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down as the basis of our measure. We found that a sixpound rating frachise would operate to create a great divergence of franchise in boroughs and parts of boroughs. And it was found that in sixteen boroughs about the same number of persons would have been admitted to the suffrage at a six-pound rating franchise as was contemplated by the government. Therefore, by accepting the vote there would have been a breaking-up of the framework of the measure. But besides this, the government had to consider the previous history of the bill, especially with reference to the pledges given from time to time-advisedly and deliberately given -to stand or fall by the measure. That is a pledge which should rarely be given by a government, but it has been given by this government under the deepest conviction of public duty in regard to dealing with the question of reform, and with respect to the character of public men and of parliament. Therefore it was that the life of the administration was attached to the life of the measure they proposed. We have felt a sincere desire to conciliate those who are opposed to reform even at the expense of those who are devoted to it, and we have done so by making the number of those to whom the suffrage was to be extended less than that proposed by the bill of 1860. Therefore it was that we consented to make changes in the procedure on the measure, and we brought in a redistribution bill in deference to the opinion of the House and in opposition to our own. These two provisions were objected to-a clause relating to leaseholds in boroughs and a detail of the county franchise; and they were withdrawn, though the withdrawal of the latter was opposed by a vote of their own supporters. Looking to the rejection of Lord Grosvenor's amendment by a majority of only five; to the success of Sir R. Knightly's instruction ingrafting the subject of bribery and corruption, which was carried against the government by ten; to Captain Hayter's amendment, which was intended to frustrate the bill; to Lord Stanley's motion without notice to take the clauses of the redistribution bill first, which was supported by 280 members; to Mr. Walpole's motion to make the county franchise 207. instead of 141., which was only rejected by fourteen; to Mr. Hunt's motion for making the county franchise a rating franchise, which was negatived by only seven; and to Lord Dunkellin's motion to a like effect as

1866.] A MINISTRY FORMED BY LORD DERBY. 287

to the borough franchise, which was carried by a majority of eleven;-looking, I say, at all this the government found it impossible to carry on the bill, and we had no alternative but a resignation, and a persistence in our resignation.'

Mr. Gladstone said there was no alternative but that of resignation. But there surely was another course open to him and his colleagues, which, though he was silent with respect to it, was much in the minds and apprehensions of his hearers,—the alternative of an appeal to the country by a dissolution of parliament. But this alternative was really excluded by the disunion which prevailed in the cabinet itself, containing as it did members of the old whig party, who had given a reluctant assent to the introduction of the measure, but who shared to some extent the feeling that was entertained against it by the party to which they belonged, and were not therefore prepared to make strong efforts or great sacrifices in order to force the measure forward.

An administration was formed by Lord Derby, of which the following were the principal members constituting the new cabinet:

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While England was engaged in watching these events, a war, short, fierce, and decisive, had been waged between Prussia and Italy on the one hand, and Austria on the other, which raged and swept-by like a tornado, ending in a peace dictated by Prussia; so that parliament, occupied

by the reform question, had hardly time to consider the bearings of the contest on the interests of this country before it was terminated.

It was not till Monday July 9th that Lord Derby had so far overcome the difficulties attendant on the formation of a conservative administration as to be able to make his ministerial announcement in the House of Lords. On that day the gilded chamber of the peers was filled with an illustrious audience, for among those who had come to listen to the opening statement of the new premier were the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh. Lord Derby had lost much of that buoyant and impetuous vigour which in former times obtained for him the title of the Rupert of debate.' His voice, his manner, and his whole bearing proved that age and infirmities were coming on him, and that in taking office he had yielded reluctantly to an overwhelming sense of duty. However, he girded himself up resolutely to the work that was before him, and with great skill and tact made the announcements which his position required him to make. Referring to the reform question, he said that he and his colleagues were entirely free and unpledged on that subject, and that he should be especially observant of an axiom laid down by Earl Russell, that no government should undertake a measure of reform without seeing a fair possibility of being able to carry it; and this he believed could only be done by an understanding and a joint action between the two great political parties in the state. He added, that he did not deny the existence of anomalies in our constitutional system, and that there were many persons who did not possess the franchise that were fairly entitled to it; but he was afraid that those who professed to be most ardent in the cause of reform would not be contented with any measure which was likely to be carried in parliament. He should be glad, however, if any opportunity occurred for passing a safe and satisfactory measure. He promised the earliest attention of the government to the law of bankruptcy, the administration of the poor-law, and the condition of workhouses-a question to which public attention had recently been drawn by a gentleman who, for the sake of obtaining information with regard to it, had disguised himself and passed a night in the casual

1866.]

