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1864.]

CAPITAL PUNISHMENTS.

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acquired so much strength that the government was induced to issue a royal commission to inquire into the nature and operation of the laws by which the punishment of death was appointed to be inflicted, as well as into the manner of its infliction, and to report whether it was desirable that any alteration should be made in these respects. The commission was composed of men who had paid attention to the subject, and who represented the different opinions which were entertained with regard to it. It was almost unanimously admitted by the persons who composed the commission that some change was required in the interest of the country and of justice, because in the present state of the law, juries, in spite of their oaths, frequently acquitted persons accused of murder, not because proofs of their guilt were wanting, but because there were extenuating circumstances which in their opinion rendered the punishment of death too severe. In dealing with the question of the manner of inflicting capital punishments in the cases in which it was thought proper that they should still be retained, the commission recommended that the penalty of death should be inflicted within the walls of the prison in the presence of a small number of spectators, in order to avoid those demoralising and disgusting scenes which often attended and disgraced public executions. These recommendations were subsequently adopted.

The subject of education was first brought under the attention of parliament during this session by the presentation of a report by the public-school commissioners, in which they stated that after a careful examination of the following institutions-Eton, Winchester, Westminster, St. Paul's, Merchant Taylors, Shrewsbury, Harrow, and Rugby-they had come to the conclusion that while the course of study pursued in these schools was sound and valuable in its main element, it was wanting in breadth and flexibility, defects which in many cases destroyed and in all impaired its value as an education of the mind. They reported that all these schools, though in different degrees, were too indulgent to idleness, or at least struggled ineffectually against it, and that consequently they sent out a large proportion of men of idle habits and empty uncultivated minds. On the other hand the commission spoke in terms of high praise of the discipline and moral

training afforded in these establishments. Much that was contained in these reports was already known, but they had the effect of drawing more general attention to the condition of these institutions, and of many others that were established on similar principles; and thus caused efforts to be made for their improvement, and especially for the cure of those removable evils, the existence of which this inquiry had placed beyond doubt.

One very important defect in the education given in these great seats of learning was placed in a clear light by Mr. Cobden, in a speech which he delivered to his constituents at Rochdale towards the close of this year. Speaking of the undergraduates of Oxford and Cambridge, who were in fact the élite of the public schools, he said: 'I will take any undergraduate now at Oxford or Cambridge, and I will bring him to a map of the United States and ask him to put his finger on Chicago, and I will undertake to say he will not go within a thousand miles of it. Yet Chicago is a place of 150,000 inhabitants, from which one or two millions of people in our own country are annually fed. These young gentlemen know all about the geography of ancient Greece and Egypt. Now I know I shall be pelted with Greek and Latin quotations for what I am going to say. When I was at Athens, I walked out one summer morning to seek the famous river, the Ilissus, and after walking some hundred yards or so up what appeared to be the bed of the mountain torrent, I came upon a number of Athenian laundresses, and I found that they had dammed up this famous classical river, and were using every drop of its water for their lavatory purposes. Why then should not these young gentlemen, who know all about the geography of the Ilissus, know also something about the geography of the Mississippi?'

But while the question of the education of the upper and middle classes of English society was being carefully investigated, that of the education of the working classes was not neglected. It was placed at this moment under the vigorous administration of Mr. Lowe, who was endeavouring to put the various religious communions of the country on a footing of perfect equality so far as related to the distribution of the grants made under the authority of the educational department of the privy-council. In

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MR. LOWE.

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doing so he incurred much obloquy and hostility from the conservative party, and a great effort was made to remove him from the position he occupied. Lord Robert Cecil accused him of tampering with the reports of the inspectors, and suppressing statements opposed to his own views, and moved, 'That in the opinion of this house the mutilation of the reports of her Majesty's inspectors of schools, and the exclusion from them of statements and opinions adverse to the educational views entertained by the committee of council, while matters favourable to them are admitted, are violations of the understanding under which the appointment of inspectors was originally sanctioned by parliament, and tend entirely to destroy the value of their reports.' This resolution, notwithstanding a very able defence made by Mr. Lowe, was carried by 101 to 93-numbers which were supposed to show that Lord Palmerston had not done all he might have done to save his colleague from this censure. Mr. Lowe at once resigned his office of vice-president of the educational department, and procured the appointment of a committee, which fully exonerated him from all blame in the matter. Thus one of the ablest men in the government was compelled to retire from it with a mind somewhat irritated against those of his colleagues who appeared to have neglected to give him on this occasion the support he considered he had a right to expect from them, and whom in the sequel he made to feel the consequences of this conduct.

