Mataura Ensign GORE TUESDAY, DECEMBER 23. 1884. BRITISH POLITICS.

Mataura Ensign, Volume 7, Issue 420, 23 December 1884, Page 2

Mataura Ensign GORE TUESDAY, DECEMBER 23. 1884. BRITISH POLITICS.

The #reat Parliamentary tit-form Act. ; of 1884 has now passed through the j two Houses in Great Britain, and its ' companion measure, that for the Kedistribut.ion of Seats, is only waiting the final sanction of the House of Lords, which has been promised to be given. \ No intelligent and impartial man from the 1 first ever expected any different result. The progress towards dc- . mocracy which. Shnosa. noticed as being evident in every country in Euiope. a« far back as his own . day two hun red., years ago, has since innde itself nn re clearly manifest everywhere from time .to time, notwithstanding all the i changes, consolidations, and divisions of national territory. Even Great Britain, • the most stable althongh the mos ( steadily progressive of all European ' kingdoms, has been a conspicuous , illustration of the spirit of the times. The mission of the Parliamentary lie, form Act of 1832 was to abolish the rotten boroughs, enfranchise the towns , y>hicb had newly become great, and, in I a word, to throw the balance of power in the state into the hands of the ( middle classes. The Franchise Act ! just passed abolishes money qualifications whether of rental or oi freehold j value, assimilates the franchise of the Empire to that already existing in New Zealand, establishes household i suffrage, and transfers the preponderating power from the merchants and ; manufacturers to the artizans atid '■ j " working men." The number of \ voters in the kingdom is increased [ from a little over three to a little over live millions. Yet this great change has been ac- I complished certainly without anything approaching a revolution, and really with very little national excitement. The Reform Act of 1832 threatened a disruption of the Constitution ; 20,000 artisans marched up from Birmingham alone to London and paraded the streets, as a demonstration of the people's strength ; and power waa given to the Prime Minister -of the day, Earl Grey, in case of need to swamp the opposition of the House of Lor<Js by a wholesale creation of new peers. Now the demonstration has been confined to a few speeches in Hyde Park ; there has been no talk of creating, new pters ; even. Lord Salisbury does not assert|for a moment that there was any danger of a disturbance of the public peace ; and whsn the second reading of the Bill was before the House of Lords ifc was only rejected by a majority of 206 to 146. A better illustration of Macaulay's aphorism that " England has the most aristocratic democracy and the /nost democratic aristocracy in the world " could scarcely be furnished. Every one sees the steady progress towards democracy operating as a great law of nature, and as little expects to be able successfully to fight against it effectually as to contend against the law of gravitation. In another generation there will in all probability be seen a further expansion of democratic views, and the House of Lords, which has gradually been falling into disrepute, will be abolished, probably in order to make away for an elected Upper House. Before the close of another century the monarchy itself will most likely follow ; the CitoMWiLL of the future will not need a file of so'diers to support him when he orders those "baubles" — the crown and sceptre — to be removed ; and the kingly power will probably pass with the utmost quiet into the hands of a future elected Stadiholder of Great Britain. Whilst it would be the height of folly to expect to counteract the further progress of democracy and the I general wishes of the people of Great Britain, it is not so certain that the, change now going on and destined to b°> yet further experienced in new developments, is altogether a desirable one. In every community, especially in one of tho first industrial communities o£ the world, the members of the working men or artizans vastly preponderate over those of the middle and upper classes, whilst the intelligence of the former— it must at once be admitted — does not preponderate in 1 Ik? sa no degree. Yet undyr a very large extension, of the fuiffrage the power of the protedionist becomes not only an equal ouo but one absolute and unchecked. As Oarlyle would put it, we cm easily count the head*, but not ho easily count tlie sense that is in • horn. And along with some excellent ijiialitiMs the working men of any coumry hive their defects. Experience snows that limy are very apt to mist-ike present for p«nnanentg.jod ; the nertr lo the remote, no matter what m:iy b<* che respective m frits of the r.ivo. We, who are colonist.* have an experiment in cruiis in tha c»is.i of ; prt nnMiijj[«»ninnt of our own affairs. .Vl r- Gladstone and bis colleagues are at i ho ' pivm-Mic lime the cno.wn leaders n'f ,the public, ih« uu*n whom for their juiblia acts the, \>< oplo Je i^bt to honor. And thftro is >o\n* reason for th< ir j»r "ftjrence. On tho whole the Government of Ghv.ut hjiituin in her own affairs is adin.rib'p. It requires a gr at rlpril of hard thinking to find out ■\ t -nqjibl-, pr.ieti.;.! evil which the State cm cure. But contrast this with lh<* p>s;t,ioil of tin (fIADSTONE Go- \ vemnu^it. tnw;»Hs *he foreign and ro'onitl jiffm 8 ot' th«« Em;) 're. Outsi4tf j&tf iuauiar buuiidai'iett pf fch.e

British Empire tlieie would be no ! quest ion abroad generally that even the Conservative leaders would form a better administrative body for the glory and advantage of Great Britain herself. And if this sentiment were attributed to the natural jealousy of the foreigner, and thurefore of. no account whatever, a similar explanation obviously will not apply to the colonies. '• bone of their bone, and flesh of their flesh,"' with their relatives in. what they still call " the Home Country." If a plebiscite of the British colonies were taken Lords. Dehbt and Kimbehly would stand no Siliow at an election against Lord Catckxarvon and Sir Michael Hicks Beach- We can get much of what we want from the latter; nothing of what we want from the former. Yet it is the former who know next to nothing about thf 1 wants of (he Empire as a wiio e, but know much about the local wants of Great Britain, | ana they therefore have placed Mr Gladstone and his friends in power.