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    r.-n-nTT/axrrrca -Anre * W» cTT-nTnure.J±UU(*±11S, ±AL1S, AJMD SUGGESTIONS

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    dealers before it reaches him . A similar fact is true of the shilling duty on corn . All these duties , too , put money into the pockets of landowners by 2-ais ' the price of these articles , as well as into the Treasury . From every pound of the poor man ' s sugar / tea , and tobacco , the law is the means of taking a large pinch or a handful before he gets it . Out of a revenue of 68 , 000 , 000 / . in 1857-8 , 41 , 000 , 000 / ., or nearly two-thirds , were obtained by customs and excise duties . On the poor the bulk of these duties were levied , and were enhanced to them by the dealers advancing the duties to the Government and recovering them with a profit from their custbmers . By this process taxation very generally adds to the wealth of the rich , and falls exclusirely on the poor .

    ... . . , . In truth—as the history of the people since the beginning of the war in 1793 has proved—to impoverish the multitude is the necessary consequence of all such taxation . It deprives them of enjoyment , and it increases the enjoyment of the upper and opulent classes , who in the main are the recipients of taxation . It can excite no surprise , therefore , that gentlemen like Mr . Drummond , who have a thorough and uneasy consciousness of the real working of the system , should be alarmed for their property and position by the proposal to give all classes equal political power . Ii their property

    and position be not founded on taxes and duties , which bv taking away the property of the poor shorten " their lives , the things are so mingled together that the multitude cannot distinguish between them . It is said , indeed , by the worst enemies of property and the promoters of social revolution , that the law which starves the people is the source of all property . If the multitude be hostile to property it is because they are taught by same very great men that it is founded on duties and taxes . These subjects now take a deep hold of the public mind , and they are treated of even in the Household Words , though the writers there direct contempt and indignation against " trading in fetters" in France , not against the laws which in England increase disease aud shorten life .

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    BIOGRAPHIES OF GERMAN PRINCES . Xo . V . GEORGE V . KING OF HAXOVER . Although the dynasty of Hanover was , in days gone by , selected " to fill that throne which is considered the Constitutional throne / w excellence , its members at home , in Germany , give but very little evidence of ' any absorbing love for Constitutionalist principles . Both the old King , who died a few years since , and his son , the present sovereign , are but sorry specimens of liberal rulers . They are more distinguished by the oilVhand manner in which they have viglated the laws of their country than for any extraordinary amount of fidelity towards them . BotLfather and son have had their coups d ML Ernelft Augustus , the former king , overthrew , in 1833 , the fundamental law of Hanover with a nonchalance exhibiting little ol' those constitutional scruples which arc fondlv supposed to characterise English princes , lie was , it iwiht be remembered , au English prince . OJv education , as well as by language , he liiul more alliniiy to the Lnghshmau than to the Gcrnmn ; ami , iu fact , waiv er able to sueak ' Gorman properly . Wlion Dukeol Oumtocihindhe enviable notoriety m t w

    , acquired no very UiilU , lie acquu'cu no very cuvnwn . .. ""• - , > . country by his ultra-Tory principles , and his acute enmity to all liberal ideas . , . . Once on his own lands iu his Gorman Pnneipality , and this enmity speedily asMumnl t | ic cimi . tteroV arbitrary violence . Tho restraints upoi >» despotic tendencies were there , <> l course , luueu weaker than they hud been iu Euglaml , niul con * - quently , as they relaxed , bis real linmim's <™ " themselves with astonishing rapidity . Jio " •' solved the Hanoverian Chambers ; troil the Co su tution under foul ; drove out . of the emmjry U ° J who protested against , the violation ol ngli , »« altogether playocUho approved part ol nu u « " » J tratocl tvrani . luvuin were roi uonsLrnnros »« diewtu ol i

    to him from tlio most cmiiiL-nL mrii J «« » V _ In vain did the towns of liU k' » KVlllll ' //" . '/ Sn tratcs , the professors of the Uuivor .-iii . v ol Goiti •» <* , ' in short , nil commonly known ns . tht '" ^ P * ; J classes , " join thu people in tlioir indignant » I I ' - King Ernest Augustus enrriuil bis will bv v | i ( j constitutional muans of urmoU force . J" " o j ovonponinlo to exile those . cliaUiitfuishoU J : science , Gervinus , Duhlmnnn , th" 1 ° . ! f ,,. li story Albroolifc , and others , Who arc fumed m * , , * * - tlio of tho imrlinmcntury struiygl « 8 ol J . oriiuuu » j , Ia Seven of Gottingon . " For yc .-n .-a ho conl . nuo arbitrary rule , though the chwiflooiion o * t io 1 lutlpn rose to such un extent that lorn long u »»

