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Leader (1850-1860), 12th June 1858, Edition 2 of 2, Page 13

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      British Concession To The United States....

      conscious usefulness in the Negro would be the immediate result ; and he would be on the sure road to that freedom , which would be necessary to the full development of his ^ knowledge and usefulness , even for his employer . But that is a rescue from slavery and the slave trade which the African squadron only delays , nay , absolutely prevents , so long as the force is maintained . Negro emancipation and peace alike command that we should cease the futile and arrogant mission of endeavouring , sword in hand , to teach the American Republic its duty .

      No. 429, June 12, 1858.] T H E T, E A D,...

      No . 429 , June 12 , 1858 . ] T H E T , E A D , 33 ! R . 565

      . The Reform Debates. Action And Success...

      . THE REFORM DEBATES . Action and success are the best organizers . The Liberal party have been in . possession of the House of Commons this week . They have forced the Abolition of Church Bates through a third reading , and the County Franchise Bill through a second ; and they have made a powerful stand for the Ballot . The old arguments were employed against Mr .. Berkeley ' s motion , aad there was of course a majority in favour of open voting ; but , counting Eairs , -we find two hundred and twenty-one memers of Parliament declaring against the electoral system as now established . From this Reformers may take heart and hope . Platitude is in the field ,

      in opposition to their logic ; and prophets of yesterday declare that these yearly discussions are ; but sacrifices of time ; but neither the Ballot Society nor the Radicals in the House of Commons will be persuaded by the drowsy sophisms of the Conservative Whigs . We know our position well enough ; and we can afford to tell the Whig Conservatives that , if they find it impossible to yield a point at the instance of the nation , the nation will yield more than one point in order to keep Lord John Ilussell and Lord Palmerston shivering upon the Opposition benches . Both these statesmen stand forward with a victorious demeanour when the Tories are voting

      with them , and reiterate their ancient complaint that Mr . Berkeley had nothing new to say , following it up with something so old , cold , and miserable , that it might perhaps be as well , in future , to vote urgency , and go into the lobbies without a debate . In fact , however , though the argument hostile to the Ballot was long ago exhausted and is now perishing for lack of sustenance , the argument on the other side gains ground every day that the Australian constitution lasts . The Ballot would not work ; the Ballot would only work too well ; the English people are incapable of bribery ; bribery would he wholesale under the Ballot . Mr . Grote heard all that when he attacked

      the surreptitious landlord influence , and when he exposed the corruption hovering from above over the dependent classes of voters . The time has come for abandoning the ordinary tactics , and for the Liberal party to tell the Whigs plainly that they will not act as their militia on the Bedford level . Lord John Russell will not have the Ballot . Well , then , the Ballot , as represented in the Legislature , will not have Lord John Russell . If he be content to smile at the solecism , his satisfaction can be no annoyance to the Parliamentary reformers . It is for them to count their forces , to unite , and to carry on the war , and they will

      discover their Scipio when they are in need of his services . The history of their party may well encourage them to confidence and independence . Who were the Radical Reformers of 1830 P Not seventy men in Parliament . They made up the Whig majority . After 1832 , they numbered a " hundred and fifty , and the political organs of that day exhibited the Whigs petitioning the Radicals for alms , and praying not only for support , but for ideas and even measures . Why , then , are the Radicals of the present Parliament in hesitation as to the cause they shall pursue ? They have driven both Whi

      gs and Tories into the pitfal of the Charter , and the House of Commons lias finall y decided against the property qualification . Sir John Trelawny ' s charge to the same jury has resulted in the final condemnation of Church Rates by the Commons . The Conservatives bend hel p lessly to the Reform , of the County representation , and the admission of Jews into Parliament is forced upon noble peers , less by the sincerity of Lord John Russell and Sir Riohard Bethell , than by the severity of the hundred and twenty gentlemen who me in Committee ltoom No . 11 . n ™ rc is no conc ° ivable reason why the Ballot , like Church Hates , should not become a Reform for

