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Leader (1850-1860), 6th November 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1193, Untitled Article

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    • . . r-n _.y ^8j rrfr*N MU O/~\ Vjjf q) <(*J L A"iP< ^\^<lV o^ T ^V _V / %^' »—^2£L Jt^ £V AJ- jU \ s ? C^ J^ /o\ ^ ^^ ^^ /? No. 450/ November 6, 1858-1 T H E L E A D E B. 1193
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      Untitled Article

      Tliere is nothing so revolutionary , because there is nothing so unnatural and convulsive , as the strain to keeif things fixed -when all the . -world is by the very law of its creation in eternal progress .- ^ - Dr . Aunold .

      Untitled Article

      MANCHESTER WARES . Manchester is on the market . There ought to be no laek of bidders at the auction . For any . enterprising young politician , with moderate capital ana no encumbrances , we consider the above as a most eligible investment . It . is true that doubts have been expressed as to the solvency of the house , owing to the Failure of their American connexions ; while the fact of their having recently dismissed their old and valued foreman , without notice

      or retiring pension , has given rise to unpleasant surmises . At the same time the stock in trade is standard , though somewhat out of date . The value , too , of the good-will is considerable , especially in the manufacturing districts ; and finally , with fresh capital and improved management , the concern is capable of indefinite extension . In spite of all these inducements the sale hangs fire . Political capitalists fight- shy of the speculation . la default of competition Manchester is likely to be knocked down at his own price to the only bidder in the field . The representation of the great manufacturing metropolis , the birthplace of the League , the head-quarters of the Manchester party , is about tq fall , without a contest , into the untried hands of Mr . Bazley . . In the local aspect of the Manchester election tliere is not mucli to interest the outer world .

      There were so many things deserving of praise in the late member for Manchester , that a man must be singularly wrong-minded who chose in his instance to break through the traditional precept as to speaking of the dead . It was his misfortune and not his fault , that he was placed in a position for which nature had not qualified him . From his numerous personal and civic merits his friends assumed too hastily that he was fitted to . shine in public life . Few men , indeed , could have usurped the seats of Bright and Mihier Gibson without suffering from , the comparison ; and of these few ,

      Sir John Potter was decidedly not one . " The Emperor Otho , " said Tacitus , " would have been esteemed , consensu omnium dignus imperio nisi im-¦ perasset . " You might paraphrase the remark , and apply it . to this occasion by saying that all Manchester would have thought Sir John Potter the model of a public man , if he had not happened to > get a seat in Parliament . Of his presumptive successor not much is known beyond his own circle . He has taken an active part in electioneering matters , is a strong partisan of the League , and a disciple of the Manchester school . If not

      Gamaliel himself , he has sat at Gamaliel ' s feet . The election polities of Manchester deserve more importance from a negative than a positive point of view—from what did " not" occur than from what actually took place . If the pure Manchester school were to recover the ground they had lost at the last elections , now was their opportunity . The Palmerston mania was extinct—the idol was overthrown ; and the converted idolators sought to atone by thebitterness of their present scepticism for the ardour of thqir past devotion . The general ostracism of the independent Liberals had been condemned by the verdict of the country—the new Potter and Turner re " gimo had been calculated to shed a kind of retrospective lustre on the old dynasty—the political

      influence , the peculiar reputation of Manchester , had avowedly declined—the recent successes and renewed activity of Mr . Bright all tended to further the reaction of feeling . Yet , in spite of all these favouring circumstances , the attempt to restore the exiled party by acclamation proved a complete failure .. At the meeting , which decided the fato of the election , Mr . Wilson—the old champion of the League—was received with signs of disapprobation . The proposal to offer tho seat to Cobden was heard coldly . A secondhand statement of his probablerefusal to stand a contested election was welcomed s mi excuse to cover the rctrcnt , Mr . Bazley was accepted as a compromise , and the League coupiVc ' tat wits tried and failed .

