ROBERT LOWE, M.P.

West Coast Times, Issue 576, 30 July 1867, Page 4

ROBERT LOWE, M.P.

(lEOM THE SYDNEY HORNING HERALD.) The fame of eloquence acquired by Mr Lowe, who was formerly distinguished in our Legislative Council, imparts a degree of gratification even to those who are not of his school. It is something to say that the man who commands most attention in the British Empire in connection with one great division of British Parties acquired among vs — our youth will add from vs — the-, facility of speech and the power to apply the learning for which he was already eminent, to the purposes of political life. He appears to have established a peculiar style of parliamentary eloquence. Its merits may be inferred from the interest it excites in the most fastidious assembly in the world, where every kind of mere claptrap and eccentric egotism is scouted with derision. In fact, Mr Lowe represents great ideas in the present Parliament of England. We do not follow him to the practical conclusion to which his arguments seem to tend — namely, to arrest changes in theconstitution of the House of Commons. We believe there are times when concession cannot be avoided ; when larger numbers must be directly embraced by the political institutions of the country. Whatever mischiefs are concealed in this concession or are apparent on its surface, there are other considerations by which they are outweighed, and before which practical statesmanship must bend. We have no doubt that the present House of Commous represents the people of England, their intelligence and their property. We have no doubt that, in spite of the corruption which has been shown in the acquisition of many seats, within the House the corruption of members is not half so prevalent as it was seventy years ago ; that is, that persons who are there, are not at equal liberty to subordinate to the interests of party and to their own personal aggrandisement the principles which they profess to represent and to which, they owe their seats. It is quite possible that while an im-» mense amount of money has been spent, in defiance of law, to gain ascendancy at the poll, it is of slight consequence to the people which candidate wins. Divided by some shade of politics, both are equally stanch with respect to the great principles of government as embodied in the Constitution of England. It is not to be forgotten that before the reform of Parliament the small pocket boroughs were in the hands of the advocates of political freedom to a very large extent. The wider constituencies of scot and lot were almost equally divided by the two great parties. It was not until we came to the counties that the decided Tory influence, or the influence of landed proprietors, assured to that party the preponderance. No doubt, bribery during an election debases the people. When men give their vote for considerations quite distinct from the interests of the country they betray their trust. But it is very doubtful whether such trust is more frequently betrayed at the present moment than during any great agitation for the last century. Whoever has seen the works of Hogarth must be struck with the exhibition of British liberty, which continued to be applicable indeed in the forms there represented down to the recollection of many. The predictions of Mr Lowe as to the mischief which would result from the extension of the suffrage to the masses are not by any means imaginary. No man can reflect upon the course of empires without sharing in his alarm. The nearer to universal the suffrage, the more absolute the power of those classes whose interests are in the subjection of capital to labor and the control of all that concerns taxation, its incidence, and its expenditure. It is necessary only to be told that this is the course of things to foresee the result.

# The lauguage of. Mr Lowe does not differ from that of Mr Macaulay in the celebrated letter addressed by him to some American friends, when he pointed out the extreme danger of that force which probably no practicable form of American Government could combat. The time seems much nearer than he calculated for the development of those evils which he foresaw. The war has accumulated a debt which must be paid, or the nation will be degraded to infamy. All manufacturing interests, all connected with labor, have undergone great changes in consequence of the war. High wages, high prices, were the inevitable effect of so large an expenditure and so great a diversion of capital from ordinary to warlike occupations. But the heavy taxation necessary to support the public credit of America is now as large as before the restoration of peace. The profits of the manufacturer are diminished, and the i value of labor is consequently decreased. The taxes imposed will be more onerous, because higher in proportion to the returns of trade and industry. But the people are unwilling to encounter this inevitable result of the war, and the debt which it has brought upon them. They wish to keep up the rate of wages in proportion to the rate of taxation. The Americans have already exhausted all ordinary forms of taxation, and now they can only look to capital itself and an artificial support of wages to satisfy the demands of labor. This, however, is a task beyond human power. The greatest Empire in the world has never been able to accomplish it at all but by the most violent measures, and this only for a time. To take from the rich to give to those who are not rich — to adopt some form of socialism — may be an expedient for the hour, but it is only temporary. Thus a financial crisis must inevitably come, when, unless the central power is strong and firm, the public credit will give way, and repudiation will extend far beyond the limits of a single State, No doubt, the men of principle and intelligence in America will fight hard against any such dishonor, but they will have to fight with vast odds against them. They will have to fight against the disinclination of the people to endure privation, and their unwillingaess to support by heavy burdens the cost of a war which, to one party, has been victory, and to the other, defeat — but to all, exhaustion.

Looking at these things, it is not unnatural that any statesman of England should hesitate to transfer the balance of power to a new and unknown centre, or feel that whenever this shall arrive changes may be expected which will place the credit and honor of the nation * at the mercy of multitudes who have but little to lose, and whose knowledge of foreign affairs or the remoter interests of the country is limited and often distorted.

Mr Lowe, in most of his speeches, is accustomed to give some telling extract from classic authors. In this instance he quotes that celebrated passage in which iEneas is warned not to suffer his resentment to avenge on inferior instruments the hostility of the Gods. The overturning of Troy was neither the guilt of Paris

nor the fault of Helen, but was caused by the powers above. Mr Lowe, indeed, does warn us not too rashly to cast our mistakes on "destiny," or yield without a struggle, or attribute to inevitable fate, what may be the work of our own hands. There is, however, a course of human affairs so distinct, so constant, so irresistible, that even the most courageous spirit may quail before it. That the popular power will increase — that it will undergo many of those mutations and be subject to those influences described by Mr Lowe, who can question; but this hardly helps us through the difficulty. That which looms before us is the gradual increase of popular power ; and with this there is to be apprehended its gradual preversion by men who will rise upon the strength of popular passions, who will seize the direction of the State — who will contend with competitors for authority and emolument by means ultimately subversive of freedom itself. These are the men who prepare the way to a substitution for <a * calm, rational and personal , liberty, the authority of an imperial master, under whatever name, whose power, however disguised, will be the power of the sword,