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    Skymer applied himself principally to a refutation of the arguments employed by Mr . Bright in his Reform speeches out of doors . Looking at the position of the House of Commons in the practical workin " of the Constitution , he said he thought it liod encroached very much upon the two other branches of the Legislature , and , if we were to have a House of Commons working harmoniously with them , the landed and agricultural interest must bo represented strongly . A moderate measure of reform was all that was required , and , with the exception Of the disfranchiseinent ( as it was called ) of the borough freeholders , which he condemned , lie thought tins to be a measure which deserved the support of the

    House—Alderman S , vrx > : tfoNjs complained that the bill did not pay sufficient regard to the claims of the , working classes . No Reform Bill could be considered satisfactory , or ever be passed without danger , which did not give a larger share of political privileges to the working classes than was contemplated in the Government measure . —Mr . Liddell maintained that the franchise ought to be conceded freely hut not indiscriminately . The selectiou . was made , he argued , with sufficient liberality , and yet with all necessary caution , in the bill before the House . — Sir C . W \> oo considered the bill so objectionable nnd

    obnoxious in its principles that he would prefer no bill at all . He insisted tliat the identity of franchise in town and county was a dangerous one . Was it to b e applied , he askjad , to Scotland and to Ireland ? A 1-though lie did not desire an indiscriminate admission of the working classes to the franchise , and was not prepared to make them the ruling class : in the country ,. he thought that , considering how much they had improved of late years , it was high time that they should have some voice in choosing representatives , and he contended that the Government measure did not contain ail adequate provision for their admission . He therefore concurred in the

    resolution . The resolution left it open to the Government to adopt the course it suggested ^ of lowering-the franchise in the boroughs and of altering the . provision regarding the borough freeholders , and if they refused , they would be responsible for the consequences . — - Mr . HoitSMAN delivered a speech that was received with repeated shouts of applause from the Ministerial benches . lie condemned the amendment as a party manoeuvre ! and predicted nothing but disappointment and dissatisfaction from its success . He hid promised his constituents to give an impartial consideration to the new Reform Bill . If the bill was good , he undertook to accept it ; and if bad , to try and amend it in committee , and not to reject it until

    the failure of their attempts at amendment had become apparent . The ; present time was peculiarly fit for the construction of a good measure ; the Liberal party enjoyed a large majority in the House , and could mould the bill nearly into what shape they liked , and he warned alL reformers to walk warily , and hot throw away the advantages of their position . Tliis he thouglit they would dp by carrying Lord John llusseH ' s amendment , which lie rQgarded as tantamount to a rejection of the measure . Thepresent bill would , he was convinced , bei-endercdas extensive in range and liberal in its provisions as any prudent reformer could require , by a few short and simple amendments in . committee . This was an

    unanswerable reason for prcferrmg going into eqinr mitteeto rejecting the bill . If the party on that ( the Opposition ) side of the House Averc ready to assume the Government , and were desirous of turning out the present Ministers , it would , he thought , he a moire direct and manly course , more magnanimous null more elevated , to put the question upon its true issue . Heavy disasters— -which the hon , member described and lamented in emphatic termshad overtaken the Liberal party through previous errors in obeying factious motives , instead of following a sound and magnanimous course of policy . Ho exhorted them to act , on the present occasion , in a nobler and more patriotic spirit ,- — Mr . ' A . Mills felt disposed to agree with the propositions laid dow . n in the amendment respecting 1 the county franchise and the extension of the sullrngo

    m towns . But those points could bo determined in committee , and it was quite ncedlesa to : throw over the bill and frustrate all legislation on this question perl laps fuv many years to eomo . —Mr . . Huoissmkn strongly supported the amendment—Mr . Nizwnr :-uatk said nothing should induce him to assent to the principle of the bill , and therefore lie must oppose tho second reading . . Ho regretted to find himself ut variance with the leaders of tho party with wh'luh ho hud so long acted , hut could not accept tho principle of a bill founded upon an oquallty of tho comity and borough franchise . This principle was distasteful , as it appeared , to members on both aides of tho House . As a Conservative , ho was altogather opposed to a hill'in which a groat principle was snowflood for a party gain . —Lord K . Cjxul defended tho provision for depriving the freeholders in boroughs of their comity vote . The whole reform q uestion had , ho observed , . been too much nrguocl in tho shoplcQcplng interest . —Mr , "WasoN moved the