      \ Vo luivo beforo now done full justice to tho high merits and grout services of tho Munchostor party . It is , therefore , with no unfriendly feeling wo would point out tho fact and causes of thoir failure . Since the repeal of the corn-laws 1-hoy have steadily lost ground in popular cstinmUoir . Their peace " predictions havo been falsified— -Mipir economical proposals havo boon nimvorcxf by inoreqaod expdwlituro—tlwu-party lias boon scattered to tho tviiicls . Those fuots oonsiituto of Miomsolvos a strong prim / I facie presumption ; that . they haveboon going on a wroi . tf tack . 1 ' or the last ton years tliolr efforts havo boon dovoLod to tho reduc-

      Untitled Article

      ing to circumstances" and so forth , it is clear that even these long impenitent and impracticable ones are coming at length to a sense of their condition , and that from them no serious obstacle is to be encountered , i -I j And with us we own that the substantial and comprehensive extension of the franchise is the one thing which-outweighs by far all others in our estimate of a Reform Bill . Give us that fully and fairly , and everything else will of necessity follow , if not immediately , ere long ; that is to say , everything else that is really useful and needful . Redistribution of seats , voting by ballot , cheapening of electious , effectual measures to check corruption , their 01

      are all good things in way ; Due none mem separately , nor all of them together , are to be named in comparison with a broad and bold enfranchisement of the intellect and industry of the country . Wrong-headed on many points , as some of our present rulers in times past have been , we are willing to believe that they are fast coming to see the matter in this light , and that they are making up their minds to take their stand on the right side as far as the full and free concession of electoral rights is concerned . We do not say that unanimity prevails , or is to be expected , amongst the members of the Government on this fundamental question . We should not be the least surprised at learning anv dav that dull and obstinate men like

      Lord Hardwicke , and Mr . Walpole had refused to go ¦ witli their colleagues , and declined'to assist them in carrying their bill . But the mere fact of such withdrawals , should'they occur , would in itself do much to commend the project to public approbation . Lord Chelmsford may oppose all liberal progress in this matter , as he did on the Jew Bill ; but it will be contrary to ' . human ' nature to expect him to resign the Great Seal on a point of political conscience . History hardly contains a precedent for such a proceeding . Neither do we imagine that a shrewd and ambitious man like Lord Salisbury would keep scruples that were troublesome . Lord Derby himself is by some supposed to be more apt *

      to bestiff-necked in 1859 than he was in 1 S 33 , when he was specially charged with the conduct of the Irish Reform Bill , and which he contrived most effectually to spoil . But it is hard if he has learnt nothin g in his hitherto disappointing and disappointed political career . Were we to venture on a surmise at this early stage of the business , it would not be the carriage of any Earl or Marquis that we should name as stopping the way . We purposely abstain from entering upon the topic to which we are tempted to refer ; but our readers may be satisfied that if events threaten to justify our suspicions , no consideration of conventional reserve shall withhold us from giving them the plainest mid most unqualified utterance .

      MINISTERIAL MOVEMENTS TOWARDS REFORM . The Cabinet having reassembled this week , we may well believe that their attention will be speedily fixed upon the measures to be prepared for next session , on which their fate as a Government depends . A settlement of the Church Rate question upon some reasonable basis , considerable reduction in the estimates , a scheme for the

      reconstruction of our bankruptcy system , and a bill to simplify the sale and transfer of real property , will probably form prominent- items in the bill of fare . But the piece de resistance , as Trench cooks call tho substantial dish of tho feast , will assuredly be tlje long-expected measure of Parliamentary Reform . How far it will go , where it will stop , what it may contain , in the first instance , and what may bo added to it in the course of legislative cooking , no man at the present moment really knows , or will undertake to tell . For ourselves , we lean 1 o tho

      opinion that in tho coming Parliamentary biddings for popular favour , the upset price , as auctioneers call it , is more likely to bo n liberal than a stingy one . Among a considerable section of the Tories an idea has long prevailed that it is not their party whoso infUtcnco would bo most materially affected by a aonoriu widening of tlie franchise . They believe sincerely , that what with

