The Welshman

THE EUROPEAN REACTION. The last echoes of the great European convulsion of 1848 are fast dying away, and the empire of Common Sense is beginning to reassert itself. Panic is no lunger in possession of the minds of kings, rulers, and aristocra- cies; the steady industrious clanes-bankers, merchants, traders, and professional nien-have ceased to be afraid of Socialism, Communism, Red Republicanism, and all the other gaunt and gloomy spectre that started from the gutters of Paris ten years ago. In the reaction that took place against the theories and the theorists of that day, physical force and standing armies became arbiters of the destinies of Europe. The tide of advancing eivilisation wila temporarily stemmed. The sword and the gibbet resumed their ancient power, as the enimies of. free opinion Throughout the greater part of the Old World the print- iog-prena became idle, except for the dissemination of theology and metaphysics in some countries of infamous novels and Dames aux Cantellias in others; and of the ukases and decrees of arbitrary power in all. England and the United S'ates alone retained the sacred fire of freedom, and kept it burning upon the altar of the people. Monarchs favourably disposed to the consiritutional liberty of their subjects hesitated, doubted, and finally denied the doctrine. Despots become more despotic; and the most illustrious of the Continental nations—the fierce passions of whose democracy had applied the match to the com- bustibility of Europe-took refuge in its terror in the strong arm, and stronger will, of a military Dictator, and hated the very name of that Liberty which it had once so fondly adorned. Even in Great Britain where, there had been a cry, more or less urgent, for organic re- foims in the Constitution, people who considered themselves to be reformers, and who were scandalised at many abuses both in the Government and in the Legislature, held back in alarm, and lost their faith in fine-sounding doctrines of political regeneration, which, carried out to their full extent in France, had produced anarchy, chil war, and re regres- sion into a despotism, which was almost Asiatic in its stringency and barbarity. But all the mist and dust have blown over; the air has been cleared of the smoke of conflict, reaction has followed upon reaction, and Sove- reigns as well as people once again look with calmness upon their mutual position, confess that they have been unduly frightened, and debate the means for a more rational a dministration of their affairs than can be fonnd in military force or legil terrorism. The new Emperor of Russia, while still pursing his hereditary and justifiable policy of making Russia a great military and maritime power, has declared by his acts no less than by his words that the emancipation of the serfs and the total abolition of serfdom is the principal object of his reign; without the accomplishment of which, II an essential preliminary, he will be unable to raise Russia to the rank she ought to hold in the councils of Civilisation. The Emperor of Austria, having accepted from the insur- rectionists of 1848-49 the abolition of feudal and aristocra- tic privilege, has acted towards his German subjects as if he believed them to be a sensible people, having rights as sacred as his own. If he have not so acted towards Hungary and Italy, it is-because he still, regards them, under the influence of the panic of 1848, and would rather rule those nationalities with a rod of iron than consent to the dismemberment of his empire. Prussia, under the government of the Regency, is faiily freed from the un- worthy policy to which the extreme timidity of the King induced him to adhere, though his better nature prompted, but always in vain, the adoption of a more generous and enlightened system. The Emperor of the French stands alone among the great Potentates of Europe as the repre- sentative of the Reaction which tripped up the heels of too-confident Liberty, or of that brazenfaced Anarchy which masqueraded in Liberty's disguise and played such gory antics in the sireets of Paris. Yet even lie, who prose- cutes the most eloquent and brilliant of French writers and statesmen for during too boldly to praise English insti- tutions at the expense of those of France, and who cannot tolerate the free expression of thought in his own domi- nions, is, nevertheless, swayed by the public opinion of England to such an extent as to be ashamed out of the proposed revix.1 of the slave trade, by the denunciation of the English press. Tbe only Sovereign in Europe who is wholly uninfluenced by the more enlightened ideas which have succeeded the stormy period of what may be called the Red Revolutions of 1848 is the King of Naples. The last and worst of the Bourbons is still gloomy, sullen, and unyielding; still a bigot for the doctrine of the" Divine right of kings to govern wrong and still the gaoler and the eiejuiioner of his people. But it is in Great Britain that the reaction is most com- plete. A few years ago many liberal-minded people would hear nothing of reform in Parliament. When the word was mentioned they turned away in apathy or distrust, and, if they condescended to speak upon the subject, in- quired with patronising wisdom whether a greater number of members for London or Manchester, the disfranchisement of small boroughs, and a large extension of the suff age, would give us better Parliaments than we now possess, or in any degree extend the real liberties of the people? Others went even further, and asserted that organic re- forms would lead to such catastrophes as, in the case of the French, had astonished and convulsed the world. These timid politicians have lately taken heart of grace," and look upon the Reform question without fear or prej u- dice. They admit some amount of Reform to be necessary, and share the opinions of the most sagacious politicians that a time when the country is not passionately stirred, as it was in the days of Earl Grey and the first Refotm Bill, is the proper occasion for that just and equitable revision which shall consolidate the edifice of Freedom, and run no risk of undermining its foundations. We say nothing of Mr. Bright's project, for we do not know, nor perhaps does he know himself what form, if any, it will ultimately assume. We say nothing of Lord John Russell's though we believe it will be found or made adequate to the n- pectations of the country. We say nothing of Lord Derby's and Mr. Disraeli'*—for, how can we ? Those eminent per- sons have either not yet made up their minds, or, having sketched or matured a plan, have kept it to the secrecy of their own bosoms. But to this much, even in total igno- rance, all men of sense will agree:—The Parliament of Great Britain, debating in 1859 upon one or two more projects of amending the representation of the people; for giving intelligence a greater share in the government of the country than the present system allows; for securing to property, as well as to numbers, au adequate portion of the privilege and responsibility of empire and making such an adjustment as will satisfy the reasonable wishes of the existing generation, and of that which is just entering into the active duties of life, will offer to the world a noble spectacle and example. Liberties won by the sword, and extorted from unwilling power at the gun muzzle and the bayonet point, the bloody conflicts of the streets, have in recent times been liberties of little permanence and worth. But liberties supported or opposed by reason in the arena of a deliberative assembly are plants of hardier growth. Great Britain has taught the world many things which it is for the advantage of the world to know, but the lellson she promises to teach by her second Reform Bill will be the most valuable of all. There will be no array of a jealous