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ITALY AND HUNGARY.
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POLITICAL DUTIES OF THE RECESS.
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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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fTVEEE recess is the season for meetings between Members X their constituents , and before these events begin to come oif in any considerable number , it would be a good thing if some general principle of action could be agreed upon by Reformers . In reply to an invitation from the Walsall Reform Association , Mr . Bright lias declined to undertake the task of agitating the country . In this he has acted with more than his usual wisdom , It is quite true " that it is impossible for any person to undertake to speak at meetings during the recess , and to attend Parliament during the session , without overloading
himself with labour and responsibility , " and it is hopeless for any individual to attempt , as Mr . Bright has done on former occasions , to be the whole reform cause in himself . If the people want political change , they must work for it thems € lves , and form local committees in each town or borough . The public is not in the humour for abstract principles , nor prepared to support an agitation of a comprehensive kind , but there is a very general discontent with things as they are , and a desire to obtain some measure which will relieve us from the unpleasant condition of constantly talking about changes which do not
take place . The most ardent believer in Universal Suffrage will not consider the present restrictions of the franchise to be the greatest evil of our electoral system . Parliaments , as now constituted , do not represent the' opinions and feelings of the existing body of electors . £ An elaborate system of corruption stands between them and any reasonable chance of returning a member to their taste ; and scarcely an election takes place in which the favorite candidate is any more than a makeshift , accepted becausb nothing better is to be obtained . When a vacancy occurs in an open borough , inquiries are made in all directions for parliamentary aspirants ; the lawyers , or political agents look out for a victim , and usually find one , while the honest politicians in the place seek in vain for a man . willing to be victimisedand able to perform the duties of the M . P .-ship .
, In many cases an extension of the suffrage , wide enough to overthrow the existing organisation , would do some good by rendering it possible to return a . different sort of member ; but with the present electoral machinery , popular appeals to a large constituency are so expensive , that few can afford to encounter them , and this sort of property qualification practically excludes the most desirable men . If wealth is to be represented , to the exclusion of intelligence , the landed gentry have by far the first claim , and a mere transfer of political power from the landed class to the mill-owners and mercantile speculators , would be a national misfortune , and by no means a gain .
The fundamental want of our system is the means or rcpre ^ - senting intelligent op inion , and the number of electors on the register is , compared with this , a secondary question . But while this may be freely admitted , the two things are strongly and necessarily connected , for the working classes do contribute a considerable share to the sum total of intelligent opinion , and their admission to the franchise would increase this action to a considerable extent . As a philosophical problem , we need not trouble ourselves with conservative elements . In a wealthy and settled state of society such as our own , they are quito sure to take care of themselves , and public exertion is needed to give adequate power to those forces which ure naturally opposed to them . undAvhich result from tne dissemroination of knowledge , and the propagation of ideas .
Two things , appear practicable at present . One is to ^ induce a large portion of the middle class to urge upon the Uovemmont the duty of bringing- iorwurd a reform bill early in the next session , nnd the other is to commence sonic movements among constituencies for tho two-fold purpose . of spreading political knowledge , and of obtaining the control , of the seats nominally at their disposal . The working 1 class cannot be expected to be enthusiastic for the modicum of reform possible to be obtained at present , but [ they would in a quiet way embrace a five or six pound rental suffrage if not diminished in value by n ratepaying clause . . minds to reform iecemeal
Having made up our get p , we must be contented with u modest extension of the franchise na an initial measure , nnd not cumber our plans with propositions for extenoivo diafmnchiscment of rotten boroughs , which it will bo far easior to obtain a , t > v subsequent time . Reformers out of doors should throw upon the Govommont the . task of deciding the specific mgiisuro to be proposed , contenting tholnselvea with existing- public opinion us far us they , can , and requiring from ihe Cnbinot that , -whatever inay be tho details of their Bill , it shall be straightforward and satisfactory as far as it goes . So fur from asking- the working- classes to give up their claims for a complete enfranchisement , they should be stimulated to make them loudly heard , and the point of union
between the masses and the rich Liberals will be practically found , in" the willingness of both to support any reasonable measure which the Government will produce . Associations for manhood suffrage- may , like the Northern Reform Union , achieve much good ; but there is a mass of political opinion too timid for extreme measures , and yet available for all that the manhood suffrage folks expect to get as the first instalment of their claims . Each locality should decide for itself what sort of an Association it will form * and a central society in London might endeavour to combine them all for common action , when there was anything definite to support . ¦
_ __ _ We should like to see the formation of Political Knowledge Societies in every town , and in this matter London might advantageously set the example . Isolated meetings do little good , and the daily press wastes its columns in miserable reports of speeches made by men who are not in Parliament , or whose reputation is not already made . During the late agitation in the Metropolis against the aggression of the Lords many elaborate speeches were made , full of historical and legal information ; but scarcely any were reported with sufficient accuracy to give any idea of their character , or diffuse the knowledge they contained .