On Wednesday the 13th of April a remarkable debate took place on the second reading of Mr. Locke King's county franchise bill. Lord Palmerston strongly opposed the measure, delivering a speech against organic changes, which would have proceeded with a better grace from the back benches of the opposition than from the leader of the liberal party. It was evident, however, that the premier did not carry with him the sympathies and support of his party to the views which he thus expressed; for when the house came to a division on the question of the second reading, the numbers were:

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About a month later, Mr. Baines' bill for lowering the franchise in the boroughs, which, like the kindred reform proposed by Mr. Locke King, had frequently been before the house, was again brought under discussion. Mr. Gladstone seized this opportunity of showing that he did not share the opinions that the prime minister had expressed on this question.) Lord Palmerston had argued against that proposal on the ground that the people were not anxious for organic reforms, and were not agitating for innovations. Mr. Gladstone, with evident reference to this argument, said: 'We are told that the working classes do not agitate; but is it desirable that we should wait till they do agitate? In my opinion, agitation by the working classes upon any political subject whatever is a thing not to be waited for, not to be made a condition previous to any parliamentary movement, but, on the contrary, to be deprecated, and, if possible, prevented, by wise and provident measures. An agitation by the working classes is not like an agitation by the classes above them, having leisure. The agitation of the classes having leisure is easily conducted. Every hour of their time has not a money value; their wives and children are not dependent on the application of those hours to labour. But when a working man finds himself in such a condition that he must abandon that. daily labour on which he is strictly dependent for his daily bread, it is only because then, in railway language, the danger-signal is turned on, and because he feels a strong necessity for action, and a distrust in the rulers who have driven him to that necessity. The present state of things, I rejoice to say, does not indicate that distrust; but if we admit that, we must not allege the absence of agitation on the part of the working classes as a reason why the parliament of England and the public mind of England should be indisposed to entertain the discussion of this question.'

Notwithstanding this support, Mr. Baines' motion was defeated by a majority of 272 against 216. This was only what Mr. Gladstone had anticipated. His object was to place distinctly on record his decided opinion in favour of those organic changes which the head of the government had so strongly deprecated. From this day he was looked up to by the earnest liberals as their future champion, and

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as the framer of the next reform bill. They anticipated that the time was at hand when that question would be brought forward under more favourable auspices, and with a widely different result.

Two measures very advantageous to the working classes were adopted in the course of this session. The first, proposed by Lord Derby, enacted that in every railway leading into the metropolis provision should be made for the accommodation of the working classes by cheap trains. This proposal was made mainly on the ground that the railways to which it applied had destroyed a large number of the habitations of the labouring classes, compelling them to reside at greater distances than before from the places at which they worked. Lord Derby contended that it was only just that these railways should compensate those classes by affording them increased facilities for going to and returning from their work. The measure was accepted by the government, and was the first step in a system which has proved a great boon to those for whose benefit it was adopted, and a source of no small profit to the railway companies themselves, who have since found it to their interest greatly to extend the principle on which this important enactment was based. The other boon granted to the working classes was an act for applying to several other trades the regulations which already applied to women and children working in factories.

A vote of censure on the government for its conduct in reference to Denmark was carried in the House of Lords by a majority of nine; but a similar motion proposed by Mr. Disraeli in the lower house was rejected by a majority of eighteen. Thus a liberal ministry, with a conservative chief and a large share of conservatism entering into its composition, maintained its ground against the conservative opposition to the end of the session.

It is now time that we should notice one of the most remarkable agitations carried on in this or any other country. For some years societies had existed composed of persons pledged to abstain from the use of all intoxicating liquors, and who endeavoured to persuade others that the use of these liquors, so far from being conducive to health, as had hitherto been generally supposed, were injurious to it. These opinions spread very rapidly in England, and

VOL. III.

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