      their vast torntonal sway , and what with tho influences of tho universities and tho Church , and what with tho aid of a largo portion of tho banking and brewing and ship-building interest , they would bo quite as well able to hold their owu with the Whigs , as they now aro at tho hustings and tho poll . No doubt there is a largo class of Conservatives who still adhere to tho Eluonand Oroker version of things , and who would , if they could , have no Reform at all . But , intellectually , this seotion is utterly holplcss cither in Parliament or in tho prosa j and after what wo havo lieard during the Iqst six weeks ; n tho way of preparations for "

      yield-Meanwhile , it is the aim of those who seek to snatch the handling of the Reform question out of the hands of the present Ministers to create an impression that the latter will not be prepared at tho commencement of the session to bring forward a bill . They hope by this to have it believed that they themselves arc the only sincere reformers , and to prepare the public mind for receiving with ridicule and contempt any proposition which may eventually emanate from tho existing Cabinet . They calculate probably , moreover , that such a belief as they seek to diffuse will predispose unwary Liberals to enter the more readily into party combinations for a change pf ministry early m < ho approaching session . Their modo of dealing with

      the question Avill consequently be to lay an edectivo stress upon points like wholesale redistribution of seats and tho ballot , which they take for granted will not bo included in tho ministerial scheme . It will be our duty , aathe general discussion proceeds , to deal with all such discussions separately and in detail , and to oxumine carefully how far any of them can be justly considered essential . But wo cannot too strongly warn all who have cause of peaceful progress at heart not to bo caught by plausible- projects for turning the subjcot of electoral change to moro party account . It is essentially one which deserves , and which needs , to bo deult with irrespective ! of party interests and oombmutions . ' Whigs mid Tories havo alike trilled with

      it , and arc alike unworthy of being implicitly trusted it , and arc alike unworthy of being implicitly trusted with , its euro . Neither of them , as political parties , vyould have cycr movod an inch in tho right direction , and noithor of them will now go as far as public happiness ami welfare require , without the stoacly application of nrcssuro from without . With that prossuro wo can hardly fail to obtain a good Franoluso Bill beforo many months roll by .

      Untitled Article

      The articles on the Royal Family of Prussia having been much approved of , No . 1 of a New Series entitled " BIOGRAPHIES OF THE GERMAN PRINCES , " by the same able and well-informed writer , will appear also on Saturday next , and be continued weekly .

      Untitled Article

      NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS . No notice can be taken of anonymous correspondence . Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenticarea by the name and address of the writer ; not necessarily for publication , but as a guarantee of Ins good faith . It is impossible to acknowledge the mass of letters we receive . Their insertion is often delayed , owing to a press of matter ; and when omitted , it is frequently from reasons quite independent of the merits of the communication . We cannot undertake to return rejected communications .

      . . R-N _.Y ^8j Rrfr*N Mu O/~\ Vjjf Q) &Lt;(*J L A"Ip&Lt; ^\^&Lt;Lv O^ T ^V _V / %^' »—^2£L Jt^ £V Aj- Ju \ S ? C^ J^ /O\ ^ ^^ ^^ /? No. 450/ November 6, 1858-1 T H E L E A D E B. 1193

      < 3 IP ^ 5 * 0 [ Jmti& tx * No . 450 . KovekbEB 6 , 1858 . ] THE 1 EADEB . ' ¦ 1 «» ¦

      Untitled Article

      SATURDAY , NOVEMBER 6 , 1858 .

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      % \ M \ t Slffithx ~

      Untitled Article

      In consequence of the great importance and the growing interest attached to the subject of REFORM IN THE REPRESENTATION , A Series of Original Articles , entitled " Facts , . " Thoughts , and Suggestions on the Coming Reform Bill , by a Practical Legislator , ' will commence in the Leader on Saturday next , the 13 th instant , and be continued weekly .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 6, 1858, page 1193, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2267/page/17/