Fifth Series, Volume XLIX. } No. 2120.- February 7, 1885. | From Beginning, Vol. CLXIV. . . 323 329 342 351 . CONTENTS. 1. THE REVOLUTION OF 1884, Fortnightly Review, II. A MILLIONAIRE's Cousin, Macmillan's Magazine, III. CHARLES DICKENS AT HOME, Cornhill Magazine, IV. THE SAVAGE, . Nineteenth Century, Ву Chambers' Journal, Blackwood's Magasine, VII. OUTLYING PROFESSIONS, Blackwood's Magazine, . . . . 322 : PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY BY TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. Tor Eight DOLLARS, remitted directly to the Publishers, the LIVING AGB will be punctually forwarded for a year, free of be made by bank draft or check, or by post-office monev-order, if possible. If neither of these can be procured, the money shouid be sent in a registered letter. All postmasters are obliged to register letters when requested to do so. Drafts, checks and money-orders sbould be made payable to the order of LITTELL & Co. Single Numbers of Thx LIVING AGE, 18 cents. ness CHANGES. Within the twilight meadows, LIKE one who hears with sudden throb of sad. Closed is the daisy's eye ; Amid the deepening shadows ness The lingering cadence of an old refrain The drowsy cattle lie. Which wakes the echoes of some vanished The peaceful flocks are sleeping Beside the shady rill; Soft dews around are weeping, After long absence at a well-known door Which guarded once my darling, my heart's What sudden light surprises Behind the purple wave? The golden moon uprises From out her ocean grave. Still bloom the roses with their old-time sweet Her mellow light is stealing Round this dear cottage in my native land ; O'er all the landscape grey, Trimmed is the hedge with all its wonted neat. To-tender souls appealing More than the lord of day. Down in this little rill? Above the heath-clad hill. Years have not changed it; now as then the O tender star of even river Winds in the distance like a silver stream; That peeps into the rill ! O gentle winds of even, That whisper round the hill! O white-robed moon of even, That shineth o'er the sea ! Nor rippling laughter greets my listening O deep-blue, far-off Heaven, ear ; Bend down and comfort me! All the bright scene but breathes in desola- Month. M. NETHERCOTT. tion, “She is not here ! ” THE LARK. BY WALTER JERROLD. I HEARD the lark, that soared on quivering O'er the soft lawn the shadows westward creep wing, Pour forth his strains of melody above, ing Darkly enfold me at the rose-girt door. Far out of sight, and yet I heard him sing In deeper shadows lies my dear love sleeping, His ceaseless, melting song of thankfulness and love. To wake no more! Transcript. J. L S. I watched him rise from where, on lowly ground, His mate sat waiting for her young ones' birth : That bird, whose notes in heaven above shall EVENING. sound, The evening light is waning Its humble, modest nest builds low on mother Down in yon valley dim ; earth, The winds have ceased complaining, And sing their vesper hymn. Still pouring forth his flood of song in flight, Swiftly he rose, on trembling pinions, high, A few stray birds are winging Smaller and smaller to my aching sight, Till lost in boundless depths of azure sumThe convent bells are ringing mer sky. Their music breathes of rest. I stood and listened, e'en when far beyond Low bending o'er the rivers My bounded vision had he upward soared, The ash scarce stirs its leaf; Till nature, touched by music's magic wand, The tim'rous aspen shivers, Seemed full of rapturous song and heavenly And sighs as if with grief. sweet accord From The Fortnightly Review. tary reform as the extension of the fran. THE REVOLUTION OF 1884. chise. Consequently, they may argue, The smoke of battle having cleared off, they have precluded the Liberals from and the clash of arms subsided, it is pos vaunting hereafter that it is their hands sible to ascertain the precise position of alone which have placed the coping-stone the forces recently engaged, and to com. upon the edifice of popular government. pute the chief results of the conflict. Finally, it is open to the Conservatives to Which side can claim the preponderatiog iosist that by the judicious action of their advantage? Are the fruits of victory leaders they have ended or postponed the evenly divided, or has one of the comba- agitation against the House of Lords. tants secured a present triumph only at the This summary of the successes of the cost of future defeat? Such are the ques. opposition would be acknowledged by tions which now rise paturally to the lips Conservatives themselves to be accurate. of the anxious spectators of the fray, and Let us now look at the other side of the which, it may be frankly confessed, seem account, and see what reason the Liberals at first to admit of more than one answer. have for satisfaction. The first entry Neither party, it is clear, can vaunt a mo- which meets one here records the one nopoly of nominal gains. Neither can broad, simple fact, that the Franchise Bill boast an immunity from losses. Neither has passed. Happen what may, it must emerges from the fray quite scathless. come into operation at the earliest possi. Let an enumeration of the facts show to ble moment, directly the new registration which camp the balance of fortune in is complete, a year hence, on the ist of clines. January, 1886. During the interval which There are certain points that cannot be elapses