democracy against a haughty aristocracy—no class marshalled vindictively against another-no Birmingham Union threatening to march upon London, like an invading army-no firing of noblemen's castles-and no stoning of great statesmen or great warriors in the highways of the capital; but a discussion of the whole subject in a manner consistent with the dignity and intelligence of the country. France gave the whole world a move in the wrong direction in 1848. May it be the fortune of Great Britain to give it an impetus in the right direction in the happier year of F i (ty- nine. -Illustrated London News. THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF INDIAN DISAFFECTION. No true statesman can read the document which has ociy trom w i ■ pubHshed as a political manifesto by the King of Delhi in August, 1857, without seeing at a glance that it sheds more light on the chronic disaffection of the North-West of India than any account English or native, which has yet reached us. The key-note of the statement of grievances contained in this paper is distinct enough it is this, that the highest eminences of social position in every class of natives—whether that of the landowners, the civil servants, the soldiers, or the artisans-have been permanently lowered, or altogether removed, by English rule. The great prixes, the social ambitions of all classes, have been suppressed. The valleys" may have been exalted, but they consisted chiefly of classes too ignorant or too inert to understand or prize the change; while the mountains and bills" which have unquestionably been laid low, represent sections of Indian society important enough and self- confident enough to have an opinion and a voice of their own. It is an incontestable truth, that in all Oriental and in many Western States, there are classes much too little advanced to appreciate, or return by fidelity and gratitude, the protection of the Government. They follow their old leaders, even though the old leaders be their worst tyrants. And a system which alarms and alienates the leaders is sure to place the followers in the hostile ranks, even though it be expressly adopted for their benefit, and operate to increase their independence and prosperity. The ascendancy of the English Government in India, quite apart from the principles it adopted, necessarily tended to place the highest prizes of life out of the reach of the native aristocracy. Of course the posts of highest trust both in the army and the state were reserved for the European rulers, and native gentlemen of rank did not choose to compete for such posts as were still within their reach. This alone deprived life among the higher classes of the natives of that zest, spring, and elasticity which is given by the mere possibility of climbing higher. The proclamation of the King of Delhi puts this with great emphasis and force. It is not a secret thing," it says, that under the British Government natives employed in the eivil and military service have little respect, low pay, and no manner of influence, and all the posts of dignity and emolument in both the departments are exclusively bestowed upon Englishmen; for natives in the military service, after having devoted the greater part of their lives, attain to the post of Subadar, the very height of their hopes, with a salary of 60 or 70 rupees per mensem; and those in the civil service attain the post of SudJer Ala, with a salary of 500 rupees per mensem, but no influence, jagheer, or present." Now this feeling of an absolutely bounded horizon for the ambition of the higher classes, of absolute exclusion from all the most honourable functions of Go- vernment, hal t"ld, we doubt not, both more powerfully and more really prejudicially on native society in India than Englishmen are in general at all willing to allow. We do not believe it balances in any way the benefits of British rule. But we are sure it is a very great evil which neces- sarily attends all foreign administrations, and which needs the make-weight of an impartiality of rule, and a firmly- preserved social tranquility otherwise unattainable, to compensate the evil it produces. It is, indeed, very analogous in its evil influence to the caste-rules which already afflict the native society of our Indian Empire. Just as the most pernicious influence of that caste-system is that it benumbs hope in the lower castes, and does far mare harm in shutting out all prospect of a rise into higher circles than even in actually preventing that rise itself,- so the monopoly of the higher posts of Government in the hand s of a foreign race has done more harm by benumbing the hopefulness and honourable ambition of the higher classes, than by actually preventing their rise to power. But, as the Delhi proclamation takes great care to point out, the limit set to the hopes and ambitions of the higher classes among the native population have been narrowed, not only by the political monopoly resulting from British ascendancy, but also indirectly in other ways, through the general policy which has found favour with the Govern. ment. For example, in the section regarding artisans," the Mussulman manifesto not unnaturally raises the familiar cry of protection for native industry. "It is evident," it says, that the Europeans, by the introduction of English articles into India, have thrown the weavers, the cotton- dressers, the carpenters, the blacksmiths, and the shoe- makers, Ac., out of employ, and have engrossed their occu pations so that every description of native artisan has been reduced to beggary. But under the Badshahi Government the native artisans will exclusively be employed in the service of the King, the Rajahs, and the rich"—a passage on which the able Calcutta correspondent of the Times makes the following comment:—" The artisans have pros- pered wonderfully under our rule, and everywhere they are turning their mud-huts into little brick houses. Still it is a curious fact that the wrongs of the artisans are a grand topic of native declamation. The mass are better off as a mass, but they have lost the great prizes of life. All the manufactures requiring the highest order of skilled labour, the fine work in gold and silver and steel, and mosaics and silk and muslin, have perished, or are perishing out of the land. I doubt if there are ten men left who can inlay i v ory. The highest order of architects are gone also, for the British Government builds only ugly structures of brick, and as to the men who make damascened arms, Sheffield and Manchester have eaten them up, The loss 01 the great prizes is felt by thousands who wotyld never have gained them, and coupled with the immovable belief in protection, adds greatly to the discontent. No native can see why European goods' should not be prohibited." Here, then, again, we seethe less happy side of the influence exercised by the higher civilisation of the governing English on the Hindoos. It develops the resources of llindostan, and opens up a livelihood to thousands of artisans who might otherwise have never found employ. ment, but it also throws down those shinning pinnacles of possible success, which, though really unattainable by almost all, inspire all with new hope and energy. The competition of the well-trained West is too arduous for them. England motaopolises the great prizes in manu- facture as well as in Government. Again, the same depressing effect has been produced on a yet larger scale and in the case of a more important class, not only through the competition of Englishmen with the less energetic Asiatics, but through the policy we have deliberately adopted in the North-West with regard to land In Lower Bengal, indeed, as a result of Lord Cornwallis's permanent settlement, the class of Zemindars or middlemen have been recognised virtually as the actual proprietors of the land, have compounded