TOPICS OF THE DAY.
THE INDEPENDENT REFORMERS IN PARLIAMENT.
THE Reform Bill, as announced on the 1st of March 1831, so very far exceeded the utmost that any one had ever expected from the aristocratic Whigs, that its sufficiency as a step, the power of carrying it which resulted from its sufficiency, and the subse- quent ability of the GREY Government to have bestowed upon the country the natural consequences of Parliamentary Reform, may all be attributed, and in no small degree, to those efforts of the press between November 1830 and March 1831, which aimed at convincing Lord GREY and his colleagues of the necessity for a not less effectual measure. In 1833 and '34 again, if the GREY Government bad not been intoxicated by good fortune, it would have been preserved by the remonstrances and warnings of the inde- pendent portion of the press. And assuredly, if Lord MEL- BOURNE'S Administration should fall in consequence of remaining too far behind public opinion, it will not be for want of informa- tion and warning as to their danger. When a Ministry is ex- posed to the loss of the support by which it exists, its best friends, we cannot say so too often, are those who point out the risk. But as it is impossible to perform this duty without some censure of the powers that be, one of the highest functions of journalism is necessarily a most disagreeable, not to say painful task. Amongst the worst consequences of plain-speaking to men in power, the truth-telling journalist is accused, by some who know better, and by others who will believe nothing that disa- grees with their own wishes, of being actuated by bad motives. It was just so with the Spectator duriiig the winter of 1830-31, when, occupied in showing that the promised Reform of Parlia- ment would be insufficient unless it were real, we were charged with intending to throw obstacles in the way of" his Majesty's pa- triotic Ministers." In due season, we answered that accusation by originating the cry of " the Bill, the whole Bill, and nothing but the Bill." In like manner, during 1833 and '34, while the GREY Ministry was wasting and destroying a greater power than ever Ministry possessed before, our exposure of that astonishing folly, and frequent warnings of the melancholy result, were attributed to some feeling of personal hostility towards Lord GREY and Lord BROUGHAM: Those ex-Ministers would now, probably, be the first to acknowledge in candour, that the aim and tendency of our remarks on their abuse of unequalled power, were of the most friendly description. The time is not yet come for replying
to the charge now brought against us by the hangers-on of Go- vernment. But that time cannot be distant. Shortly after the meeting of Parliament, this Ministry will either have become stronger than ever, by securing the strenuous support of all Re- formers, or it will have been broken up by pursuing an opposite course. Whether it stand or fall, the sole object of our recent complaints and censures has been to maintain and strengthen it. We are fully convinced that a Whig-Radical Ministry is the only one which, in the present state of parties and affairs, can lead the Reformers with any immediate effect ; and we dread—none more—the calamities which could not but result from the restora- tion, though but for a time, of Tory dominion. This conviction and this fear comprehend the only motives with which we have recently blamed the supinenes of Ministers.
But even-handed justice demands, that all the blame of the unhappy position in which Reformers are just now exhibited to the ridicule and scorn of the Tories, should not be cast upon the Whigs. Still less does it become some who now complain of Whig supineness, to reproach the Whigs on that score. We allude to certain Reformers in the House of Corn- mons,—Reformers who may be termed independent, since they have no personal objects or party attachments, and were, for that very reason, sent to Parliament as representatives of Re- form principles. These gentlemen have not satisfied their con- stituents, nor, one should think, their own conscience. During four sessions of the Reformed Parliament, what have they done for the cause of Reform, beyond supporting the Whigs against the Tories?—the sum of their performances might be told in a line. What have they left undone ?—the answer would be a long catalogue of omissions. They are disinterested, beyond comparison with politicians in any former time—most remarkable for consci- entiousness—always ready to say their say in defence of property and justice, and to dissent from the proposals of ignorance or dis- honesty from whatever quarter coming—far better informed, and more accomplished, Imoy of them, than any like number of the aristocratic order—while not a few of them have been brought up to habits of labour and method which qualify for public business : but, on the other hand, they are individually shy, diffident, or timid—as a body, without concert or cooperation, and therefore without "division of employments" in the great work of fulfilling their proper mission—and, above all, so deficient in energy, as to take pleasure, it would seem, in relying upon anybody but them- selves. The supineness of Ministers, now so unwelcome to the Independent Reformers in Parliament, is resolute activity when compared with their ow n past supineness. Calling themselves " earnest " Reformers by way of distinction, they are more infirm of purpose than the purest of the "pure old Whigs" trembling between his fear of