      the Whigs to join in pressing upon Parliament . It is an old question and once seemed hopeless to those who were dismayed by majorities . But times change ; leaders fall away , and the course of nature operates upon the constitution of Parliament . The parties that diminish are those of the Whigs and Tories ; that of the Radical Reformers is steadily and perpetually upon the increase . Men of eminence adhere to it , ;— men of enlightenment and intellectual ability . It is no longer possible to decry them as demagogues . There is not , at present , a demagogue in Parliament . The advancing liberal party is that in which the most sober-minded classes of the community

      confide . Its members , so far from being incendiaries , are , with two or three , exceptions , not even popular orators . If they ; have not the nonchalance of the aristocracy , neither have they the passion ascribed to the multitude ; and if they have among them ^ no leader , no statesman who might merge their differences in his own single-mindedness and intellectual supremacy , they stand before the country more than two hundred strong , with more than one positive success obtained during the

      present session , and with the best possible opportunity , if they manage their influence wisely , of driving the Whigs at least into a compromise . Indeed , with reference to Church Rates , Sir John Trelawny carried Ids point by rejecting all compromises whatever . He insisted on the ' Bill , the whole Bill , and nothing but the Bill , and a majority of sixtythree sent up his message to the Lords , although accompanied by Mr . Gladstone's appeal to the peerage on behalf of the Established Church and all her sources of income .

      The work done by the Liberals this session places the matter beyond dispute , that , if they could establish unity among themselves and take up a Parliamentary position in regular order of battle , they might speedily form a party no less compact than that of the Conservatives , and , in point of numbers , quite as formidable . This would leave the Whigs in a permanent minority ; and whatever is lost to them is gained by the advanced Reformers . The three discussions of the present week on Church Rates , on ¦ the Ballot , and on the County Franchise , have distinctly separated and sealed the various classes of the Liberals , and have cut off Lord Palmerslon and Lord John Russell from the hope of any enthusiastic support below the

      gangway . Notwithstanding their votes on the County Franchise , their Ballot speeches convict them of insincerity , for all men must be insincere who declare themselves opposed to Toryism while they advocate the practice of open voting . At any rate , while Mr . Bright ' s most masterly and luminous speech remains unanswered , no politician pretending to be a Reformer can aflirm , upon his honour , his belief that the evils attacked by Mr . Berkeley would be aggravated if Mr . Berkeley ' s motion were carried . The House of Commons is beginning to feel the pressure of the great necessity acknowledged out of doors . It is closing up the ranks . The day of Reform is approaching , and whoever would lead the Liberal party must cordially embrace its principles .

      How To Make Church Rates Popular. Sir Jo...

      HOW TO MAKE CHURCH RATES POPULAR . Sir John Tkelawny has carried his Abolition of Church . Rates Bill through the House of Commons with a good majority , and it goes , in due course , up to the Lords—to be ncgativea . The inevitable does not shock Sir John , therefore he is cool and collected , and only careful to try and make the best of it : let those who wish for a compromise , he said , leave the Lords to " exercise their powers of invention , " and " when the bill comes back , the onus will be cast upon its supporters of refusing that which might he a practical suggestion . " Mr . Gladstone and Sir James Graham were the

      representative men of the opposite sides of the bootless discussion which brought the ceremony of the third reading of the bill to a close . Mr . Gladstone resisted the measure because it " contained an authoritative declaration of the principle that the ma jorit y had no right to obtain any support for any particular form of religion . " Sir James Graham stated emphatically that lie was " born and educated withiu the pale of the Church of England , " which had no more " attached friend" than himself ; but speaking in the interest of the Church , he was ready to make a timely concession on this point . Now , both these speakers arc advanced men of the age , both Conservatives ; both arc moved by the desiro to doj but withheld by the fear of consequences ,