with the Govern- ment once tor all for the land tax, have been permitted to arrange their own terms with the actual cultivators of the soil, and to gain, therefore, all the social influence, legiti- mate ot otherwise, which that position, especially in an Oriental country, involves. But in the Narth-West, where the revolt has been so serious, the pretensions of the contractors for the land-tax, or Talookdars, have been curbed, and their frequently usurped power pared down, and the traditional rights of the peasants supported. The actual cultivators of the soil have been taught to look to the officers of the British Government, instead of to the native Talookdars, as the arbiters of their destiny, and thus the growth of a social aristocracy has been checked. Beside's this, even in the Lower Provinces, we have encouraged the ryots and the lower classes to resist the exertions of the Zemindars, or landowners, and the result has been a great loss of prestige an I influence. "It is evident," says the Delhi proclamation, that the British Government have disgraced and ruined Zemindars by putting up their estates to public auction for arrears of rent, insomuch that on the institution of a suit by a common ryot, a maid-servant, or a slave, the respectable Zemindars are summoned in court, arrested, put in gaol, and disgraced. Under the Badshabi, on the contrary, the dignity and honour of the Zemindars will be safe, and every Zemindar will have absolute rule in his own Ze- mindary. It is a striking testimony to the dense ignOr-\ ance, inertness, and political insignificance of the ryotwar class, that such a promise should be expected to win more support than it would alienate. It is evident that the traditional authority of Zemindar class is as yet far stronger than any sense of political self-interest on the part of their dependents. Now all these facts are of the greatest significance in estimating the value of English rule in India, and the principles by which it should be guided. It is obvious that if we succeed only in reducing society to a dead level, —if we extinguish the nobler ambitions and hopes of the higher classes without inspiring them in the lower,—we shall do only evil. It is, we trust, the great function of British rule to imbue the Hindoo with his first living conception of equal justice,—to teach all castes that there is something which Englishmeu respect more than caste or rank,—a law before which all ranks are equal. But, apart from this firm and steady English justice, we may well push much too far our opposition to that natural growth of social inequalities, that accumulation of social influence in hereditary ranks, which generally marks some period in the development of all powerful States. Though we ought to regulate, we probably ought not to resist this process, as we have lately attempted to resist it. Rather should we welcome every opportunity of breaking the dead level of Eastern Society and of admitting as freely as we may the competition of natives of tried integrity and fidelity for some of those higher political and military prizes which we have hitherto monopolised but too closely in our own hands.-Beonomist. PANIC NOT THE ORDER OF THE DAY. A contemporary, once held to be an organ of Liberal political opinions, but now the volunteer organ of the Derby Ministry, tells us, with an air of authority, that the spirit of anti-reform is awake and busy." What does this mean ? It means that the moderate and sensible part of the community are admirers neither of the Tory Chartist romances of the Chancellor of the Exchequer nor of the American Utopias of Mr. Bright. The spirit of anti-reform that is awake is the spirit which is opposed alike to the Caucasian and the American theory of govern- ment. Mr. Bright and his friends sympathise with the ultra-democrats of the United States, and Mr. Disraeli has openly apologised for the domestic institution. Sensi- ble persons are justified in looking with suspicion upon the nostrums of men who desire to corrupt the British constitution by introducing into it alien and incongruous elements. We are told, because the nation is opposed to these politicians, that "reason and justice being out of the questioh, panic is to be made the order of the day." On the contrary. There i8 no alarm ia the public mind. It listens to eloquent speeches, and reads eloquent leading articles in the same spirit that it listens to a good concert —- Meit. Hath, &to stimulants to mental activity. We are glad to hear the speeches, be- cause they are not only pleasant for the moment, but be- cause they indicate the game about to be played. Mr. Bright Mr. Samuel Morley, and Mr. Hoosen are honest politicians. They tell us straight out that their mission is to destroy the political influence of the aristocracy," and to bring about the sway of mere numbers. We know to what the realisation of their designs would lead, and we are desirous of saving them from the consequences of their own mistaken views. The consequences of unmixed and unbalanced democracy are painfully evident in the United States. There, in spite of what our contemporary says, the best men are excluded from political life, and the phtform and Government are occupied by the loudest talkers and most advanced" representatives of popular passions and prejudices. There democracy has sustained and éxtended slavery and the internal slave trade. There democracy has gone the length of selecting judges for short terms of years. There democracy has invented the practice of sweeping the offices clear of office-holders and re-appointing new ones at every change of Presidency. Thus the administration of justice and conduct of public business are dependent upon the changing humour of the democracy. Are these facts susceptible of disproof? Are they or are they not the product of purely democratic institutions ? The soreness displayed by the Bright politicians at the references made to the working of democracy in the United States is good evidence of the effect the exposition of that democratic system of govern- ment is producing upon the people of this country. Cer- tain men among us want to Americanise our institutions. It is right, therefore, that the fruits of the American institutions should be made manifest. They may suit the American people. As the choice of that people they are entitled to respect. Bat when we are asked to acquiesoe in their practical extension to England, we have a right to describe the results and to deoline the exchange. Other nations have borrowed our principles of govern- ment, and have applied them, some with more or less of success, some with conspicuous failure. We should exa- mine all these imitations, because in them we may fiad examples of what to avoid, at least as often as what to adopt. The French and American constitutions, both resting on the same broad basis, furnish in their opposite extremes illustrations of this kind. What we want is a reform of Parliament upon English principles, made in the spirit of the English constitution That is what we shall get. We have no fear either that Mr. Disraeli will induce us to approximate to France, or Mr. Bright per suade us to approximate to America -Globe.

