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    the constitution of man , and that the two guide and Govern his life . Only scheming politicians—like the Gentlemen at Liverpool , who usurped the name of social reformers—only Whigs and Tories who . grasp at power while they pretena . ta promote the welfare of society , practically adopt the principle that- evil can be got rid of , and therefore , even when they proclaim as the foundation of their own power the inherent wickedness of man , try to legislate it out of the world . It is part of the experience of modern times that the efforts of legislation for this purpose have all been very lamentable failures . To get rid of evil is not possible ; to inflict it from fancying that good will result from it after , the manner of Conceited Whigs and place-hunting Tories , in spite cf experience , is very foolish , not to say absurd .

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    TWO BIG AND TOO LITTLE CONSTITUENCIES . . Pkemonitory signals are daily more perceptible that we are on the verge of a general move onwards in the direction of Parliamentary Reform . ^ Candidates , whether calling themselves Liberal or Conservative , are eagerly bidding higher and higher for popular favour . Mr . Angerstein , who a few weeks since hesitated to pledge himself to anything definite , now finds it necessary to tell the electors of Greenwich , that he has made up his mind to a hi . franchise , the use of the ballot at the option of •« ach constituency , and the ending of the glaring anomalies presented by inordinately large and

    pre-It is impossible to look at the glaring disparity between the two extremes of size in our constituencies , without being conscious that there is something essentially faulty in the system which perpetuates it ' . Without entering into the discussion , rais . ed some time since by the Edinburgh Ueoieio , as to the advantages of diversity in the extent of constituencies , we may take it for granted that no set of rational men will be found now-a-days to contend , as the Tories did in 1 S 32 , in favour of direct purchase , or direct nomination , in obtaining seats in Parliament . Now it is notorious that the influence either of property or of money absolutely

    decides who shall be members for the dwarl boroughs alluded to above . Election , in any ordinary sense of the term , there is and can be none tor places like Arundel , Midhurst , Ripon , Calnc , Eye , Thetford , Dunganuon , Downpatrick , or Portarlington . Now aua then a rush may be made when the keeper happens to be asleep , or in trouble , or absent , and the passive , unthinking captive may be bamboozled or bullied into spending an incoherent hour in ' the market-place , at the emlof which some hardy intruder is said to have gained the day . But cheats , at surprises of this kind , however legitimate hable

    we should not on that account change our opinion , but simply find in the boast an additional proof of how really limited the choice of such constituencies must be . The mere cost of printing and public meetings which every candidate is obliged to incur in itself amounts to ; a protecting duty in favour of enormous wealth and egregious prodigality ; - and unless something be done to reverse the infamous Act of last session legalising indiscriminate treating- under the pretence of conveying voters to the poll , the cost of contesting any of our great constituencies will amount to an absolute bar against all fair competition for the House .

    in mere party warfare , or laug as topics for ephemeral gossip , have really nothing to do with the question . They have no more to do with any sober or real system of popular representation than the whining of " the Oaks" by drugging the favourite , or bribing a rival ' s jockey , has to do with the breeding or training of thoroughbred horses in general . Seats for such boroughs as those we have named are practically , and to all in- ^ tents and purposes , as much the property of the proprietors of the estates where they lie as the manorial rights attached to them , or the privilege of shooting over the farms of which they are made up . Law for it there is none , ' tis true , as far as the statute book is concerned , but ' prescription ,

    custom , and usage there is , quite as strong as .. Act of Parliament , _ and too strong for anything but an Act of Parliament to put an end to . There are , indeedy places included hi the catalogue of stunted constituencies whose plight is still worse , morally speaking—places where the dictation of one predominant family has ceased to exist only to make room for a base and unblushing system of traffic hi votes at each miscalled election . Every one knows that in communities so limited the traditional taint is utterly incurable . Accident may sometimes cause a walk over ,, just as it has sometimes caused a bloodless victory , or saved , two drunken bravos

    from the trouble and shame of c street row . But no one , who sincerely loathes the practice of corruption , or believes in its deleterious effects on national character , can find it in his heart to say that Sudbury , Borsham , Sligo , Pontefract , Weymouth , Cashell , Bnmstaple , Athlone , and a score such like , ought not to be disfranchised . Equally indefensible in every sound point of view is the continuance of overgrown constituencies like the West Hiding , South Lancashire , or the county of Cork . It is palpably impracticable for any man , however diligent and faithful , to discharge one fourtli of tho duties which , as representative , he has undertaken ¦ when elected by such communities .