either there will be no dissolution, in dispute, and for the purpose of estimat- or if there is a dissolution, - or if a dis. ing the character and probable conse- solution should be deferred till the be. quences of the struggle little more is gioning of next year, and by that time the wanted than to specify these. The To- seats shall not have been redistributed, ries profess to survey the retrospect not - the appeal to the country must take without complacency. Some places of place under cooditions confessedly ruinous apparent strength have passed into their to the Tories. What does this mean but hands. There are, as they may allege, that the Liberals have in their hands the principles which they have asserted and necessary leverage for securing the settle. pretensions which they have resisted.ment of the redistribution question ? But Their leaders declared, six months ago, that is not all. The lines on which the that within certain limits they would hold question is to be arranged are infinitely their ground. They may now congratu. more in accordance with Liberal princi. late themselves on haviog held it. Thus ples than if the Downing Street conferthey can point to the unmistakable fact ences of a monih and six weeks ago had that they secured the production of the never been held, while the measure proRedistribution Bill before the Franchise duced is far in advance of anything which Bill was passed; not, indeed, before it the boldest of Liberal governments could was safe, but two or three days before it have dared to propose, in the face of the was actually added to the statute-book. pronounced hostility of the Tories. When, This, if not a great is yet a definite therefore, we look at the eods rather than achievement, and it may freely be put the means, we find that the advantages of down to the credit of the Copservative the so-called compromisé" are, as far as cause. Again, although the Franchise can be judged, placed exclusively in the Bill has become law precisely in the same Liberal scale. If it could be contended shape in which it was originally intro- that the policy of the Tories has modified duced, the Tories have already gained a in a Tory sense the Redistribution Bill of voice in the settlement of the provisions the government, as it was known to the of the Seats Bill - a measure that con- world from the draft scheme published in stilutes as integral a portion of Parliamen- October last, the result would be differ. ent. It is the details and the general are thirteeo Tories, are now returned by tendency of the measure now read a sec. eight of the largest towns in England, a ond time, as compared with the measure hundred and two members, of whom not that one may suppose Mr. Gladstone was more than twenty-five are likely to be originally prepared to introduce, which Tories, will be returned by these same form the real test of the situation. The towns in the future. No pretensions to bill indeed is not a final one, but it brings infallibility are advanced for this calcula. finality into no remote prospect, and its tion, but impartial critics will be disposed anomalies stand out in such sharp con to allow that it is not very wide of the trast to what may be called its principles mark. The gain to Radicalism is enor. that they challenge or ensure removal at mous. It is a gain not only of numbers po distant date. but of proportion. It is more even than Let us, however, take the bill as it is. this. It points to the augmentation of If we do this, and if we examine it by the Radicalism in a ratio of geometrical as light which an ordinary knowledge of En well as of arithmetrical progression. The glish popular feeling in town and country great towns as they now are, constitute throws upon it, we shall perceive that it the true source and centre of English portends nothiog less than a revolution. political opinion. It is from them that The first noticeable feature in it is the in. Liberal legislation receives its initiative; creased representation it confers on the it is the steady pressure exercised by them large towns of the United Kingdom, and that guarantees the political progress of the increase which this representation the country. To enlarge the representa. warrants us in anticipatiog in the number tion of these places is to magnify their of Liberals sent by these constituencies authority. Leeds with five and Birming. to Parliament. London, which has now a ham with seven members will not be total of twenty-two members, apd which merely twice or three times as powerful returos eight Tories, will have fifty-nine as they are now. The area over which members, of whom statistics would seem their political force will radiate will be to show that not more than a sixth, or, in more than proportionately extended, and other words ten members, are likely to be their political example will be looked to Tories. If we look at the seven other with an attention and followed with a largest towns of England and Scotland fidelity that cannot be explained by the we shall arrive at something in the nature mere numerical gain they will acquire in of the following result, which may, for the the counsels of the nation. They will in purposes of convenience, be best exhib other words have, as it has been often ited in a tabulated shape : said in the past that London has, a New prerogative vote, and their action will Representation. Representation. regulate that of scores of smaller constituencies. The second feature in the measure is the creation of single-member districts. These cannot but serve still further to acLondon. 