LORD DERBY AND THE REFORM BILL. I It would be difficult to imagine a Government reduced to a worse dilemma than that of Lord Derby. They are pledged to a measure of Parliamentary Refotm, which they don't bow to deal with, which they theoreticalty oppose in virtue of their Conservative profession, and which they have been intriguing against during seven years, as we lately showed, ia order to embarrass the Liberal party. They are now in power with the pledge of a Reform Bill shamelessly volunteered by them as a condition of office; and no sooner had the late session closed than they tried to wriggle out of the difficulty by throwing the measure upon an eminent Whig statesman. Indeed, the present recess appears likely to be pretty squally divided between two opposite endeavours on the part of Ministers to make head against the coming session For three months, from August to November, the Govern- ment had been endeavouring to wriggle into it. Equally destitute of hopes and of ideas, their unprecedented offer to a prominent Parliamentary opponent was made from the depths of despair and when sardonically told in reply that, if they had no notions of their duty as Government, he was sorry for them, they began to see whether, after all, according to the old saying, necessity might not be the mother of invention. This, then, is the Ministerial problem of the hour. Granting that the necessity may result in the invention, what sort of invention is it to be ? Is it to be a bill, and, if so, what sort of bill ? Or does the Ministerial intellect prefer to rest its chances of prolonged office upon a re- sumption of that nice little scheme of "resolutions" which managed to keep the Ministerial heads above water during the discussion of Indian Reform ? But any one will see that the two things are quite different; and that such a novel method of legislation, though tolerated in respect of Indian Reform, for two special reasons, would be altogether impracticable, for those same reasons, as applied to Parliamentary Reform. In the first place, Indian Reform was altogether an experimental subject. No com- prehensive measure had ever been passed npon it; that of 1784 was mere patchwork, as well as seventy-four years back and the subsequent charters of the Company devised nothing fresh, except in mere matters of detail. To transfer from a company to direct administration by the Crown an Empire eight times more populous than the United Kingdom, an Empire three tin3es more populous than the Russian Empire both in Europe and Asia, was probably the greatest scheme of centralisation ever carried out by any European Government as a single measure. Indian Reform, therefore, was an experimental measure, to be dealt with by experimental means. In the second place, the Derby Government showed themselves by their Bill (No. 2) so strangely destitute of every notion on the subject, that that Bill was commonly said to have been damned" before Mr. Disraeli had resumed the seat which ha had quitted ia order to explain its provisions. there was, of course, another and a far better alternative before the House. There was the India Bill (No. 1) to be resumed. But this could only be done at the expense of a change of Ministry, and a change of Ministry, it was feared, or assumed, or pretended, could only be effected at the cost of a dissolution of Parliament. And though there is the best reason to apprehend that Mr. Disraeli would never face a general election, the certainty of two changes of Ministry within three months, and the chance of two dissolutions of Parliament within twelve months, induced the House of Commons to extend to the Govern- ment of Lord Derby the compassion which Lord John Russell was charitable enough to initiate. The impracti- cability of such a scheme therefore, as applied to Par- liamentary Reform, is obvious enough. The great measure of 1832 was not based by any such elaborate preliminaries A multo fortiori, the supplementary measure of 1859 cannot be. There is nothing original, nothing experi- mental, in its nature. We have as yet, thank goodness, no empirical bill from Ministers to kick out. We have no new-born Cabinet, no new-born Parliament, hanging on the issue. We shall then have an Administration a year old in point of time, and infinitely older in all the sinuqsi- ties of tergiversation. We shall then have a Parliament twice that age, and which the necessity of a fresh dissola- tion, whenever a Reform Bill shall become law, would prevent Lord Dr-rby and Mr. Disraeli from dissolving. No wonder Lord Derby kept his lips so close at thp Mansion House. Indeed, if he hadn't, what a revelation he would have had to make! In the first place, there was the little manoeuvre to shelve the bill, as a Go vernment measure, by showing it off to Lord ———, who, by the way, was there too, and no doubt was only smiling at the harassed Premier. Then there was the seven years' opposition of Lord Derby to the measure, come in what shape it might. Then, again, there was Mr. Bright's bill, looming terrific and undefined in a dark horizon of debate. Last, but not least, there was Mr. Bentinck, a straightforward English gentleman, not less an acute and observant politician, who ill tolerated deceit, who preferred an honest and moderate Liberal to a disin- genuous Conservative; who saw in the Government of the day nothing but the selling of his own party for the Radicals: and in Mr. Disraeli, individually, the imper- sonation of that politically infidelity" of which he had writ so much. Lord Derby is not a Catholic, else he would have counted his beads at the very thought of it. A Scylla here, a Cbarybdis there Scylla and Charybdis everywhere. So Loid Derby subsides into taciturnity again and ten weeks hence, perhaps, we shall have the official programme. In truth, some toleration is due to Lord Derby's Government, as arising out of their own shortcomings on the question of Parliamentary Reform. No Ministry ever yet had to retrace its path by cutting through such a mountain of its own tergiversation Morning lost. THE BETTER REPRESENTATION OF ENGLAND. 1832 AND 1858. We have abstained from taking any active part in the discussion of proposed Reform Bills. On this subject, at least, we have not departed from the position of a tranquil though not unconcerned "Spectator." We have been content to describe the progress of a movement, which, is undoubtedly, of great importance. We have endeavoured simply to mark the height of the mercury rising in the thermometer, within the steam-cloud of the agitation. We now propose to withdraw into a somewhat colder, and (we trust our readers will agree with us) into a somewhat clearer atmosphere. It is true we have not been able to conceal an irrepressible sympathy for those who, with the stuff of mauhood in them, have battled and are battling, at a great social disadvantage, for the attainment of elec- toral rights. But we will not endorse the notion, that in the present position of the country any great change for the better is to be expected from mere mechanical redis- tributions, or shiftings of political privilege., We heartily agree with M. Montalembert, that the questions for Eng- land now are not internal, but external. Les vrais besoins et les vrais perils du pays tie sont plus la ou ona coutume de let chercher. It seems accumulated errors of a long Euro- pean impolicy are too likely to return upon us. It behoves us now to enquire, if we are to speak of Representation, not how this or that constituency, but how England her- self has been represented, and is to be represented for the future. We fear thatour foreign policy,for the last few years, is but a long record of opportunities slighted or misused. Lord Palmerston appears at any rate as the ostensible agent in the lowering of England, by the diminution of her moral influence, to a position not easily distinguished from that of a second-rate Power It is his doing, more than that of any other single man, that England is now dis- liked and inveighed against for veering inconstancy and fickleness, as much as Russia is dreaded for her tyranny. We believe it would have been better to have imitated the United States, and to have abstained altogether from any interference in Europe, than to have interfered so lamely and inconsiderately. And if there be anything worse than simple inconsiderateness, which has marred our European policy, not ours shall be the task to dwell on what is not honourable to the country. Though, indeed, we lay