ATTEMPTED MEETING IN HYDE PARK. 289

ward of one of these establishments amidst the vagrants who happened to tenant it on that occasion.

Under the circumstances in which ministers were placed, their best, indeed their only, course was to wind up the business of parliament as speedily as they could. But this was not effected till the 10th of August, on which day it was prorogued by commission, with the usual formalities.

While ministers were thus engaged, demonstrations were made outside, which probably exercised a considerable influence on the policy that they determined to adopt. The failure of the franchise bill of the late administration made it abundantly evident to those who regarded themselves as unjustly excluded from the franchise, that their claims. would never be conceded by the legislature unless, as in 1832, they took the matter into their own hands, and showed in an unmistakable manner both to friends and foes that they were thoroughly in earnest, and that whatever conservative reaction there might be among the enfranchised classes, it did not extend to those who were denied a share in the election of representatives to the House of Commons. Several associations were formed for the purpose of giving a plain and practical contradiction to the statement industriously circulated that the people were indifferent on this question. The most active and important of these associations was the Reform League, which owed much of its efficiency to the energy of Mr. Beales, a highly respectable barrister, who had been appointed to be its president. This body endeavoured, by holding outdoor meetings and in other ways to agitate in favour of the measure from which it took its name. Unfortunately, as generally happens in such cases, meetings that were composed of peaceable, orderly, well-intentioned persons, who assembled only to press in a constitutional manner a claim which they conceived to be founded on manifest justice, were also attended by a multitude of roughs, pickpockets, and other bad characters, ready to take advantage of the meetings. and to serve their own criminal purposes by creating disorder and confusion. The council of the league thought that one of the most effectual means they could adopt for promoting their own views was to display their numbers and determination to the upper and influential classes by holding a monster meeting in Hyde Park, and Mr. Beales

VOL. III.

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assured his colleagues and associates that this might be done without any violation of the law. On the other hand, the government determined to prevent the proposed meeting from being held. A notice forbidding it was issued, signed by Sir Richard Mayne, the head of the London police. Mr. Walpole, an excellent, accomplished, amiable man, but somewhat deficient in the firmness required in the holder of the office he filled, especially at a crisis like the present, thought, and his colleagues thought with him, that the purposed demonstration was likely to disturb the public peace, and lead to riot and disorder. However, Mr. Beales and his associates conceiving that they had a legal right to hold their meeting in the Park, determined to disregard the notice of the chief commissioner and the prohibition of the government. Accordingly, on the 23d of July numerous processions with bands of music converged on the Marble Arch. The gates had been closed at five o'clock. A large body of police guarded the Park, and an immense. crowd of spectators assembled about the arch to see what would occur. The appearance of the first detachment of the procession was welcomed with loud cheers, showing that the crowd sympathised with the reformers, and a line was at once opened through it, by which Mr. Beales, Colonel Dickson, and other members of the council of the league advanced towards the gate and made a formal demand for admission, which was refused. Mr. Beales then asked by whose orders he was excluded? and he was informed that it was by the authority of Sir Richard Mayne. Seeing that farther remonstrance would be useless, he turned away, and led the procession towards Trafalgarsquare, where a meeting was duly held, and resolutions in favour of reform, and votes of thanks to Messrs. Gladstone and Bright for their fidelity to a cause which others had basely deserted, were carried unanimously. The meeting then dispersed, and those who composed it quietly retired. Nothing could be more orderly and praiseworthy than their conduct. They had asserted what they had been advised to be a legal right, and they had adopted what they conceived to be the best and most practical mode of exposing the falsity of the statement which had been made over and over again, that the working classes were indifferent to the franchise. They hoped and believed that their example

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