    The mere correspondence incident to such a position would consume the time and wear down the spirit of any man capable of conducting it as it ought to be conducted by tlie representative guardian of so many interests , and representative exponent of so many opinions . The absolute impossibility of performing the duty aright loads to its practical abnegation , save in particular eases . The largo constituenoies are obliged to put up with such a species of representation as they can get : they are not satisfied , but they cannot help themselves . We have named somo of the inordinately large counties , but there are still moro numerous instances of excessively numerous borough constituencies . And

    hero tho evil is in many respects still worse . Tho inhabitants of a particular distriot of tho West Riding , failing to secure the undivided attention of their county members , seek tho subsidiary aid of the representatives of the next borough situated within its confines . But no such alternative oxists in case of need for a particular section or class in Glasgow or Manchester , Marylebono or tho Tower jtlamlets . Wo should bo sorry to bo misunderstood as using theso names in any other aonso than that of illustration , ' Wo aro confident , howovor , that tho honourable gentlemen who sit for tho plaoos wo have named , will bo ready to agroo with us that . their burden is greater than they can bear . Woro any of them ooxoomb or crazy enough to deny it ,

    • posterously small electorates . Among the many anomalies in our present electoral system with which the framers of the forthcoming Reform Bill will have to deal , none more imperatively calls for impartial care than that which consists in the excessive disproportion in the size of various constituencies . There are in Great Britain sixty-two boroughs which do not contain five hundred electors ; and there are in Ireland twenty-three which do not possess that number . Oil the other hand , there are in the United Kingdom seventy-four counties and cities , each of which has a nominal

    ¦ constituency of upwards of five thousand . We purposely avoid discriminating between town and country , because we are altogether opposed to the retention , of opposite rules for the two great divisions of the community : and we purposely deal -with the facts presented by different parts of the ' United Kingdom without any distinction or reservation , because we have always held that there -ought to be but one Bill for England , Ireland , and Scotland , and that all three should be treated in the same spirit , and made to feel in future that they are governed by the same law . We are well aware that dn both shall the cavils of the

    respects we provoke icd-tapists of every school . The precedent of 1832 'will be quoted by narrow-minded Whigs for the couitinuancc of the existing distinction between counties and towns j and we shall be warned , no doubt , 4 > y all manner of confidential nods and winks , that io apply the same rule to merchants and farmers , " tradesmen and graziers , would give a certain advantage to the Conservatives as a party over the Liberals . But we say at once that we cannot , for ¦ our part , recognise any such considerations . The new Bill , if it be good for anything , must be a great act of national justice . It is proposed at a time

    t Tvhen party heats have subsided , and men are disposed on all hands to forget past strifes . To reopen such conflicts when undertaking a great act of ( national resettlement might serve the purposes of aristocratic faction , but it could only tend to balk -the aims which the people at large have in view . They will have none of it . There is no honest reason why the same holding , whether house or dand , in a country village , should not confer the same franchise as it would have done in a borough . . And let ua own frankly that we think it will need

    till tho popular feeling and sympathy of country as well as or town to win any extension of suffrage in ( either that would be worth asking for . It may be also that inveterate prejudice will prompt a certain section of Tories to seek the retention of hateful distinctions betwoon opposite sides of the channel ; but we have not now to make up our minds as to the folly and wickedness of legislating against race or creed ; and the history of what took place in 1832 , when the samo thing was . voted by tho samo won to be black in England and white in Ireland , ' ris . too fresh in men ' s memories to permit the same (¦ sy stem of blundering and injustioo to be tolerated Again . Having said thus muoli , lot us now reour to . the figures above stated .