not ill the blame on the shoulders of a particular man. Lord Palmerston is guilty but the nation is not innocent. We the people, have been with him; we ourselves cognisant and consenting. We say d?i.edly, the Nation." Lor let no one lay the faults and shortcoming of late Parliaments and Administra- tions to the charge of the electoral body alone. It were vain for the non-electoral classes to disclaim the possession of political weight and influence as if they were expect- ing powerlessly the enunciation of a new Reform Bill. Is a man not a citizen, until he gets within the precinct of a polling-booth ? The working classes do already possess great political power they know it; they exercised it or else consciously refrained from the exercise. In either case, to theui belongs their share of the responsibility for what has been done well or ill for England, by the hands of her statesmen-representatives. It is because we enter- tain these views, that we do not enter zealously into the Reform movement as popularly expounded that we do not concern ourselves ad infinitum with the claims of rival boroughs, and population pitted against population, or with a new map of England to be ruled on the rectangular pattern. We have no fancy, in truth, to deduce a Reform Bill from the Census-tables. And we feel a strong interest in preserving rather than destroying the time-honoured varieties of our system, which indeed belong to it, not as lichenous excrescences, but as displaying all the beauty and serviceableness of a spontaneous natural growth. We would not surrender these things at the bidding of the men of theory, or in obedience to the absolutism of an idea. And lifting our gaze beyond the circles of local jealousies, or the contentions of large or small boroughs, we would seek to draw attention to the truth, that it is not Birming- ham, or Hull, or Newcastle, but rather it is Britain her- self, tarnished in her fair fame by her authorized and accredited agents, that now needs a truer representation. It is for the great Parliament of Europe and the world that we must learn to choose our spokesmen. If any one denies this truth, we will not enter into matters which may be put aside with that phrase, that very melancholy phrase, so often used to seal the lips of patient independent members, that they are become part of history." The actual pre- sent will suffice us. We are now in a wrong relation with respect to France, and to her Emperor. This difficulty increases day by day the aggressive acts of the Emperor following surely, and not very slowly, upon our own acts of abdictiou. And the longer the solution of this problem is delayed, the more painful will that solution be. This is a question that every borough and every county will have to take note of, whether they like it or no. Of late, as is so well known, a successful blow aimed at Portugal has been considered, and rightly con- sidered, as having fallen upon England. Under these circumstances what is the demeanour of our statesmen and our party-leaders ? Take first the Minister, Lord Derby. We listened to him the other day at the Guildhall; he was still cooing about the French alliance. And Lord Pal- merston at the same moment, tame to the imperial hand, alights at Compiègne biscuit. These are they to whom we trusted to oppose the insult offered to us in the Tagus. We are absolutely tired of declamations against the French Emperor, and Empire, We are tired, in truth, of the rose- pink of our political flatterers, and of the eternal contrast they harp on between France and England. Both nations are depressed sufficiently. It is plain where else it would be more profitable, as well as more becoming, for English- men to be turning their attention to those, namely, who can be reached, at home, by the force of an effectual indig- nation. Is it a matter only of slight importance, that in the mist of a dissolution of our parties, where the English public neither Bees nor hears, nor reaches any ground of confidence, yet no Government can be formed in which Louis Napoleon will not rest implicit confidence. We are speaking of our own Cabinet, of Governments that may be formed in England. Is it to be left to the Peace Party to enrol militia, cast cannon, collect stores, equip moveable batteries, and provide in fact, for public honour and security ? It it they who will recover for England her ascendancy, and place in Europe ? Then the sooner they set about it the better. It is useless to pursue the subject. We surely stand in need of an agency, to render impossible such anti-national proceedings, and to declare once for all Bug laud's meaning with respect to them. But what agency is that to be ? Is it Household Suffrage, or the ballot ? We hope that a Reform measure might conduce to the required result. We cannot affirm it, nor deny it. But at least we must express a doubt, as to the strict adaptation of such means to such an end. It is probable that many persons, impressed with the recent practical failure under the present electoral system, may deem it now desirable to bring up the whole or a part of the reserved forces of the constitution. By extended suf- frage they might seek to rectify, morally, the constitu- encies; which would then rectify Parliament and Parlia- ment, again, the Administration. But how doubtful, hazardous, and circuitous, does this process appear, con- sidered with reference to the imperial end in view It is a chain of probabilities which may be falsified in any link. Besides which, the present constituencies, doing their duty, might as easily rectify the evil. We feel doubtful, we confess, as to the operation of any electoral change for eli- citing the required new type of statesmanship, and com- passing the administration of the empire. It seems too like throwing out a drag-net with the vain phantasy to catch the stays. We doubt, therefore, as to the working of any Reform Bill for giving what the nation needs. Nevertheless, honouring and respecting as we do the earnest and intelli- gent among the workers in towns, as well as among the dwellers in the country, we should be sorry to look un- favourably on any scheme for enduing these with the pre. sent enjoyment of that franchise, which is undoubtedly their heritage in time to come. But we are at a loss to conceive from what quarter such a scheme will be pro- duced. It would be hard, in fact, to imagine one. Univer- sal suffrage would be a risk, a hazardous unsettlement, to which no serious thinker can easily make up his mind. The present line of demarcation, is, on many grounds, unsatisfactory. What line of demarcation should be drawn ? Those who find this problem insoluble may fall back m the reflection that the question of suffrage is, after all, not the ?resdin? question of the time. We have aheady traveled Mr. ri ght's claim to be comidered M tht statesman of the future. We now add our strong and imimate conviction that the question he represents, in spite of the importance which is inherent in it, and of the prominence which will be given it both in Parliament and o-it of doors, is not a question which images the needs of the time. With the Chartists it is continually in season According to them, it is always the hour for widening as much as possible the suffrage. But we will not do our Chartist friends the discourtesy, as well as the manifest injustice, of supposing that they alone of all persons are insensible to state-necessites, indifferent to signs of the times," and incapable of modifying their programme. To them, therefore, as well as to others we would speak. People talk of the unanimity that prevails. Undoubtedly, the movement is regarded with a kind of calm consent. I But it is one thing to consent, another to vehemently de- sire. What, then, is the movement a mere "sham," tlu agitation purely a factitious one ? We should shrink