to consider what could be carried , as well as what ought to be proposed . Lord John , confesses that his own opinion regarding disfranchiscment of small boroughs , as expressed in the Bill of 1854 , which would have made away with some fifty or . sixty seats , and transferred them to more populous places , remains' unchanged : but he declares his belief that without great excitement out of doors , no such proposition could be carried through Parliament . Under these circumstances , the new Bill proposes to take one seat from each of twenty-five horoughs now returning , two-
members , the population of which does not exceed seven thousand persons . Of the seats thus confiscated , fifteen are given to large counties , and ten to large towns . We . have not space or time to enter now into a scrutiny of the conflicting claims of these localities . Differences of opinion there will of cou , isx ; be on every variety of detail ; but for the public at large it is satisfactory to . be able to look forward to the . subtraction in future of even" twenty-five from tlic compact liinss of irresponsibles hitherto privileged to rule over us , and in the addition of twenty-five votes to the number ; of those legislators who cannot with impunity defy public opinion . It only . remains for us to add , that the long forfeited scats of Sudbviry arc to be given to Scotland , and those for St . Alban ' s to Ireland .
The Intentions Of France And Russia. /Ce...
THE INTENTIONS OF FRANCE AND RUSSIA . / CERTAIN journals have been assisting to get up alarm , V _ V and we cannot help thinking their correspondents have been partially misled by unprincipled politicians , anxious to make money by disturbing the funds . In the first instance , an attempt was . made to make the public believe that an offensive and defensive alliance had been concluded between Austria and Russia j that the latter guaranteed the territories of the former in consideration of receiving aid in schemes of aggression in the East . The statement was in the highest degree improbable , a * St . Petersburg paperssuch as the Invalide Jiusse and the Jbcdlc
, die Nord , were advocating the independence ^ of Italy > and Russia ' s finances arc in no condition to render ft likely that , she would be in a hurry to provoke another collision with England and France . It is possible that the Austrian Government proposed something of the kind , and very likely received assurances that the Czar would do all in his power to prevent tho renewal of the war , and the consequent occurrence of movements to favour the independence ! of Hungary ; but those best acquainted with tho affairs of St . Petersburg doubt whether 1 ' rinoo Gokt . schakoff will permit himself to bo dragged into an imbroglio by tho House of Uai'sisbko , of whose perfidy ho has already
had ample experience . r . The second edition of this story , in the 'Mommy Citron mle , is more p ' robablo , as it abandons the declaration that Russia guarantees tbo Italian territory of Austria ; but we , want confirmation and explanation of what she means , if she promises to " act with Austria in any complications that may arise on the Danube or in Hungary } " and pause before wo believe » ho will adopt a course that may bring against lior something worse than a renewal of the Crimean war . , ..,, , Another story hn & likewise given rise to anxiety . vVo niludo to tho . assertion that tho Emperor of tho Fkknoii hntf peremptorily ordorod Viotok ISmmanvjsl to give up ul u ea of annexing Tuscany to his dominions ; nnd threatened soiioub consequences if his Iwliost wore disobeyed .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 3, 1860, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_03031860/page/3/
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