the Ballot and his fear of LYNDHURST. They can talk vigorously in primate society, and preach against the feebleness tf others, and IL1osa2hize with delightful acuteness and perspicuity, about ends and means and human impulses; and some of them can even reproach the masses out of doors with indifference to the great principles of Reform : but when it comes to action—when the occasion arrives on which they could be of use—one has only to wonder at their total want of zeal and self-reliance. By their apathy, and seeming incapacity for action, they have really cast no little discredit on their own most cherished principles ; for the vulgar naturally con- clude, that those must be impracticable objects, whose only advo- cates in Parliament are mere theorists, however able. They also were the first to set an example of entire reliance upon the Whigs, to the masses out of doors, whom they would now blame for apathetic reliance upon the Whigs. Let us applaud their discretion in steadily supporting a Whig-Radical Ministry in opposi- tion to the Reform-hating Tories; but they must be accused of posi- tive neglect of duty, when we recollect how little they have done, either for making known their principles throughout the country, or for sustaining in the country that spirit of Reform by tr tans of which alone their principles can ever triumph. With the excep- tion of Mr. GROTE'S annual speeches for the Ballot—all differing from each other, and yet each appearing to contain every argu- ment on his side of the question—we do not call to mind any one remarkable effort of the Independent Reformers in Parliament ; and even of this one, much of the effect was lost on the last occa- sion, by the accident which postponed Mr. GROTE'S motion to a late period of the session. Was it by accident also, that no- thing—just nothing—was done last year by the Independent Res formers, for the principles of Extended Suffrage, Short Parlia- ments, Peerage Reform, Church Reform, a Poor-law for Ireland, Free Trade in Corn, Law Reform, Colonial Office Reform, Pc- pular Education, &c. &c. &c.? All of those objects might have been greatly promoted,—some of them might, perhaps, by this time have been so near attainment as to be within the list of Cabinet measures for next session,—if, as to each of them, the In- dependent Reformers, having organized themselves for the pur- pose, had submitted to the House, and to the country, a well-con- sidered measure ; supporting it in concert by facts and arguments, and with that zeal, earnestness, and self-reliance, without which it is idle to hope for sympathy and support from the masses out of doors. And all this the Independent Reformers might have done,
without in the least damaging the Ministry. On the contrary, voting regularly, and speaking whenever occasion had served in support of the Government, they would, by giving fresh life and activity to the principles of Reform, have entirely defeated, if they had not prevented the adoption of, that new Tory policy which has been the primary cause of Whig-Radical disunion and of danger to the Ministry. If Lord MELBOURNE may be blamed for having so long delayed the adoption of some new plan of action for pre- serving his Government, the Independent Reformers in Parlia- ment are deeply to blame for never having had a plan of action. But, supposing them to be free from that unmanly pride which is at this very moment the bane of the Whigs, they will profit by experience. The past cannot be recalled ; but it teaches a most valuable lesson for the future. Let us hope that so instructive a lesson will not be read in vain, by men who to uncommon sagacity join a habit of obedience to the dictates of conscience.
Since the above was written, we have had reason to believe that Mr. GROTE will take the very first opportunity of moving in the House of Commons, not a resolution in favour of Ballot, but for leave to bring in a bill. If the proposed bill be published without delay, it will, for the sake of its preamble, be printed in every Liberal newspaper of the United Kingdom ; in which case, Mr. GROTE may expect the support of numerous petitions pray- ing that that bill may pass. As THE INTENTION OF THE RE- FORM BILL is, at present, the best cheval de bataille for the Reformers, so may we expect that " the Ballot Bill" will soon be their cry ; and if Reformers out of doors do their duty, it may not be very long before we have to speak of "time Ballot Act." For in thus actively promoting a measure whose only object is, that electors should be protected in voting according to their own inclination, Mr. GROTE will not stand alone. Just as the above remarks on the past supineness of the Independent Reformers in Parliament were ready for the press, we received an early copy of an article which will appear in the forthcoming number of the London and Westminster Review, and which contains a delibe- rate statement of the views and purposes of the Independent Re- formers for the approaching session. The class of politicians, it seems, whose organ the London and Westminster Review may be termed, intend at length to give Reform principles their active and -well-organized support. ,Yet will they also support Minis- ters, by all the means in their power short of a sacrifice of prin- ciple. Such is the impression left by a hasty glance at this their very opportune and important Manifesto; on which we shall next week bestow the full attention that it deserves.
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