from entertaining that opinion. Doubtless there exists in many quarters a feeling, dim, vague, and undefined, that some great change is needed, and that a new era is setting in. In so few cases, however, is this feeling guided and en- lightened by a true perception of the realities of the new time, that numbers will instinctively revert to the prece- dents of 1832, unroll the Reform Act, and declare that we must now do likewise. Yet it is lost labour to endeavour to resuscitate for 1858 the feelings and the arguments of 1832. Let the difference between the two cases be ob- served. The Reform Bill of 1832 has prospered, because the means were strictly in harmony with the end in view. The means employed were the renewing and quickening of a Legislature the goodly fruit has been gathered, in two great decades of Legislation. But at present, new law-making is not the consummation that we need to wish devoutly. Our purpose, now, should be complete Reform of the Administra- tion. The difficulty settles upon Downing Street. The le- gitimate fruit should be, unless we are entirely mistaken, the development of an Imperial Policy. Here, we observe, the democratic thinkers are manifestly behind the age. Or, certainly, they are aloof from tho age. They are still en- gaged with the old precedents of 1832 and seem seeking to meet a new problem by a mere extension of the old method. If this be so, it may have been quite as much with a previ- sion that nothing could in reality come of it, as out of mere reckless indiscretion in the Conservative mind, that party- leaders have been so forward in promising Reform Bills. In- equalities in the electoral system there must always be; it were useless to attempt uniformity. But it will turn to the advantage of the Derbyite-Palmerstonian sections, and of the used-up" element in general, that the people should be spending time and strength in grasping at a mere shadow. This is not precisely the juncture at which the nation should trouble itself by taking to pieces a representative system. A truer path was entered upon when the motion of Captain Vivian for reform of the Horse Guards was carried. Then it was that the fabric of privilege," which democratic orators talk about, was shaken in the right manner. Let the House go on in this mood, and it need fear the inroad of no demo- cratic Brennus. We are far from wishing to deny that an extension of the suffrage, if a rational scheme can be devised, might work, in- directly, towards the great end we desire. We cannot see that there is any clear difference in political wisdom and vir- tue between the lowest rank of the now enfranchised and the highest of the unenfranchised class. Possiby, indeed, the difference may be found somewhat in favour of the latter. Nor can we attach very great weight to the rather dootrinaire theory, advocated with great ability in the pages of the Eco- nomist and elsewhere, that the influence of cultivated intel- lect should be studiously protected. This view, in fact, is retrogressive for as far as numerical strength is concerned. that element is already made of very small account. The bulk of the present constituencies neither possesses it, nor is sensitively amenable to its influence It is to other and far meaner influences that they most usually succumb. And again, the experience of the last few years, during which the country has been practically under the guidance of its culti- vated classes, is far from being altogether favourable to their claims. Political knowledge may be conjoined with political insensibility and it is of little avail where the will and pur- pose are wanting to direct righteously the affairs of a nation. The utmost that can be said against the working-classes is that they are, electorally, untried whereas wealth, rank, intellect, station, at the present moment have much of their political character to retrieve. The idea of Class-representa- tion, so generally connected with the former, has evidently much to recommend it. But we see little use in dealing with these questions while yet they remain in the impalpa- ble form of theory. On practioal proposals alone is it useful to come to any definite opinion or conclusion. The last few pages of Count Montalembert's most timely article may perhaps open the eyes of many Englishmen as to the true condition of their country. We de not say that his words ought to be taken as infallible. But those who lean on authority ought to notice the faint, and we might say imbecile effort made by the Times on Wednesday to express dissent from his conclusiona. The writer was wishful to re- fute, his better genius prevailed, and he scarcely succeeded in disagreeing. If that article be significant, it is a sign of returning health. It may, perhaps, be taken as a sign, in a quarter where the sign was much needed, although iittle to be expected, that the feverish glow of a too thoughtless na- tional self-complacency is perhaps beginning to abate. At any rate it is instructive to see the Times, that great organ of the popular self-esteem, scarcely able to do more than lisp out a yo"g ladies No, in reply to the clear and measured statemerm of a continental thinker about England. Were there a statesman among us who, sharing the genius and truthful vision of Montalembert, and being ready to share, if necessary, some portion of similar annoyances, would take the impregnable ground of his convictions as a basis for im- mediate action, we should have good hope that much trouble might be averted. At any rate the gift of such a man, whe- therlhe were discoverable in these islands, (which indeed would be our -hiefest desire,) or should come hither from Asia, or from some unheede ? corner of the empire, if such a thing could be, would be a better answer to our real needs than aught our ingenuity could devise, unless indeed rich and poor, learned and ignorant, refined and rude, joining to- gether in resistance, it should be found that the army of prejudice, in the great issue which is impending, was stronger than the army of reason. But unfortunately the war cry of such a combatant is not heard. Else would it be echoed through the length and breadth of Britain. Those who are penetrated with these sentiments will run headlong into no Reform Bill agitation. They will have no programme" to put forward no elaborate theories of any kind, either to defend or to impugn. All conceivable forms of popular agitation will appear to them but trivial, in com- parison with the needs of the time. They may probably be accused of indifference; for indeed there is little that they can do. But events, mcautime, are moving forward events which it behoves the lovers of freedom to await with anxious expectation.