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dustry suffer are no figments , and will derive an additional weight from the sense of grievance if they are neglected by a Ministry specialspledged to the " protection of industry . " Landowners suffer , but not alone ; the shipowners also 5 the farmers most seriously ; the labouring classes , both in town and country , Land lies idle , and last year Mr . . Disraeli recognised the necessity of a stimulus for the application of capital to land , which he discerned / in a limited partnership : will he have sufficient strength to confer such a boon on the industrious classes ? - * -
or to confer it soon enough to secure confidence in his Ministry ? The fifth great class of questions is that of national defence , —the one on which the late . Ministry went out of office . The question is , how to render our national defence adequate to the necessity , without adding materially tb ^ the expense ? The process is possible—is imperatively demanded ; but it needs a Government strong in will and power . Sixthly , — How are Lord Derby and Mr . Disraeli to coerce their own stubborn and
intractable party into discipline within the time allowed before an election ? All the questions which we have indicated will be in active discussion at the election , and more to boot ,- ^ such as anti-popery , sanitary reform and centralization , &c , and the wretched old question of Protection , which political society has quite outgrown * will be ludicrous among these , stirring topics of our own day . But we do not see how the new-Ministry , circumstanced as it is , is to shape its policy into such a national form as to attract the support—we will not say of a majority , but even of a respectable minority . If it adhere to Protection , pure and simple , it is foredoomed ; if it
abandon Protection , what eke can it take up P And yet it must take up something , or sink among the needless pageantries of trading politics , and so fulfil the solemn vaticination of the seer and the poet , Lord John Manners , by being the last of Conservative Ministries . Next week , Ministers will have to face Parliament-in this unprepared and incapable condition ; even the brief recess has sufficed to develope a Ministerial crisis which threatens their existence . The fear of imminent extinction may bring their own friends to reason , and supersede the crisis for a time ; but how can that survive long which is threatening to expire in the very cradle , " during the month" P
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THE PARLIAMENTARY REFORMERS AND THE OBSTRUCTIVES . The late Heform Conference , as we said last week , sought to make clear the national width of its suffrage claim , and in this it succeeded . All objections made to the narrowness of its programme at the public meeting , and in democratic journals which nave since come under our notice , have been founded upon overlooking , or not fully appreciating , this avowal of tho ^ Confcrencc . Can it bo true , as we so often hear from ex- * ccllcnt reformers , that appeals to the people in a generous spirit meet with no corresponding response P Wo would not that a declaration so sad should bo true . We rather think that the conclusion taken by the party who at the Conference public meeting supported the amendment upon Homo Suffrage was foregone . They camo to the Conference with their angry prepossessions , and did not feel the force , or understand the nature , or trust the frankness of the explanations offered to them . The creation of a cordial feeling will be a work of more time ; tho explanation must be oft reiterated , in good faith and in good temper—reiterated so plainly that it must bo understood , so cordially that it must be accoptod . To this Wad wo will rcstato tho j ) oint as wo understood it . Xiord John UussoH ' s parting words tho other night . to tho House of Commons he had ceased
to load , were to tho effect that lie would support tho extension of tho franchise to such as are Jit to exercise it . This is a form of expression which will Jiavo great weight , and deserves to have groat weight—as all concessions of ^ hc suffrage must turn upon it . Tho doctrine of fitness must rocoivo special attention—must become an object of political study . Tho Jieform Conference thought so : it unhesitatingly announced its own definition , and said broadly , that tho real fitness wanted consisted in intelligence , honesty , and independence , on tho part of electors . But how s this fitness to bo ascertained P That is tho
practical point . Shall we examine conduct , and inquire into character—if so , who are to be the judges ? Shall education be the standard— -if so , who can agree about the test P Shall manhood be the sign of fitneSs—then , what is manhood , and where shall we find itsdefinitipnthat allparties will accept ? And if manhood is named , what shall we do with those whogo further P Even the Westminster Review might ask why womanhood was overlooked P To look in these directions is not to settle the question . We only open
never-ending debates ; and if we persist in then discussion , a generation more will go down to the grave without the Franchise , while philosophical patriots are settling the conditions of its exercise . Practical politicians have instinctively turned to the qualification of property as the test of fitness — not as being the test , but as being that which most persons understand and agree about . Lord John Russell , with true Whiggish timidity , lays down the doctrine that "fitness " exists with those only who can pay a rate-rent of
51 . in towns , of 201 . in the country , or 40 * . of assessed taxes . Another parly , a little . more courageous , venture to suppose that this quality may possibly be found with those who pay poorrates . The National Parliamentary and Financial Reform Association take a bold sweep , and declare at once their conviction that honesty , independence , and intelligence ( the true fitness ) , may dwell with all who pay rates directly or indirectly ; in short , that all who have a home ought to have a vote ; that every householder and every
lodger who may take tne trouble to place his name on the parish register shall become thereby an elector . It is very likely , also , that the Bill they will draw up will prescribe only six months ' residence as a qualification . - This Home-Suffrage includes so large a portion of the nation—all who have steady liabits and common national interests—that the portion not included mayeasily find their way to its exercise ; for if so large a mass of electors as Home-Suffrage would create , could not improve the condition of
the houseless and the wanderer , no form oflegislation will help them- — and the vagabond classes will not regret the loss of a vote which , in such case , cannot serve them . Indeed , the Home-Suffrage , with six months' residence , will place this country on a level with America in the respect of electoral power . The Chartists who put up an amendment at the Conference Public Meeting , wilfully ignored the large electoral power they were rejecting . Every man in that meeting would have been
