RECENT REFORM PHENOMENA.
..4,...w.,
sfy, adds to the public impression that " Reform" has
_y.. 4pretext. Somebody should convert it to a reality.
Alit report is that the Ministerial Bill is actually ready, an . sot:a-Mae prefessea to have seen it •' but possibly, it is whis- pered; the mew," may not be brought fora ard until its - authors shall 1:6.-Nre inthiarliament, and waited to tind their most_advece- Meanwhile we have -(conger hints than ever that the Whigs. are not likely to be very forward in the competitive examination. Two ci three of the party who have spoken lately have done so in a tone wh,ich implied, almost dislike of the subject. • Mr. Lowe rather sneered at -Premiers who have fallen into the trick of pro- paling Reform Bills ; and without expressly pledging himself to resist any new project, his manner was one of indiffarence. He intimated that he took his stand decidedly upon the settlement of 1832. This avatar of the Australian Opposition leader was a pale imitation of the plitintomiihich once alarmed the public under the now almost forgotten name of "Finality John." That was a sort of ghost of Lord John Russell before his _day had come, and, it.was a ghost too, which proved to be a false deluding sprite, for the man himself has not only survived any idea of finality, if he ever entertained it, but is the one earnest statesman of his class and party upon the subject of Reform. Ile at all events, has been in earnest, though others took the word out of his mouth. Mr. Lowe, a clever colleague of Lord. Palmerston, throws cold water on the wiks.le movement. Lord Campbell, another good.Whig, announces that he will be prepared to examine any bill brought before the House of Iota, but be does not conceal his apprehension that the measure coming up frona,to Commons, mar go too far; and speaking, not only for himself, he ventures, in the name Of the Fish- mongers' Company, to advertise beforehand, that the state will be saved. by the Whigs. As ihe Goldsmiths' Company used to be the arena for the Tory party, so the Fishmongers' dinners have been considered the exercise ground of the Whig party; and it is from that board that Lord Campbell levels his anticipative me- naces at John Bright, or at any other persons who may take too positive a view of Reform. It would seem there- fore, that the Whigs are resolved to win in a waiting race, and will bold back to see what Ministers will not propose. Should the bill emanating from the Treasury bench prove to be disappointing to the public, then the indignant Whigs will de- nounce the trick, and stand forward once more as the champions of a large measure. Should it, on the other hand, at all-satisfy the hopes of those practical and consistent reformers, who May be deemed to represent the Liberal party in the several districtsof the country, we may expect to see the Whigs driven to a position of Conservatism, and proclaiming their true politics by making as stand under the banner of the Fishmongers' Company, with Lord Campbell for the standard-bearer or "Piantaleone" of that aris- tocratic republic. Left without the ordinary leading, the Liberal party of course continues to go further out to sea than ever ; and we have this week had some striking specimens of the extravagances into which public discussion and speculative agitation may wander. A meeting at the London Coffee-house has appointed another of many existing permanent committees "to consider the claims of the Metropolis" under the new bill,- with a new distribution of Seats according to population. Mr. Bright's great hobby is mounted by other and more ardent equestrians The gentlemen at the -London Coffee-house, seizing upon his principle, , have shoin that on the ground of munbers they May claim fifty-six Mfag:trerAlrett4441401.941ifebil iMbfintaidillStifoRix4Yes4i4 0404 q*AtithfiTs• .e-Ti4bitkillfte,INWitfliRapierellUitedetftiitairiagitinulb3 dtePhaihlkotbilr viittmahiftlibintiorm Payettiettitbotnaliodfasshir, thirtliiiii4FistiggottatmilPp40_,eqPisw, iideVing tht fakt. AseffloRgtgwgs clutOmhs- agfirAithtokkotit4tivnteralivas 4d* 4alikliAm4tAilhotitS4 4r1PjfkihiCsOritfrObilailitisiftlyiht ate pwzgl if011t19141-33ai er1/..thiw ,awar ladle Jritiw wsl sift lo
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the 'heMAIWO.t3•Vg tigNiAosktfigifuglit4tifig 46:filiokramtfitit thoY -114m9;imvicimiledbainsingoatesgott ilihOttRaimm,Jtag:Iiliten nothing niote,4hajt,ip., topli „rga.a.lagadmindaaa.„it,, .folow that the public inclii§p4ppfNitili.crisgtilniftgliiihtlItfix14 ;-)04.4tte (aXatituT, the publioi ratwpregatat naippeatraf tthgreughlyt j.u.s tbeamood for oak). ATIJection '.1,44.....fitAte§MelleR/4910Pliefelt AvAttiebts im.gros;B tpoliticalAwPienicAllovrikiienklastkbaktria440 theAisay0 Ito -v,iPtinis of tioAadencif ither,tliok01810 now IMA);;.tlifvwould merely sink.with their„,wholu olusaa toillesgbjects,oft ecild fuunttuript. pAer is it their e0udgeitippgctitg..4tquientrops,timoujou4);or pally, AV bieb. is.14aSt TAT41.1PS 114e,iNgiio 4tiiW4.n4his:most dangerous of.O4icitions.4 14410,hait atbiouoed on the patlitoiwards peliticA digRogioutPiny 11441wr states- men" shall come to be. ragardpfl 13thue. goderAifeelirig of cen- tempt ? Public writers may diseemigea0 tta thfiyjpleaSe ; but this is in truth the most serious feattineynfathatAiine, And it is rat violence, or turbulence, that fik'nftwh.titilbei apprehended, :but something far mope unfavouraMteto lAlle; moral lie_alth of the community, we mean a cold indifferenee,,which is, nnhappily, but too well deserved. Such a,ealaa 'is danger,eas, in itself ; dan- gerous in the Teac44pri that will ensue.
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