If , however , a society announced for the winter a series of monthly meetings , and at each took up a single subject , and by the aid of one or two speakers treated it exhaustively , all this would be changed , and the press would give a very different sort of report . . In the provincial towns similar means should be taken , and the Political Knowledge Societies should exert themselves to make elections turn upon opinion instead of upon corruption . Where the electors are not very numerous ; small subscriptions and a good registration would enable such an association to return its own candidate free of expense .
We inay come upon distressed times when popular anger will carry everything before it f but with such tolerable prosperity as we may hope to witness , no agitation will be successful which is not essentially educational . The country can 6 nly advance by fighting the battle of ideas against wealthy class interests . ' When properly appealed to , the people will range themselves on the right side ; but there is as much Toryism in the working-class as anywhere else , as the average man is usually a supporter of things as they are .
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Sept . 8 , 1860 ] The Saturday Analyst and Leader . 779
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SOM E politicians who have never been friendly to popular movements , but who now worship Garibaldi because they dare not withhold their acclamation from success , have thought proper to warn the Italians against mixing themselves up with the affairs of Hungary ; but the wise-thinkers and truer lovers of liberty will rejoice to see the good understanding which has been established between the two . great Josicrn could
victims of Austrian tyranny ; If Fkancis trust his Hungarian troops , he would , instead of talking about constitutional freedom , be booted and spurred at the head of an army , to put down the movement in Sicily , which ho knows will not stop until it has carried the flag ot United Italy to the towers of St . Marks . lie' may avoid fighting this year , but if his empire Lists as long , he must make a final struggle in 1861 ; and tho success of that adventure union between
will very much depend on the continuance ot the ¦ national parties on the banks of the Danube , and on the shores of tho Mediterranean . The English Cabinet will continue its silly remonstrances , " Don ' t touch Venice , " " Oon't o-o near Fiumee , " " Leave the Hungarians alone ; " but all wisdom will have forsaken Cav . ouk- when he prefers fighting tho Hungarian regiments to enlisting thron on his to the
side Ho has shown such remarkable ability up present time , that he is entitled to retain the post of political leader , and to find his judgment deforced to by the patriots of tbo sword . As a humau chai-actor there can bo no question as to tho comparative meats of Garibaldi and Oavouk , but thero are times when the chivalrous lion has uood of tho assistance of tho cunning fox ; and it is to bo hoped that tho statesman at Turin and the horo at Naples , will find thomsajvus able to work togoflior , until thoir noble
task is finally achieved . ' . . ,. i By this tiino it is probable thai ( Sardinia w m ionnai possession of Naplofr , uncV some will represent ; tho oyent iih a movement ol suspicion on tho par ! , of Oavouk , and inconded to check Gakhiai . pi ' s independent onrour . It may P ° ? s | Wy throw some rainoi difficulties in tiiQ w . y ot tho gallant Dictator , and we hope h « will be uW « ^^ VZnTrlT of tho mwniila before handing them to tho Sardinian Kino 5
Italy And Hungary.
ITALY AND HUNGARY ,
Political Duties Of The Recess.
POLITICAL DUTIES OF THE RECESS .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 8, 1860, page 779, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2364/page/3/
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