We would erect a new group of burghs, with the privilege of returning one member.

We would give the Scottish universities the right of returning two members.

This would imply an addition of sixteen members to Scotland; but there are three counties which, from their proximity to others, and the smallness of their constituencies, might well be amalgamated, just as Ross is at present with Cromarty, Clackmannan with Kinross, and Elgin with Nairn. The numbers of the amalgamated constituencies would stand as follows::

Dumbarton and Bute,
Caithness and Sutherland,
Peebles and Selkirk,

1805

849

905

with some slight deduction in the latter case for the small towns separated from the counties, and erected into a group of burghs along with Hawick.

Thus, only thirteen new members would be required for Scotland; and surely, when we limit our demand so far as to desire no additional representation for any existing constituency which does not exceed 2000, we cannot be charged with extravagance. Lord John Russell, if he must needs unsettle his own handiwork, and assume, for the future, the part of a mere political cobbler, can very easily spare us the required number: at all events, if he does not, his bills should be summarily rejected. Hitherto we have not asked for reform, or for any increase in the number of our national representatives. We were contented to leave matters as they were, so long as no change was proposed. But now that the proposal for a change has been made, and made on the part of Ministers, the people of Scotland will be strangely wanting in duty to themselves, and in fidelity to their country, if they do not insist upon a fair measure of justice. And they must do it early. Upon the arrangements made with regard to the English boroughs, depends our sole chance of increased Scottish representation. If we wait until the English bill has passed into a law, we need not hope to extort from the ministry the concession of a single member.

We ought, perhaps, to say-for it is as well to exhaust the subject-that we have no objection to make to the minor measures of detail contained in the Lord Advocate's Scottish bill. He stated, very truly, that the manufacture of fictitious votes was a system which ought to be put an end to; and also, very fairly, that no one political party was more chargeable than another with blame in this matter. Without, then, inquiring too curiously into the origin of the system, we shall simply express our entire concurrence in the sentiments of the learned lord, and our acquiescence in the remedy which he proposes.

We cannot, however, regard the Scottish measure otherwise than as entirely subsidiary to that proposed by Lord John Russell for England. In our opinion, the noble lord has brought an old house about his ears. He wants to do two things which are hardly reconcilable. He seeks to retain the nomination boroughs, with such change only as may give a colour for their retention; and, at the same time, in other places, to increase the popular franchise; and this he has managed in so clumsy a way, that he has only succeeded in unsettling what was fixed, without providing for stability for the future. Even if the Radical party were contented with his measure-which they are notand if they religiously abstained from urging their peculiar panaceas on our acceptance, it is quite plain that sufficient matter of discord must arise out of this bill, to give full employment to the Legislature for several years to come. It is an inflammatory, not a sedative prescription: it is rather a blister than an opiate. In the Reform Bill of 1832, a distinct principle can be traced, though the details are not always consistent with it. In this measure there is no principle at all. It is on all hands allowed that, in one respect at least, the Reform Act has not improved the character of the Legislature. Under its operation, a class of men decidedly inferior to their predecessors in talent, training, sagacity, and mental acquirement, have found their way into Parliament. Questions of national import are less consideredcertainly less thoroughly understood,

than formerly; and class interests, too often antagonistic to sound general policy, are advocated, with a selfish and pertinacious zeal. It may be said that this is an evil inseparable from popular representation; and so it is, to a certain extent: but the evil will be greater or less according to the prejudice or the enlightenment of the representatives. It is a huge mistake to suppose, though it is constantly assumed by public writers, and even made matter of boast by orators upon the hustings, that men are sent to the House of Commons to represent this or that class, community, or interest, without reference to any other consideration. They are sent there for no such purpose. The whole tenor of their deliberations ought to be directed towards the general wellbeing of the community; and if this principle is disregarded, public debate degenerates into a contest of classes. We shall find, on observation, that very large constituencies rarely send distinguished statesmen to Parliament; the reason for which, as we take it, is, that the representative is expected to identify himself entirely with the peculiar interests of the electors. We require from judges, who administer the laws, an entire absence of any personal interest in the suit which is brought before them. We cannot exercise the same strictness in the case of those who make the laws; but this at least is clear, that the higher the representative standard can be raised in point of intelligence, the better. And how is this to be secured? Not, certainly, by lowering the franchise, as Lord John Russell proposes, so as to let in a flood of ignorance and prejudice upon the existing electoral body-not certainly by increasing the number of those who estimate every measure solely by the effect which it is calculated to have upon themselves. We all know that, in addressing popular assemblies, the first and most effective appeal which the demagogue can make, is directed to the self-interest of his audience. It must always be so for this plain reason, that ill-educated men, who have neither the leisure nor the capacity for reflection, invariably act upon the motive of self-interest. They

know, or think they know, what would be good for themselves; and very seldom, indeed, do they take pains to investigate further. Hence the popularity with the lower orders of such subjects as the reduction of taxation, no matter by what means accomplished-as the demolition of the Established Church, as the cheap loaf, and many others. They will not listen to-or, if they do, they cannot understand—any arguments to the contrary; and they measure out their favour to the speaker or candidate, precisely according to the degree in which he coincides with their own prejudices. Orators, ancient and modern, who understood their art, have invariably attempted to reconcile their conclusions with the self-interest of their audiences, rather than appeal to the higher motives of truth, justice, or moral obligation. It is on account of this natural tendency that, after such deliberation as Lord John Russell has mercifully allowed us, we are forced to express our conviction that his proposed measures are eminently mischievous and impolitic. Being so, and entertaining very serious doubts whether he really expected to carry them, they seem to us eminently stupid, and, when taken in conjunction with other recent exhibitions, we can hardly resist the conclusion that, as a political leader, Lord John Russell has very nearly fulfilled his mission.