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    FOREIGN POLICY OF NAPOLEON III . Want of confidence in the intentions of " our Great . Ally , " ' Lord ' Palm erstou . loved to call the present ruler of France , is fast becoming a " public secret . " The moneyed interest -having too-much to lose by openly confessing the possibility of disturbance iii Europe , continues stoutly to tk'iiy it ; lnifc talk to any man of profound knowledge or quick discernment of political facts , and lie will tacitly , if

    not audibly , assert in a . whisper that several things ' have occurred within the last few . months for which he cannot satisfactorily account upon the . sUind-alensc theory of international relations . The partisans of the late administration cling to the bcUcf that Louis Napoleon is the great annclidc of European peace , as well as of social order ; and having victimised themselves to maintain an interrupted confidence between the two Governments , they are terribly afraid of his turning out after all to have been a stealthy enemy of the old stalm quo . So Lord Clarendon anxiously pays his court to M . Walewski , and Lord Palmers-ton gives out that he made up his quarrel with that functionary during his recent visit to Paris ; but the French Minister uses no such terms . of endearment , although civilities are kept up . When the present Cabinet was formed , one of its chief boasts and recommendations was , that as Lord Derby had been the first English , statesman to flatter and' cxJol . ' apolcbn III ., and as Lord Malmesbury wasknovE to have enioyed his personal intimacy while resident in

    this country , the accession-of the lories to power must lend * to draw closer the bonds of friendship and confidence alreading subsisting . Bui ji is no longer permitted us to believe that sucli ^ confidence : really exists . Government men and Government journals are accustomed to swear hard ; and we do not , in fact , expect them to confess their suspicions and anxieties . But it needs very little penetration to discover that their councils , as far us France is concerned , begin to be darkened wil'h distrust . The fact that the Donauwerth and Austrrlitz were actually on their way to Lisbon before thu slightest and that

    intimation was given Io our- Government , the circumstance was first communicated to our Foreign Ollice , as matter rather of surmise than certainty , by an English Consul , is unqm-bi i'onablc , It was only on explanations being dcninmlcd that M . Walewski condescended to inform our Forcism Office of the object , of their mission . Nobody will contend that in thus successfully endeavouring to steal a march upon us , the Imperial Government violated any pact ,, or gave us any cause formally to complain . ' But alienation between friends and allies seldom commences in that way . ! ' ¦ is the conviction mutually created , of separate councils and secret purposes that contains the germ ot MIMM WWV 4 AWV l / V **| VW «» # wt »* «*»•**• •* ,- * , * - —» .-..- — -. ^ . oovenimletf

    ultimate estrangement . Portugal , as the ally of England , was known to posses * an abso ? lute right to oall , whenever threatened , lor the presence of our ileot : the object , t herclbre , could not , luivo been war . Too palpably tho purpose wi * . by a sudden demonstration of naval force in tho l « ff us » at a moment when it was well known no JiriUsu ships were there , to obtain better terms trom 1 no Portugucso Government than could otherwise be obtained , and then to boast in Ibo face ol Europe that England had failed to sustain the piviensioite of her " ancient ally . " Tho prompt ai > i > ouruiicc oi our ships of war under the palace of the NcccsMiliiciCb may have the effect , it is true , of balking Ilic-ir « c ' siirus : but very littlo increased lovo is like to come

    ol that achievement . Throughout tho Lovant French emissaries me everywhere busily at work ingratiating themselves , under various specious pretexts of cdupiiuo'n , oharity , or trade , with tho Latin and Armenia Christians . No one knows precisely how or wncii the resources nro supplied for carrying on w system of embracery . That it is earned on . However , to a marvellous cxtont , ovcry one wlip u «»

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    -1 QA THE LEADER . [ No . 448 , October 23 , 1858 . I HoU ¦ . . - - ¦ . .. . ' ¦¦ ' ' ~~~ - ' ' - ' ' - ¦ m

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 23, 1858, page 1130, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2265/page/18/