    R.-N-Ntt/Axrrrca -Anre * W» Ctt-Ntnure.J±Uu(*±11s, ±Al1s, Ajmd Suggestions

    stituency that are afraid of mot being , allowed to vote as they like , to come forward beforehand , publicly , and say so , and call upon the returning officer to hold " the next election by way of ballot . It can hardly be necessary to tell any one who lias ever had muph to do with contested elections , that this is a barefaced attempt at imposture . It is precisely in those places where a check on bullying and terrorismis most ^^^^^^^^^^^ m -i . i . i 1 .

    and espionage , tyranny , required , that this deceptive remedy could never be had recourse to . Birmingham and GlasgoWj Southward and Marylebone , whose people vote just as they like , might pass resolutions m favour of optional ballot , and would in all probability find that they were neither the better nor the worse for it . But which of the small boroughs which t ime out of mind have been hotlv contested , would be able to get two-thirds or

    three-fourths of their voters to come forward and say in the teeth of the combined powers of local intimidation , that they had hitherto feared and now wished to defy them ? The whole power of the screw would be set in motion forthwith to thwart such a beginning of mutiny ; and once it had failed , the attempt would never be made again . There are another class of cases in which , perhaps , a different course might be pursued with equally sinister views ; we mean those small and corrupt boroughs to which we have always felt the ballot to be inapplicable . In these it might possibly be

    adopted for the very purpose ot lending the screen of sdcrecy to malpractices . Sooner or later the fact woultl come out , and then we should of course be told that the much vaunted remedy of silent voting had signally failed , and that we had better retrace oar steps . If the new bill leaves any constituency under eight hundred or a thousand voters standing , we should look with great misgiving as to the working of the ballot therein , unless it were accompanied' by some better machinery than any we have yet seen tried for the taking of votes in the aggregate instead of separate divisions , or of preventing the numerical result of the poll in each ward or division being subsequently known . Take

    an example . The borough of Rotten-ham , containing now three hundred and fifty voters , is put into Schedule A . Instead of total disfranchisement Ministers will perhaps propose that the neighbouring market towns of Corn-wich and Wool-stow , with about ai many electors each , and the contiguous watering-place of Flunkey-ville , with about as many more , be grouped together . A constituency will thus be formed of some fourteen or fifteen hundred voters : and if they , or two-thirds of them , choose to vote by ballot , why not let them have their way . But if the lour separate towns we have named continue to vote , and to have . the net result of their voting told and

    re-THOT OHTS , FACTS , AND SUGGESTIONS oar PARLIAMENTARY REFORM . JSo . V . Next in importance to the extension of the suffrage would be an improvement in the mode of voting . The intolerable hardships connected with the present system are incontestable ; and the only \ vonder is that they have been so long and so paftontly borne . The explanation must be sought for in the fact , that their operation is to . a great extent casual and partial , and , what is still more to the purpose , that those chiefly are affected who are in general afraid to complain . It is the tradesman whose credit is tottering or the tenant whose Tent is in arrear , or the employe wlioso retention of his post is uncertain , that writhes beneath the dictational bequest , or the significant hint of the man who exercises an unrighteous power over him . But just because he is intimidated by iro