-Spectator. THE BISHOP OF LONDON'S CHARGE. I rromany attempt to review the whole of this elaborate and important Address, we are not only restrained by its length, but by the nature of many of the topics discussed, more interesting to the clergy and to clerical circles than to our readers in general. In alluding to the length of the Charge, however, let us not be understood as seriously censuring it on that ground. On the contrary, we con- sider it a very able production, comprehensive, judicious, temperate, and instructive. We could wish that it had been more condensed, but on the other hand we must consider the great variety of the points which forced them- selves upon the Bishop's attention. Being limited to a few of the subjects handled, we select, of course, these to which the public interest has by recent events been more especially directed. After some observa- tions on priestly authority, and cautions againt the disposi- tion of some of the clergy to take exaggerated views of the power of their order-the absolving power in particular- the Bishop of London passed, by a natural transition, to the doctrine of Confession, and luminously and forcibly laid down what we may call the law of the Church of Eng- land upon the subjects. He began by noticing what he called the portentous silence of her formularies, as com- pared with the fulness of the Church of Rome," in treating of systematic confession in itself an irrefragable argu- ment to prove that the mind of our Church is quite against the practices now sought to be introduced." His Lord- ship showed that the slight sanction which the first Prayer- book of Edward VI., in 1549, appeared to give to confession was removedjon the revision in 1662: The Rubric, in the Visitation for the Sick, in the first book, stood thus — Here shall the sick person make a special confession, if he feels his conscience troubled with any weighty matter. After which confession the priest shall absolve him after this form [and the same form of absolution shall be used in all private confessions.]' In the second book the words within brackets, the same form of absolution shall be used in all private con- fessions," are expuuged. And it is important to note that, at the same review, the buok was relieved from another Romish practice in this same service. The Visitation of the Sick, as set forth in 1549, retained a form of extreme unction in 1552 this was expunged, together with the authority for using a form of private confessions." His Lordship might have added that the Prayer-book of 1649 contained other and more curious relics of Popery, as, for instance, the ancient baptismal rite, with the Sacra- ment of Salt," and magical form for exorcizing Satan and other evil spirits. The Reformation among us was not a sudden convulsion, but a deliberate and gradul change, in accordance with the calm and moderate character ol the people of England. 'Twas not the product of a day, But the well-seasoned fruit of wise delay. After a quotation from Hooker's great work, the Bishop called the attention of the clergy to that important passage in the Homily on Repentance which we ourselves, seeing how decisive it was upon the question, some time since; took occasion to lay before our readers. His Lordship then summed up by saying tiu "I feel mysell justified, then, in asserting that as our formularies give no authority for a systematic private con- fession, so a fair-minded student of the Church of Eng- land divines would not rise from a careful perusal of their writings with a conviction that our Church has put forth for its Presbyters those arrogant claims of priestly au- thority which Protestants justly regard as the reproach of the Church of Rome." But," he added, with an earnestness of reproof and warning loudly called for by the recent occurrences that excited and even alarmed this Protectant country, we live in an age given to reckless extremes audi do not hesitate to say that there is great danger lest some of our young clergy especially-and some also who are old enough to know better, often led away by their juniors claim for themselves priestly rignis which are both alien to the whole spirit of our Church's teaching, and have no warrant whatsoever in the word of God. My reverend brethren, it is my firm belief that there is danger amongst us lest a mode of teaching may gain ground which, as it would so exalt the sacraments administered by the clergy as to turn them iuto superstitious charms, would make clergy them- selves spiritual despots over the laity." There does most unquestionably, as his Lordship adds, a serious alarm pervade the public, lest the establishment ot tile Confessional, as a means of priestly influence, may be employed by men covetous of power to gain an influence subversive of the peace of families and the right of indivi- dual conscience. The Bishop may be right in considering the alarm exaggerated; but let this be as it may, he eer. tainly takes the best method of calming ftpptehoUftionSi by declaring, and by his example proving, that the great authorities of the Church are awake and upon their 14uard. The Charge proceeds to draw the line of demarcation broadly between the description of confession which accords with the doctrines and formularies of the Church of Eng- land, and the widely different rite which she renounced, with other Popish errors and corruptions, at the Reforma- tion We who disapprove any approach to the introduction into the Church of England of the confessional, as it is technically called, of course do not forget the injunctions of our Prayer-book, which call upon us all to make public confession of our sins daily, as we approach to receive comfort from hearing the declaration, which the minister is authorized by the rules of the Church to pronounce, of God's willingness to pardon and absolve all those that truly repent and unfeignedly believe His holy Gospel. Neither do we shut our eyes to the fact that, previously to their receiving the holy communion, those persons-who, having tried, find that they cannot by self-examination and con- fession to Almighty God, with full purpose of amendment of life and endeavours after reconciliation with those whom they have oflended, attain to a full trust in God's mercy and quiet their own consciences, but require further comfort or council-are exhorted to seek the aid of some discreet and learned minister of God's word, that they may open their grief, and, having the comfort of being distinctly assured of God's willingness to pardon them, may receive ghostly council and advice, to the quieting of their consciences and avoiding of all scruple and doubtfulness. Neither, again, do we forget further, that the pastor who visits any member of his flock labouring under dan- gerous sickness, if he finds the sick man to be troubled in conscience with any weighty matter, is directed to move him to make special confession of his sins, that, thus opening his heart, he may, if he seems truly penitent, have the coiisola, ion of hearing from his pastor's mouth before he dies that God of his great mercy is ready to pardon him." Widely different, not only in degrees but in kind, is th « confession of the English Church, as authorised in these three cases, from the rites of St. Barnabus and Boyne Hill, which the Bishop goes on to contrast with them as fol- lows: What I do utterly disapprove, and what I feel con- strained most strongly to protest against, is something very different from the common pastoral intercourse which is indicated in the three passages of the Prayer- book I have cited, and which the Church always must uphold. If any clergyman so preaches to his people as to lead them to suppose that the proper and authorised way of a sinner's reconciliation with God is through confession to a priest, and by receiving priestly absolution—if he leads them to believe (I use the illustration I have found employed by an advocate of the confessional) that as the Greek Church has erred by neglecting preaching, and the Church of Rome by not encouraging the reading of the Scriptures, so our Church has hitherto been much to blame for not leading her people more habitually to private auricular confession-if he thus stirs up the imagination of ardent and confiding spirits to have recourse to him as a mediator between their souls and God, and when they come to seek his aid receives them with all the elaborate preparation which is so likely unduly to excite their feelings, and for which there is no authority in the Church's rule of worship-taking them into the vestry of his church, securing the door, putting on the sacred vestments, causing them to kneel before the cross, to address him as their ghostly father—asking a string of questions as to sins of deed, word, and thought, and imposing his penance before he confers absolution- then the man who thus acts, or-even if some of these par- ticular circumstances are wanting—of whose general prac- tice this is no exaggerated picture, Ï3 in my