TOPICS OF THE A . Y.D
POLITICAL BUBBLES.
TEM is a time for all things, says the wise man. Our politi- cians have generally considered the fittest time for the considera- tion of constitutional changes to be when the public mind is eager for them, and violent passions have been roused for their attain- ment. To broach such questions at any other time, has been held to be as visionary and unpractical, as it would be to keep one's watch by true solar time, instead of by the town-clock. The multi- plicity of affairs constantly pressing for immediate settlement accounts fbr this course of procedure. But it is certain that the passions, which may be necessary to carry into execution projects of reform involving a. diminution of existing class privileges, can have none but amischievous effect upon the deliberation precedent to action, and, along with the good towards which they (*operate, are sure to sow seeds that time will ripen into a noxious harvest, counterbalancing greatly the adVantagezeiven by, the change. It is therefore no reasonable matter of regret that indifference has upon the whole been manifested in reference to the promised extension of the suffrage. It should rather encourage our statesmen to expend upon the plan ultimately to be-proposed the fall amount of wis- dom with which theory and experience combined can supply them. Sack a course would be a far better remedy for the political apathy and scepticism so characteristic of our epoch, and far more perma- nent restorative of hi* in parties andinmen, than any the most clever electioneering device which Lord John can invent to keep "-power on his last legs." In spite of a growing conviction that neither constitutional forms nor legislative enactments are so ef- fective a panacea-as tlie-y were once supposed to be, there still re- mains a sufficient belief in legislation, and a sufficient desire on the part of most. Englishmen for a share it, to secure a warm and adequate support_to any Minister who is skilful enough to devise and bold enough to pro =se a. measure which would manifestly im-
prove the organ of le •= n„and enlarge the number of those who aid in the selection o its members.. A few remarks on some pro- bable elements of such a seheme may have their use.
Representative institutions. have a twofold advantage, direct and indirect. Directly,. they secure, that the wants and wishes of the classes represented are considered and have their weight in the national ckeisions, Indirectly, they afford to these classes and the individuals who compose them. an education which, though primarily political, is essentially a moral and intellectual training of the highest value. If they do not secure the first object, they are a-sham, - as were our borough elections before the Reform. Bill. They must either abet the second or its exact opposite,—they must either educate the voter or corrupt him. The Reform Bill of 1831. aimed at both ends, and partially succeeded. The capital of the country has since. been. more duly represented ; and the inte- rests of eapitaliste, whether as- producers, manufacturers, or dis- tributors have been more considered in legislation. The extension of political privileges hasloesides been to a certain degree guarded. from being turned, to. as engine of corruption, by the increase of the number of. polling-places and. the shortening of the period of polling. Probably the advantages of these two latter changes are equivalent to all the other benefits of that celebrated measure. B.ut scarcely any one we should, suppose, except its noble pro- poser, ever imagined, that the Reform Bill could be final. It. was imperfeCt- in conception, and incomplete, in the reali- zation even of its own idea. 13.y the limitation of Parliament- ary boroughs,- and the differenee between, the town and.county franchise, a vast number of ten-pound- householders through- out the country have no share in the representation. On the other hand, the ridiculous practice of referring cases of bribery to a Comraittee of the House of Commons, instead of to a properly-con- stituted legal tribunal,, insures the non-prosecution of the greater number of cases; _and impunity to most of those that are prosecuted: An extension. of the new law of evidence may partially mend this-;. still.the incompetenoe is more in the tribunalthan in the forms un- der which it acts. In these points the Iteform.Billmay be said not to have realized its own idea. For there waa no good reason for confining the town. franchise to such ten-pound, householders as re- sided within the boundaries of certain select boroughs. The morn, considerable towns- of a district might have been grouped together, as in Wales, so as to form constituencies of, say, not less than five and not more than ten thousand voters, such constituency to return one or two. Members according to its numbers.. The additimi. thus made would beof a. higher order than the present ten-pound voters, because rents average lower in small towns than in larger ones; and the increase of numbers would be a guard in itself against bribery and petty jobbing, while the sctittered nature- of the constituency would also tend to diminish the influence of electioneering law- yers,,to neutralize the predominance of cliques,, and.ba give ,greater independence of aotion.to representatives. The ground being thne- cleared, Mr. Locke King's proposition, or some kindred motion, for extending- the ten-pound qualilcation to counties,, would be no longer subject to the objection of swampingg the influence of the. landowners: These.twoextensions, isolubined with a measure that should take away the jurisdiction of the House of Commons. in. eases of 'corruption or at least iatrast thainvestigation of such eases to a proper tribnnal, would tolerably effect what the. Refer*? Bill seems to imply,. the bestowal of the franchise upon all persona possessing a certain status in the country, as ascertainable by their payment of a rental of ten pounds. The possession of the frau, chise implies- the right to exercise it free from intimidation, which
is only another and more cowardly form of bribery. Bait the con- sideration of the measures necessary or possible for the prevention of acts so vague as acts of intimidation generally are, is so com- plex as to need more special treatment than can be given in au article of general hints.
The Reform Bill was not only an imperfect realization of an idea; the idea itself was imperfect. The franchise was not even in conception extended to that large class which, though possessed of adequate incomes, does not inhabit houses, but lives in lodgings, nor to that larger class which forms the bulk of our manual in- dustry, but whose wages do not enable it to command houses rented at ten pounds a year. For these an educational qualifi- cation has been hinted at, to depend on their possessing a certifi- cate of having passed an examination, the details of which would be determined by act of Parliament; coupled, we presume, with such proof of industrious habits and good morals as would be furnished by the fact of their having been neither relieved by the parish within a oertain period nor fund guilty of offence against the laws. The indirect advantage of such an educational qualifi- cation in promoting a desire for knowledge among the people would be incalculable, or, more truly, it may be set down for a certainty. No one, on the other hand, could complain of being excluded from a privilege which would be placed within reach of his own in- dustry, intelligence, and good conduct. Opposition to such en- largements of the constituencies, and such extension of the fran- chise, might be anticipated from those who would object to any further infusion of the democratic element into our constitution ; and from those who would consider their own franchise lessened in value by being compelled to share the boon with a larger number of their fellow citizens—who would think, in fact, that their own in- fluence on the legislation of the country was lessened in proportion as the fractional part of a Member of Parliament, to which they could lay personal claim, was diminished. The former class of ob- jectors are either theorists too high up to encounter at the close of an article, or simple blockheads not worth encountering- at all. We would remind the latter class, that the franchise of a voter for the West Riding of Yorkshire or the City of London is not generally held to be of less value, as regards its influence on legislation, than that of a voter at St. Alban s.
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