Such are the views which have occurred to us on perusing the draughts of the contemplated measures. Some points we could well desire to have reconsidered, had the necessary time been allowed us; on others-such, for example, as the changes which ought to be made on the existing system of Scottish representation-we have long ago formed a calm, deliberate, and dispassionate opinion. The haste with which Lord John Russell seems inclined to force on his incongruous measures, argues but little confidence, on his part, of their actual wisdom, or of their fitness to withstand scrutiny. It is, of course, desirable that no measure should be unnecessarily delayed; but there is a wide difference between the fair and proper determination of a Minister to have his project discussed

with all convenient speed, and that
indecent hurry which deprives the
country at large, and the organs of
public opinion, of the opportunity of
duly considering his plan, and weigh-
ing it as its importance deserves. Lord
John Russell, in this instance-we are
sorry that we cannot use a milder ex-
pression has attempted a discredit-
able coup-de-main. Up to the last mo-
ment the nature of his proposed mea-
sures was not divulged to the public,
although he had ample means within
his power of affording general infor-
mation. Yet no sooner was the bill
brought in it not even having been
printed or tabled when leave was
given to introduce it-than a single
fortnight was arbitrarily fixed as the
intervening period before the second
reading, upon which, in the general
case, the principle of a bill depends!
We do not profess to be adepts in
Parliamentary lore and precedent,
but it does strike us that, when no
urgency can be alleged, a measure of
this sort, affecting as it does the
whole interests of the Empire, and in-
volving a change which, if not organic,
is certainly enormous, ought most as-
suredly to be submitted to the public
for a reasonable time before it is
forced through the House of Com-
mons. However late examples on
the other side of the Channel may
have prepossessed Lord John Russell
in favour of long secresy and rapid
subsequent action, we cannot as yet
allow him to assume the functions of
a dictator. Were he a wiser man
than he has shown himself to be, his
schemes might require less delibera-
tion; but he cannot now expect, after
his many failures and abortive de-
vices, that any party will take him on
trust; or repose, without full investi-
gation, confidence in his powers of
statesmanship. What is worse, there
is a general impression abroad that
the Cabinet has not been at unity
regarding the nature of the measure
to be proposed. We can readily be-
lieve it. In a junta so constituted,
there must have been considerable
clashing of private and of public in-
terests; and if it should turn out that
the former have prevailed, it needs,
we think, little argument to show that
the greater was the necessity for giv-
ing the public time to deliberate

seriously upon a question of such
paramount importance. We have
outlived the days of "sic volo, sic
jubeo." We recollect the time when
Lord John Russell assumed the bear-
ing of a Tribune of the people; and
if his memory is defective on that
point, we refer him to Mr Roebuck's
lately published History of the Whig
Ministry. He may now, if he chooses,
disown the part; but if so, he must
submit to the fate which has over-
taken all lapsed Tribunes. He is not
now without competitors. The mo-
dern Sicinius Velutus and Junius
Brutus, genuine Tribunes of the peo-
ple, are watching him as closely
as their prototypes did Coriolanus;
and he is not the less selected for
their victim, because, at the present
moment, they appear to be favour-
ably disposed. What urgency was
there on the present occasion? If for
twenty years it has not been thought
necessary to make any violent change
on the working of the constitution,
surely a longer period than a fortnight
ought to have been granted, in order
that men, both within and without
the Houses of Parliament, might con-
sider the principle and master the de-
tails of a measure which is entirely to
alter the electoral arrangements of
the empire. We cannot help thinking
that, if Lord John Russell could have
calculated upon any considerable de-
gree of public support-if he had ex-
pected to see monster-meetings held
in the towns for the purpose of back-
ing up his schemes-he would not
have exhibited such unmistakable
symptoms of hurry. If the coin which
he tenders is a good one, and of sound
metal, it will bear inspection; if, on
the contrary, it is a mere counterfeit,
there is the more need of scrutiny.
That it is counterfeit, we have not the
least shadow of a doubt. It is not
always our fortune to coincide in the
political opinions advocated by the
Times; but we are glad that, in the
present instance, there is no differ-
ence in our views as to the practical
working of the measure, one certain
result of which would be the continual
introduction of new elements of strife
into the Legislature. "We have not
alluded," says a late writer in the
Times, "to a tithe of the evils inci-
dent to the protracted and detailed

operation now recommended by the Premier. Every Parliament, every Session, every election-and we have, on the average, a new member once a fortnight-the fires of party spirit would be fed with a new politico* judicial process. Borough would be dragged into Parliament in requital for borough, and the result would be a series of angry retaliations, or of disgraceful compromises. We do not hesitate to avow our belief, that the operation of gradual reforms, advised by Lord John Russell, would take up at least one-third of the time of the House of Commons for the next twenty years, and, after all, disappoint the intentions of its author, by driving Parliament to some much larger measure than any it has yet seriously entertained. The last Reform Act was a summary, a severe, and, in some

respects, a final measure. Accordingly, the wounds it inflicted were soon healed, and in two or three years everybody acquiesced in it. The present measure is expressly made not to be final. The ship leaves the port with the fire already smouldering in its cargo, the leak already gaping in its timbers; and, instead of an end of controversy, we have only the beginning of the end."

Our old acquaintance, the Jew Bill, now figures as a clause in the new measure of reform. It seems as if the introduction of a vast flood of electoral ignorance would not altogether satisfy the noble lord. The House of Commons, in order to approach his ideas of perfection, must also cease to be Christian. Is this a bill which ought, in any shape, to receive the support of the people of England?