enfranchised by Home-Suffrage . To become obstructives towards those who propose to get so much is insanity . If every man is to have his own way in all respeots , nothing will ever be done . Progress proceeds by measured and unanimous steps , and to effect unanimity a common point of agreement must be set up . As such , Home-Suffrage was adopted by the Conference . Objectors denounced it as " expediency : " overlooking that a wise sense of expediency is the measure of political wisdom . Manv nersons recrard tho Charter as a narrow JXA-O / IX V 1 / 151 . TBUA 1 D X UJiC * X KL v ± L \ J vjulc « i . uv / a . c * o ut utu avit
and confined measure compared with what ought to bo demanded by intelligent mon . These persons might with as much reason denounce Chartism as expediency ; yet if every man who goes beyond the Chartists should move amendments at their meetings , Chartists would never be able to hold another meeting without having its efficiency destroyed by tho appearance of division . Judging from the distrust some speakers expressed at the Conference Moetings , there is no ground to believe that tho Reform party , however far they might go , would gain anything with tho demagogues of the obstructive school . If the middle class wont for tho Charter , Mr . Jones
would declare that they intended to betray it . The Reform party must therefore make up their minds to stand by their own cause , and their own definition of it ; let them appeal to tho good sense , and the practical sense of tho workingclasses ; let thorn labour to satisfy tho scruples of those above , and meot resolutely and emphatically the objections and obstructions of tho suspicious below , and the great bod y of the nation will bo with them , and a substantial measure of reform will bo won for the people from those who now garrison tho citadel of political corruption . There will always bo some brawlers whom nothing will satisfy ; but those who will propose a largo practical good , and pursuo it strongly ,
will , sooner or later , have the good sense of + TiA nation with them . As to " fitness" for the franchise , we must sav that if the active politicians of ' theworking classes submit to such guidance as that exhibited at the late Reform meeting- —if they will lend themselves to discredit all who work in the same direction as themselves—if they are to be" rabidly intolerant
of all who do not pronounce the Shibboleth of the Charter ^ -if they are to deny the right of private judgment to all who think it unwise to demand of the Government a great deal more than they can get at first — it they will hoot down by frantic cries all who would reason with them , they will play into the hands of the common enemy—they will justify Lord John Russell in denying the universal fitness of the people for the suffrage ; they will do as they did in the Anti-Corn-Law League days- —they trifl make Chartism the by-word of practical politicians , and will alienate from them all who , desiring the enfranchisement of the whole people ) seek to act with the working classes in their public meetings .
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THE PIONEER CHURCH OF THE COLONIES . Act upon the mother-country through the colonies in matters relating to the Church , is a maxim which has been fully understood and ably employed by the party which would revive synodical action . When Mr . Gladstone was in the Colonial Office , he exerted his liigh abilities and official influence in furtherance of the policy included in that maxim ; and the affairs of the Colonial Church have so far advanced towards the issues anticipated ^ concurrently with the organization of the party at home , that we were able , last week , to lay before Our readers a bill introduced by Mr . Gladstone into Parliament , which , if passed , will authorize the establishment of synods in Canada , New Brunswick , Nova Scotia , Newfoundland , Prince Edward ' s Island , Cape of Good Hope , New South Wales , Victoria , bouth Australia , Van Diemen's Land , and Western Australia . Hence , speeches in Parliament apart , we may conclude , that in the judgment of Mr . Gladstone and his friends , the question in the Colonial Church is ripe for solution ; and he has
attempted to solve it accordingly . Most admirably has he performed his task . The form of the bill itself is a model of simplicity , clearness , and brevity . The position of the Church in the Colonies is accurately defined , and no reasonable person could take exception to the jurisdiction conferred on the assembly or convocation proposed to be established , since that jurisdiction is confined strictly to the avowed members of the Church , and is not armed with any authority for inflicting temporalpains or penalties . The principle of the bill , as simple as its provisions , is tho right of the Church to regulate its internal affairs ; a principle which cannot be disputed , except on grounds of doubtful political
expediency , on which no honest Churchman or Statesman can sincerely rely . The provisions of tho measure , in close accordance with its princip le , are intended only to secure the exercise of tho right , subject to certain necessary and just restrictions . No demand is made on tho State to devise remedies for Church grievances ; that the Church rightly contends is its own special and proper function . This is a logical consequence of the policy so clearly laid down and so strenuously advocated in the admirable reports of the London Union in Church matters , to which we have so often had occasion to advert in this
journal . Tho question has now assumed its proper proportions . The far-seeing policy which dictated tho plan of operating on England through Her colonies is bearing fruit . Expressed in tho simple language of Mr . Gladstone ' s Bill , tho justice ol the demand for synodical action is brought lipmo to every earnest and thoughtful man . Ana it tiio measure proposed bo so obviously just and necessary as applied to tho Colonial Church , how much at home Y
more so as applicable to tho Church For the credit of tho honest mon whoso causo wo have independently buj ; consistently advocated , wo aro proud to remark , that the accession oi Lord Derby to office has not tempted them irom thoir strong position , as temperate but rosouuo assertors of tho right of tho Church to tho management of its own affairs . They will not become more politicians , especially party politicians . J- » is taking high ground . Their cry is , " Give us our Synodu , and wo will do oureolves what it is » oeu
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248 THE LEADER . ^ ATU fifiA ^ ¦ .. i - — ¦— " ~ ¦ ¦ . 1 . —^~ 11 ' ¦ ' ^— , ^ 1— _ ^ — _—
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 13, 1852, page 248, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1926/page/12/
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