      imaginary or real . Reason and the ripe necessity of the time spur them on , the black shadows that environ change frighten them back . They will and they will riot ; and their state of mind represents the state of Parliamentary opinion , which sends the Cliurch Rates Abolition Bill up to the House of Lords , to be rejected . Sir James ' s suggestion for the support of the parish church is to relax the Statute of Mortmain , so as . to enable landowners to charge their estates to a certain extent for its maintenance , the Bishops and Archdeacons supplying -whatever additional moneys may be required out of their anrole funds :

      aad his arguments would all thoroughly apply if the Church were only a sect , as Mr . Gladstone ' s would if the Church were , open to all English Christians . Mr . Gladstone cannot see why , if people object to / pay church rates , they should object to be called Dissenters . But the objection is , that the Church is not open to all its own proper members ; the rich pew-holder stops the way of the less well-off church-goer . Quash the sore question of pews , and there will be little objection to pay church rates : but there will be a never-ceasing opposition on the part of those who are called upon to pay for what they are not permitted to enjoy . la many parishes the church is built by the landowner ; in those cases , either the public has rights

      or it has not . If the church belongs to the landowner , what right has he to ask for rates ? If the church , is bond fidetheparish church , what has the landowner to do with , it at all ? Why should he even present the incumbent ? But all doubts and all disputes as to church-maintenance would pass away , and it would find abundant provision for all its needs , were its doors thrown , fairl y and in a la . rge Christian spirit , open to the people- Let all its services be like its " special" services , let its teaching and its conduct be thorough , and we shall have no more heart-burning and indecent squabbles over paltry questions of a penny in the poundtlie Commons proposing , the Lords disposing .

      State Of The Indian Question. Ri£E Debat...

      STATE OF THE INDIAN QUESTION . ri £ E debate at home resembles in its fluctuations the rebellion in India . It is constantly announced that all is prepared for an immediate solution of the difficulty ; but time goes on , and Ministerial victories are gained without any decisive result . When Delhi was taken the insurrection was proclaimed to have lost its head . When Lord Palmerston was followed by his first majority , the passage of sm India Bill this year was announced us a certainty . Lucknovv was reduced , but the lxot season overtook our armies in the midst of a

      campaign . Lord Harry V ane was beaten , yet Mr . Gladstone had the courage to take the field , with a parallel motion . Mr . Gladstone is defeated , and the House of Commons votes that nothing shall delay the reorganization of the home government of India . It voted that declaration four months ago , and it has not advanced one step towards definite legislation . The question still is , not whether the Indian machinery should be changed , but how ? About eight weeks of the ordinary session remain , and ¦ wit hin that ; interval , not only lias a bill to be read three times , and passed through Committee in either House , it lias yet to be introduced after

      fourteen resolutions have been debated , with the long list of amendments upon them which fifteen gentlemen still stand forward to propose . If the House of Commons could achieve this great work within two months , it would earn a reputation for business liabits . ! But the Lords will consider nothing sent up to them ia July ; and when we keep these circumstances in view , it is scarcely rash to assume that the session will bear no fruit in the form of an Indian measure , or that the scheme of Parliament will be a mere crudity and a deception . The whole question remains in an unsettled state , inside and outside of the Legislature . Nothing has been determined with respect to the composition of the Council : —its

      numbers , the election or nomination of its members , or the grades of qualification required . The military problem is a great anarchy of conflicting propositions . The powers and responsibilities of the Governor-General have not even been preliminarily discussed . The Indian debt and patronage are made the subjects of perpetual suggestions from quarters in which opposition will rise against the plans of tlie Ministry . We arc upon the threshold of the debate , anil if we arc to arrive at a conclusion this year , it must be by an operation more rapid than we arc accustomed to witness when a political manufacture is carried on in the British Puilmmciit . The question hns been hold in susjhjiisc from the

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), June 12, 1858, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_12061858/page/13/