8 59 15 centuate the democratic influence exer. Birmingham 3 cised by the large provincial capitals as Glasgow 3 well as by the metropolis itself. PromiLeeds 3 5 Manchester nent amongst the results which the exist. 3 Liverpool ence of these constituences will yield is 3 9 5 Edinbro' the reduction in the cost of elections. Sheffield 5 3 This will induce many Radicals who would not venture a contest on a larger Total 41 13 25 scale to come forward. It will seem a Including therefore the metropolis in less perilous, as it will certainly be a less the above list, it may be reckoned that costly enterprise to fight a ward than to whereas forty-one members, among whom fight an entire borough. The member Present Members. Total No. of Tories, Members.in Tories. . 22 7 7 . I ол N . I 2 thus returned will be in closer connection | a fortuitous combination of heterogeneous with, and will be more directly amenable groups. There is absolutely nothing to to, his constituents than is the case at justify this prediction. We have to think present. If, therefore, the large towns not of what might be at Westminster, but show themselves on the whole Radical, of what will be in the constituencies, we may be quite certain that the individ- where the only division recognized is that ual Radicals who represent them will be into Liberals and Conservatives, Radicals of a more emphatic and exacting kind and Tories. The Athenian legislator en. than those with whom the House of Com acted that those who remained neutral mons has, save in rare instances, made during any civil disturbance should be the acquaintance. There is yet another punished. Neutrality recommends itself aspect in which the operation of the sin. as little to the British elector in these days gle-member constituencies must be re- of universal household suffrage as it did garded. Granted that in some cases this to Solon, and the visionary figment of a system will secure all that is practicable third party rests upon no other foundation in the way of minority representation, and than the purely hypothetical leaning tothat it will give us an occasional member wards neutrality with which the average returned in the interests of villadom or Englishman is absurdly credited. plutocracy pure and simple ; in others - For these reasons it is safe to assume and this will be the rule - they will re. that the sequel of the Redistribution Bill move the possibility which has hitherto must be, while emphasizing its influence, existed of arranging, even where the ma. to intensify the Liberalism or the Radi. jority of the voters may have been of a calism of the great towns of the United decidedly Radical complexion, for the re- Kingdom. What is the prospect in the turn of one Moderate in conjunction with counties? That the Conservatives may one Radical. There will be no room for be the masters of many of the single. those convenient understandings, those member constituencies into which the amicable Parliamentary bargains, under a counties will be divided, no one doubts. régime of single-member districts, in On the other hand, the principle on which which ultimately a majority that in the county representation is to be arranged, long run is likely to be Radical, is repre. the allocation of certain towns to certain sented. Dual and multiple constituencies districts as their centres and sponsors, have always been the chosen opportuni. will be of distinct advantage to Liberalties of the armchair politician. But the ism, which is likely to gain far more than buffers on which timid Liberalism has Conservatism from this qualified fusion hitherto relied against advanced Liberal of the urban and rural elements of the ism will henceforth disappear. In every English people. Add to this that in some case, or almost every case, the buttons purely rural districts, where the condition will be taken off the foils, and the duel of the agricultural laborers is worst, it will be confined to the real principals. In will not be found impossible to run a boroughs and in counties, in every single working man's candidate who, ex hypomember constituency throughout the king. thesi, will be hostile to the vested interests dom, parties will become more highly and privileges of landlordism, and it is organized and the struggle will be propor. plain that even in the counties the chances tionately more severe. It has been said of the Liberal party will have greatly im. that, as a consequence of the Redistribu. proved. But, it may be replied, the coun. tion Bill, the House of Commons will be ties and the rural population will remain transformed into an assembly in which in the long run what they now are, the the traditional lines of demarcation be strongholds of Conservatism. Jo villages tween two parties in the State are inter. and hamlets matters move slowly. Qrieta sected by such a multitude of minor dis. non movere is the motto engraved on the tinctions and subdivisions as to be no heart of the rustic, who is deaf to the longer recognizable, and that Parliamen- allurements of the agitator and proof tary majorities will only be procurable by against the incitements of the demagogue. |
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