    adjournment of the debate . — ' ¦ The CHAXCEtfcou of the ExChequkr appealed to the private members who had notices on the paper to allow the dicussion to proceed without interruption ,, and the resumption of the debate was then fixed for the following evening . , . ¦ . . . The House adjourned at twenty-five minutes before one o ' clock . Tuesday , March 22 . MARRIAGE WITH A DECEASED YVIFK ' s SISTER . In the House of Lori > s Lord Wodeiiouse moved the second . reading of the Bill to Legalise Marriage with a Deceased Wife ' s Sister . Before noticing the objections to the bill , he pointed out that clergymen who objected to perform these marriages were not obliged to do so by the present bill . As to the religious question , he would only say that , after a careful examination , the verse in Leviticus was / he thought , in favour of those who supported the bill . He then passed to the opinions of the Archbishop of Dublin , the Bishop of London , the Bishop of St . David ' s * and the Bishop of Manchester , who had expressed themselves strongly in favour of the bill ; and , as last year only seven of the bishops voted against it , he inferred that the opposition would not be very strong on the present occasion . He thouglit that the ordinary objections made against the bill on account of the disturbance it would create in family relations were groundless . In order to maintain the present system an imperative necessity for it ought to be proved , and he did not think this had : been or could be done . —Lord Pxtxganxon- moved that the bill be read a second time that day six months . -. He objected strongly to the bill , as tending to destroy all the most sacred relations of social life . He denied that these marriages were either desired by or prevalent among the poorer classes . Not one woman in fifty was in favour of this bill , as was manifest from the numberless petitions signed by women all over the countrj 1-. He asked them , in . the name of the women of England and for . the sake of preserving the moral purity of English homes , not to legalise these marriages : —Lord Aebemari-e voted for the measure because he thought it would prevent gross immorality on the part ; of the poor . —The iiisJiop of Exetkr regretted tliat from his age he was incapable of taking a prominent part in this discussion . In answer to the list of Bishops . cited by Lord Wodeiiouse , he asked how many Bishops had there been from the beginning of the Church against it ? He ¦ should oppose the bill solely on religious grounds , and . maintained that it was solely a religious , and not a social question . —Lord St . Leonards asked why was Scotland omitted from the bill ? Why , too , should Ireland be excluded ? A worse bill was never submitted to the House . By this bill , if aii Englishman married his sister-in-law , the marriage , although good in England , was not good in either Scotland or Ireland . And what , then , became of the rights of property , succession to peerages , &c , ? What became of the status of the woman , who in one division of tho United Kingdom was a wife and in the other two a mistress , and whose children were legitimate in England , but bastards in Ireland , or Scotland ? In asocial light , it would load to very great evils . —The Bishop of St , Asavh opposed tho bill bceauso he thought it contrary to the law of God . —Lord Lifforo intended to vote in favour of the bill . —Lord Cjuzs'worth opposed the bill on purely social grounds .-7-The Bishop of Cork supported the bill . —The Bishop of Oxpokd denied that tho principle of the Bill was either to be found in the Old or New Testament . He explained the stops that had been taken by the bench of Bishops in 1835 in legalising marriages of this kind that had been contracted up to that time . He asserted that , from inquiries he had caused to be made , he was convinced that this b . ill was not desired by the poor , but by the middle classes , and he besought their lordships riot t ; o relax the laws of this country in accordance with the wishes of those who desired to exchange morality for license . —The Bishop of CaulAsiAi , from his own experience , knew that these marriages were desired by the poor , and not only among the poor , but among otlier classes . He had felt it lately hi * duty to cull upon one of his clergy to vacate his living on account of having contracted one of those tniirria ^ os , —Lord Woijkiioush replied , and , on a division for the second rending , the numbers were—Contents , 39 ; non-contents , 49 . So the Bill was lost . Some bills wore forwarded a stage , ami tholr lordships adjourned at half-past ton . TMIS KKFOIUl IJIIX , In tho IIousio ojt Commons , the adjourned debate was reemnoil by Mr . Wii-hi > n , who opposed tho measure on the ground that It was in reality a step in retrogression from tho principles laid down in tho Act of 1832 . public opinion hud demanded , and public man of all parties had expressed' their readiness to concede , a large extension of the franchise . But the present bill contained provisions calculated to restrict the franchise and diminish tho number

