EXTENSION OF THE SUFFRAGE.
MINISTERS have abandoned "Finality" : the Reform Bill qualifi- cation for the franchise is expressly given up by Ministers in the House of Commons : the first step is taken towards an extension of the suffrage. Lord MORPETH, in order to render his Irish Registration Bill more valuable than the competing measure of Lord STANLEY, has wisely added to it a definition of the franchise-qualification. Lord STANLEY sneeringly spoke of the addition as a " postscript," an " alteration of the last eight-and-forty hours." It is natural enough and pardonable enough in these rival legislators, to seek each to decry the other's wares, by hinting at motives and cir- cumstances which have given the form to his bill ; but cool judges will look only to the nature and effects of the measure as it is laid before them, approve of it if for good, disapprove of it if calculated to do harm. Lord STANLEY'S Bill, which is submitted to the House as a measure calculated to prevent the registration of fic- titious voters in Ireland, and which omits to clear up the doubts respecting what constitutes a good claim to be put upon the roll of voters, although it is acknowledged that the existing law on that head is unintelligible, is a repetition of the old Joe Miller— the performance of the tragedy of Hamlet with the character of Hamlet by particular desire omitted. So far Lord MORPETH and his colleagues are right—whatever be their motives : a precise defi- nition of what constitutes a good claim to be registered as a voter is a sine qua non in any bill professing to do away with or diminish the enrolment of unqualified voters. But the definition of Lord MORPETH is an alteration, not a definition. This is no reason for disapproving of it : the question
remains—is the alteration for the better or for the worse ? Let us see.
Lord MORPETH proposes to take the test of Poor-law valuation, and to give the elective franchise to a rated net value of five pounds. He admits that this may, in the course of time, lead to some increase in the number of those who enjoy the elective fran- chise ; but adds, for the purpose of reassuring his Conservative friends, that he does not think it would give rise to any sudden or violent increase. And he rests his defence of the measure upon the ffict that the proportion of qualified electors in Ireland to the whole population is much lower than that which exists in England. The reason is good. The only ground upon which a limited franchise can be defended, is that the persons excluded are, from their deficiency of information, or from other disqua- lifying circumstances, unable to exercise the franchise with advantage to themselves and the general body ; while the neces- sity of having a check upon Government renders it advisable to give the franchise to all who are capable of using it beneficially. The reasoning of those who argue in this manner is, as far as the advantage of giving the franchise to a portion at least of the pub- lic goes, unassailable. Their reasoning in favour of a restriction is less satisfactory : it rests upon a misapprehension of the manner in which popular election tells upon a legislative body. Political knowledge and high principle are required in the elected; all that is accessary in the elector is the knowledge that be is com- fortable or uncomfortable, and the power of giving his vote for the person who has succeeded in convincing him that he is able to do something to preserve him in his agreeable con- dition or release him from his painful one. The best govern- ment is that which makes the greatest number comfortable. When the greatest number are comfortable, they will vote for the exist- ing government ; when the greatest number are uncomfortable, they will vote for trying some other. The action of the electors is, and probably ever will be, the half-reasoning half-in- stinctive action of the wishes of all producing a neutral something insuring the comfort of the majority. This is the working of a law of nature, independent of human reasoning or opinion. All the moral training requisite to enable all men to exercise the franchise, is the habit of submitting to the will of the majority so long as it is the majority. It is much more easy to teach men this, than to teach them to submit to the will of a minority who tell them that they are wiser than others. An unrestricted franchise is requisite to the production of the greatest possible amount of happiness, and is the best guarantee of unmurmuring obedience to the law. It follows as a corollary from this, that every extension of the suf- frage is an advantage, inasmuch as it brings us nearer to an unre- stricted suffrage. And therefore Lord MORPETH'S proposal to substitute in Ireland a five-pound rated suffrage for a nominal ten- pound suffrage is a benefit to that country.
But the process cannot stop here : the proposal of a five-pound suffrage for Ireland involves the abandonment of a ten-pound suf- frage for England and Scotland. Even Lord JOHN RUSSELL never said that there was any magic influence in paying a rental of ten pounds to qualify a man for judging of the abilities of a Parlia- mentary candidate. The process of reasoning by which the ten- pound qualification came to be fixed upon, was something after this fashion—" It is advantageous on the one hand to give the suf- frage to as many as we safely can, for by that means we make the nearest possible approximation, consistent with security, to taking the sense of the whole community. It is unsafe, on the other hand, to give the franchise to men of no education or of desperate circum- stances, who are sure to be misled or to be actuated by mischievous intentions. That a man is able year after year to pay ten pounds for the use of the house he occupies, is a strong indirect proof that he has something to be protected by the law, and the degree of intelligence necessary to make him comprehend the advantage of a settled state of society. Here, therefore, we fix, as the point to which these conflicting forces drive us." Upon this view, and only upon this view can the limitation of the franchise to the ten-pounders be de- fended. But Lord MORPETH has admitted, (and his colleagues, in allowing him to introduce his bill, have given their assent to his opinion,) that in Ireland a rent of five pounds is a sufficient security for a man's possessing that intelligence and those habits of obe- dience to the law which are requisite in a voter. But Lord MORPETH will scarcely venture to affirm that the occupants of five-pound tenements in England and Scotland are a less moral or intelligent class than the occcupants of such te- nements in Ireland. The fitness of a ten-pound qualification as a test of ability to exercise the franchise, has therefore been abandoned by Ministers for the United Kingdom, by the introduc- tion of Lord Moeeeni's bill " for the amendment of the law re- lating to the qualification as well as the registration of Parliamen- tary voters in Ireland." Ministers cannot plead the non-existence of abuses in the registration on this side of the Channel, for not extending to England and Scotland the justice they profess to be about to extend to Ireland, with the Report of the Committee on Fictitious Votes in Scotland before their eyes. They cannot listen to the discussion of the comparative merits of Universal Suffrage, Household Suffrage, an Educational Qualification, or Registration Qualification, &c., which is carried on with increasing eagerness in many parts of the country, and yet allege that the ten-pound qua- lification gives general satisfaction. They have admitted the jus- tice and necessity of a further extension of the suffrage.
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