    such influence , he 13 incapacitated , m denouncing it . If he could tell what he has endured , public opinion would act , to a certain extent at least , and the evil would be mitigated if not brought to an end . But inexact proportion as the oppressor feels that he may venture to be ruthless , the oppressed feels that he dare not reclaim . It is the story of . the usurer and Era commercial victim over againthe weaker the one the more cruelly exacting the other , and the more iniquitous the transaction the less chance of anything being said about it . Our thorough-bred hypocrites of all parties among politicians know this well ; yet with smooth brow and languid lip they profess their belief that intimidation ia an ovil much exaggerated , because they have very rarely specific instances mentioned . There are many diseases of the most lamentable kind , of which few of us can say that we have had personal knowledge j but ia that a reason for denying tlieir existence or trifling with the moans of precaution and prevention P Various quack remedies have from tune to time . been proposod for the mischief in question . There are many people who have a sort ol half belief in its reality , and who would bo willing to resort to half a cure . Tims there are advocates for what is called " optional ballot , " that is , for allowing any

    ooucorded separately , it needs no -uncommon shrewdness to guess what would probably happen . The votes of one half of the electors in each would be known as certainly as they were before ; a fourth would not vote at all , either from choice or the fear of incurring suspicion ; and the remaining contingent would be easily dealt with in a variety of ways . Many of them would , as now , be bought . They could not , indeed , then , as now , be made amenable to the law , but they could and would , just as easily as now , be detected if they had played false to their honourable or right honourable purchasers : and in the main wo btrlicvc that they would not play false . In a word , the

    agents of corruption would know almost to a nicety how many votes were wanting in each of the four little joint-stock boroughs ; and under the cover oj a system such as we liavc described , they would with impunity pursue their nefarious trade If we arc to have grouping of boroughs , or what amounts to nearly the same tiling , largo towns with a number of separato polling districts , it will be indispensable , whenever the ballot is tried , to have the whole ot the votes brought to one spot , and there thoroughly mingled before they arc counted or any announcement made of tho result . . . . .

    Another and still more insidious scheme is that which is usuallv termed the Plan of Voting Papers . It is ono which " is known to have many defenders among the present Administration , and not a fow advocutps among Whigs of the Grey and ISbrington school . Its aim is oonfossedly to put an end to all pressure from without , while it loaves untouohed tho pressure from within ; and to destroy the m . fluonoa of popular sympathy nnd opinion upon tho oleotornl body , while it loaves uncontrolled , tho silent torrorisn > exoroisod by those who ohoso to abuse the powers of position and property . In a

    Parliament constituted like the present ; there is fiii more danger of such a scheme beincr seriouslv \ v tempted , than that of the ballot ., even in its on tional shape . It is most desirable , therefore thaf its bollowncss should be thoroughly understood and exposed ; and a separate examination of its naturp and tendency will therefore be given iu our next chapter Meanwhile , let it be candidly considere d whether the ballot oughtnot to T »_ .-l * ' i . . 1 * 1 . 1 1 ' ' l 1 , ^^ ^^^^^^ "" ™*^* i ^ i ^^

    , be treated as a corollary to household or ratepaying suflVa . o-e , rather than as an alternative or substantive good to be placed before men's eyes . It is vain to deny that without a great extension of the franchise the ballot would be viewed with hostility rather thau favour by a great portion of the community . We do not allude here to those sections of the wealthy and educated-sections of society who in . stinctively prefer oral voting , because they have "

    never felt its inconveniences . We allude to the feeling which we know to be widely and deeply spread among the working classes , ' and against which it were hopeless to contend . What they say is this—Let us inside before you shut the door . " We have no objection to silent and orderly votin » provided we get leave to vote ; but so long as you 10 / . householders call yourselves trustees for us , and say that you vote in our name as well as vour

    own , we have a right to know what you do . It is not easy to answer this , and we ' had ' a great deal rather not hear the controversy opened . We are quite convinced , that without a cordial and genial co-operation between the . various great , sections of the industrious community , nothing worth much will be extorted from the privileged orders in the shape of Reform , Until a great extension of franchise is gained , it would i > c very diliicult to secure for the ballot a fair trial . Once the

    franchise is broadly extended , the concession of the ballot will become inevitable , and its practical success will then be sure .

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    3 L 356 T H EX . E A D E B . [ No . 455 , December 11 , 1858 . m " - - ¦ ' ¦ ' ¦ -. - ^—¦ —^^—^^—^—^^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ~

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 11, 1858, page 1356, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2272/page/20/