Messrs. Baines, Baring, and Buxton have all been addressing meetings,
and all upon Reform'. Mr. Baines only said that the 61. franchise in boroughs would not "swamp" the middle class, would indeed only gain one-fourth of the borough constituencies in general for the 'working class proper. Very likely, and no one fears the immediate measure, but only the re-assertion for the second time of the principle that Reform is to mean a gradual approximation • to government by a numerical majority of the country, and not by the representation of its thought. Mr. Baring, who ought to have known better, said just the same kind of thing at Falmouth. Mr. Buxton at Maidstone re-asserted ably the danger and injustice of expelling, or beginning to expel, the middle class from power, when they have used it on the whole so well. He was unwise in admitting that his suggestion for a repre- sentation of minorities, after the suffrage has reached every house- hold in the boroughs, had failed. The truth is it has not yet been even discussed by the Press. And so long as the Liberal papers and members decline even to see the difficulty,—not because they do not see it, but because they are afraid of it,—we shall have no chance of a Reform Bill.
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