    of electors , especially by the withdrawal of their second votes from borough freeholders . He could not accept a measure whose fundamental principle was so objectionable . The alterations \ vliich the Government had proposed to introduce in committee in his opinion only made matters worse . The reduction , to 10 / . of . the occupation franchise in counties ,-was , to his mind , . ' simply . ' a method of extending territorial influence ; while the various " fancy franchises " in boroughs , which the lion , member examined in detail , were , lie contended , either altogether delusive , or . replete with inexplicable and bewildering anomalies . What was wanted was the greatest diversity in the classes

    represented , and if the qualification for the borough franchise were lowered to 5 / . or 6 / ., it would , in some towns at least , let in the working classes . He was not prepared to consen . t io Jin extensive disfranchisement of small boroughs , which admitted to representation large classes' not connected with land , commerce , or manufactures ; but , with an uniform franchise , it would be impossible to maintain these small boroughs ; its effect would be merely to increase the influence of land and property . He should vote for tlie resolution . — Sir E . B . Lttton followed in ah address of great brilliancy . He inquired , if the bill were taken out of the hands of the present Government , into whose hands would it fall ?

    The inheritance , he replied , must lapse to-a party who had spent twenty-five years in decrying liberal votes and abjuring liberal opinions . In spite of their temporary union , the party were still agitated by the quarrels of years , and if they w-ere seated in Downing-street to morrow , the quarrels of yearswould go with them . The vote which affirmed Lord John Russell ' s amendment would practically decide that the Reform Bill should be read a second tiirie that day five years . The resolution was framed as , a party movement , liut could not be regarded as an expression of public opinion : When the bill was framed public opinion was confessedly in abeyance , and ever since every attempt to excite agitation had

    totally failed . What tlie country seemed ^ to ; ask if the issue of public meetings could be taken in evidence- —was something which did not appear in the amendment , and was not recognised in the speech of Lord John , which no Whig Government would propose , and no Government of any complexion hope to carry . Reviewing the provisions of the measure , the right hon . baronet insisted . ¦ . that they offered a liberal and impartial extension of the franchise ,. and that if any imperfections existed they could beamended in committee . He did not believe that the lowering of the borough franchise from 10 / . to 51 . would'be a disadvantage to the . Conservative cause in that house . On the contrarv , he believed , it

    woufcl be indirectly advantageous to it . What constituted the power of a party ? It was the cultivated intelligence , the moderation and good sense of of its members . All these advantages would be gained more by a 10 Z . constituency than by a 51 . constituency , ( Hear , hear . ) The worst enemy of tlie moderate reformer was not the Conservative gentleman , but the demagogic adventurer . ( Hear , hear . ) It was by the demagogic adventurer that the upright reformer was outbid . (* ' Hear , hear , " and cheers , ) To replace the upright reformers in this house by the demagogic advonturers would be your loss and our gain , because they would not be the same formidable competitors for power : tliey

    might make a violent opposition , but they coyld never unite to form the Queen ' s Government . What lie had pointed out would bo the result of placing numbers not under tho contr 6 l of property , l > ut under tlie control of ignorance and passion . ( Hear . ) This , then , would be their gain ; but he was far from wishing to sec such a result . He did not wish for the sake of European freedom to see the gr < jat liberal partyithus morally damaged . ( Hear . ) Tjint branch of reform which related to tho redistribution of seats had been , with some exceptions , deliberately postponed in the Government measure ,, and all reforms would be worthless that . diminished the dignity and power of the House of Commons , which ¦ was not a popular , but a deliberative assembly . In that respect it diiftirod from all their free colonial legislatures . Whsvtcver other privileges they might )

    possess , they could not even discuss the question of their own defences , much loss interfere with foroign policy . Take oven the American Assembly . Xho House of Representatives scarcely ever touched on foreign politics , unless in the case of a ( nutation of the tariff or public money . Ask any candid American , and lie would say that oven in domostic affairs thoy looked to tlie Senate fora guiding intellig ence . Tho reason was that tho House of Representatives had become what some hon . gentlemen opposito wantod to nuvko the House of Commons . ( Hoar , hoar . ) Jn the attempt to pimulariso It , ic had boon lowered so near tho level of the mas » acs that tho masses ceased to respect it . Aa yut , it was noC so in JBngland , Tho wiso-stand boat in England could still turn with interest to their debates ) tho proudest notentiito of Europe might yot tremble

    Untitled Article

    K ^ ITO ^ MaRcii 26 , 1859 . 1 THE LEADER . 389

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), March 26, 1859, page 389, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2287/page/5/