judgment unfaithful to the whole spirit of the Church of which he is a minister. And if it so chance that the person thus brought under his influence be a female, and the questions which he asks, perhaps with the best intentions, but, under such oircumstances, with the most deplorable want of sound discretion-include minute inquiries into sins of impurity, he cannot be surprised if his conduct is condemned as bringing grave scandal on the Church." This is well-spoken, and never were words spoken in better season. But of course, in a matter of this serious- ness, something more than the language of protest is ex- pected from a man in authority, holding one of the highest magistracies in the Church; and that something more Dr. Tait did not fail to add. If," he said, what I deem a dangerous systematic invitation and admission of their people to confession is maintained by any clergyman in this diocese, I shall feel myself bound to watch his proceedings very carefully, and shall hold him responsible for any evils that ensue; considering carefully in each particular case what power the law has given me to correct what is amiss." No pastor can do more than use the power the law arms him with to defend his flock against the wolves. Our apprehension, however, is that a prelate who knows his duty, and is zealous to do it, is not as powerful as he ought to be to restrain and punish evil-doers. Indeed, the Bishop of London himself, in the very act of warning the Liddels and Gresleys, seems to be aware that monition and rebuke are nearly the sum of his authority. If I have ab- stained," he says, 41 hitherto from giving in any Church distinct directions on thii subject, it is because I have received no assurance that my directions are likely to be obeyed." This looks very like a consciousness of deficient powers: but surely a Bishop is useless as regards the most important part of the Churoh-namely, the people-if he has no stronger weapon than remonstrance to protect them against false doctrine and false teachers. The hands of all who are placed in any authority ought to reach as far aa the misdeeds of those who are under them.-Bxamimr.

A GENUIS —The Minnisotian (St Prul M S.) defines a Working Democrat" as a Democrat who can poU the largest number of votes with the fewest men." GBTTING UP IN THE WORLD. The messenger who carries the letters from the post-office, Bangor, to Llau- fairfechan, Aber, and Penmaen-mawr, rides on a velocipede. MADAME DU DEFFAND.-When the celebrated work of Heivetius appeared, several persons blamed him in her presence for having made selfishness the great motive of human Actions. 11 Bah said she, "he has only revealed every one's secret." SOUTHEY ON THE EFFECT OF RHYTHM. Your Mount's Bay,' my dear Davy, disappointed me in its length. I expected more, and wished more, because what there is is good; there is a certain swell, an elevation in the flow of the blank verse, which, I do not know how, produces an eflect like the fullness of an organ-swell upon the feelings. I have felt it from the rhythm of Milton, and sometimes of Akenside, a pleasure wholly independent of that derived from the soul of the poetry, arising from the beauty of the body only. I believe a man who did not understand a word of it would feel pleasure and emotion at hearing such lines read with the tone of a poet.Fraq. mentary Remains of iSir H. Davy. SOUTHEY ON COMBINATION IN WRITING POEMS. If we were near enough to admit of daily intercourse, I should like to undertake the poem with you, because two people, if my opinion be not ill-founded, would necessarily write a better poem than one, their powers of poetry being granted and their similarity of opinion the story should be the work of both, each taking separate parts, each correct the other's and add to it whatever ideas occurred to him. When their stylesi had amalgamated, the work would have double the merit of the single production of either. It is singular that this should only have been done by Beaumont and Fletcher Eavy and vanity have probably prevented others from following it.Ibid. A SPANISH IriN. -Nor at the venta that I rode into at noon the next day, followed by my guide, where the paving-stones were red-hot and the ground dazzling and blinding with the sun. The two rooms of this small inn opened right and left from the courtyard, whose gate I en- tered: the one a kitchen the other a store room. I called for dinner. They had everything but beef mutton, veal and fresh pork. An idiot girl, who watched me as if I was a new sort of cannibal, pointed up at at a ham hang- ing from the rafter, and began to cluck and cack Ie like a hen. I accepted to omen, and called for ham and eggs. A crowd of idle muleteers and vine-dressers gaped and pointed at me. To appear at ease I took off my gloves, smoothed out the fingers, brushed my hat with my arm, looked down at my boots, beating my legs with my riding- whip. All these performances were received with approval. The children grinned, the men smiled at each other, as well as to say, He is very like one of nosotros (of us) after all." The excitement I caused in that little inn was intense. Everything had to be fetched. Everything that I wanted was mal-apropos, un-Spanish, and out of season out of time, and out of place. Water to wash—a dozen red jars knotted with cord, were sent on the head of girls half a-mile off, to the street fountain, were the water was almost boiling. The eggs were to be sought for in the stable-mangers and hay-scented lofts. The ham was to be cut and cooked. As for the melon, I knew from where that came from for the landlord patting on his bat with the air of a resolate and determined traveller,went out for it, and returned after 10 minutes greatly triumphant, with a large speklcd one like a bloated aldermanic lizard in a net. I With what homely and ridiculous affectation of delighted hospitality did he, the crafy Manchegan, instantly cut me a slice, to stay the appetite! As for the idiot, she was chucklingly busy with the eggs; and the hard-featured mother—who every moment pointed with a fork at the fryingpan and then turned round to me and grinned-was fussily blowing up, with a plaited straw firescreen, a smoulder of charcoal that gradually kindled up and grew a lively burning crimson, from a flickering wavy yallQW. At last came the dishing up when at a central rickety deal table I sat down to a basin of poached eggs Boating like golden rafts on a sea of black grease, in which were stand- ed square dark chips, like so many Medras catamarans with all hands lost. Then followed grapes, golden skinned I filled with unadulterated wine of preoiouB powers; then Ij waxy figs, of various sweetness, tasting like a great sweet-meat pudding. Then the melon, marked in groves by nature for the knife, filled with a yeliow nectareous fluid. But I forget the wiae that took at least half-an hour getting because the landlord kept none himself and quarrelled or run in debt with every other landlord for a mile round. But he at last came back, his path marked with perspiration griping the bottle with his hot streaming ha,id, bowed diesv out the stopple of smashed vine leaves and poured him and myself a glass. He drank it, and smacking his lips, with a wink at his wife, as much as to say How I shall stick it on when it comes to the bill ?" proceeded to mop himself all over with a dirty tablecloth lying ready for the Tavandera, or washerwomen. I found the wine o fiery sweet luscious Malaga wine, not unlike brandied raisin. As I went up the creaking loft stairs for a two hours' siesta-for I had to ride on horse back from there over the mouutains-I saw the landlord get down the ink-horn and begin my bill. He had just sanded it when I came down to proceed on my journey. I won't say much about it; but it was the most imagina- tive bill Z ever perused.—Dwfon'i UowMd Wwdf.