LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
" THE POLITICAL SITUATION."
[TO THE EDITOR or THE " EPECTATOR."1 • :SIL—The article under the above heading in the Spectator of last Saturday states : " The electors should come to a decision
and act; the question before them, stated with brutal plain- ness, being whether they will allow the Liberal Ministry to be expelled because of its conduct in Egypt ;" and the article con- cludes : " Whatever the temper of the House of Commons— which, no doubt, has many reasons for its irritable condition— we are much mistaken if the constituencies, once warned of the prospect before them, will not say 'No.' " In this answer to the important question, I think you have fairly given expression to the feeling of Liberals throughout the country, and more especially in the North. "No" is the word.
Judging from the tone of the London Press and their Tory echoes in the country previous to the general election in 1880, and from the apparent indifference of the nation at the time, no superficial observer would have suspected that the confident Tory Party was on the verge of an overwhelming defeat. From the Times downwards, the London Press had entirely miscalculated the direction and force of public opinion in the provinces. I believe that the Tory party, and a great proportion of the London papers, are now equally mistaken in their estimate of current public opinion, and accept the echoes and opinions of coteries, and the gossip of the clubs, for the voice of the people. This second edition of Jingoism, these appeals to popular passion on account of the supposed transgressions of the Ministry in their foreign policy, find very little response in this quarter, where men are prone to think for themselves, and weigh and consider, and then judge public questions on their merits and broad grounds. The centre of political gravity within the last forty years has shifted from London to the large towns and the country, and the reason is not far to seek.
During the last half century, the schoolmaster has been abroad with us. The result is, that where the newspaper bad a circulation of units only, it has now hundreds. Every cottage (with few exceptions) has its weekly newspaper, and many of them a daily. The provincial halfpenny evening news- paper, a marvel of excellence and cheapness, is becoming a great institution, and will soon be a necessary of life in every working- man's home.
One consequence is, that political questions are now fortu- nately fully thought out, and calmly discussed around the domestic hearth, in the club, and wheresoever men do congre- gate. The working-man can give an intelligent reason for the faith that is within him ; and when the next election comes, the vapouring of some portions of the London and Provincial Press, and the bluster of Tory orators will count for little or nothing. We remember too well the mischievous results of the secret diplomacy, the under-hand treaties, the costly, spirited, and worse than fruitless foreign policy, and the daily surprises that were sprung upon us to the great injury of commerce, and the disquiet of reasonable men, under the leadership of Lord Beacons- field, and his wayward lieutenant, Lord Salisbury, to trust the control of national affairs to the latter. " Enough has been as good as a feast," to quote a Yorkshire saying.
It may surprise the inhabitants of London to learn that in the provinces we do not regard this unfortunate Egyptian
imbroglio as a life-and-death question, or an Aaron's rod
swallowing up all the rest. There is a wish, more or less general, that we had never interfered in the affairs of Egypt, and that rotten Eastern States should be left " to stew in their
own juice," and a desire to be released from all entanglements as soon as possible. But above and beyond foreign gnes-
tions,•there is a strong, I had almost stated a fierce, resolve that the County Franchise should become law before the next elec- tion. The country seems comparatively quiescent, but it is be- cause the people regard the passing of the measure as a foregone conclusion, and know that in the last appeal they are masters of the situation. If, by any strategy of my Lord Salisbury, this question remains unsolved before the next election, he will find
himself as utterly out in his calculations as he was in 1 0; and that all other questions will be deemed of secondary im-
portance. The Ministry could not appeal to the country on a more favourable issue; and we in the North should rally round Mr. Gladstone with an enthusiasm that would cast all previous manifestations of confidence into the shade, and should, to quote your own words, " state our decision with brutal plainness."
We are anxious to have a Redistribution Bill also. When that shall come depends upon the obstructive tactics of the Tories—who are united for nothing else—and their Home-rule allies. As Liberals, we wish the Bill to be perfectly fair and just to all parties ; and remembering the party manipulation of the Disraeli Ministry, we do not care to entrust Redistribution to the hands of the present feeble, shifty, and disorganised Tory Party.
There is little speculation here as to the action of the House of Lords on this all-important Reform question, and an appa- rent indifference to the threats and big, swelling words of Lord Salisbury. We know that time is on our side, and that the Bill must pass. The question is,—If the Lords reject the Bill, what will the nation do with the Lords ? Extreme politicians, who regard an hereditary House of Legislation as an effete institution, have no strong objection to let Lord Salisbury have his way, that the last nail may be driven into its coffin ; while amongst moderate Liberals there is a-feeling gaining daily force, that if measures approved of by the nation are to be mutilated, rejected, or indefinitely postponed by an irresponsible body—if the House of Lords is to become, when a Liberal Govern- ment is in office, an Old Man of the Sea around its neck, thwart- ing its action at every turn—then the time has come for a radical change ; and that my Lords must set their house in order, for it shall die and not live, if it is to exist as an irre- sponsible barrier to wise legislation and the practical expression of the national will.—I am, Sir, &c., limulen, near Huddersfield, June 9th. J. E. ROBINSON.
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