Econlib

The Library

Other Sites

 Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow 90.: THE PARLIAMENTARY REFORM BILL EXAMINER, 6 MAR., 1831, P. 147 - The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, Volume XXII - Newspaper Writings December 1822 - July 1831 Part I

Return to Title Page for The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, Volume XXII - Newspaper Writings December 1822 - July 1831 Part I

Search this Title:

Also in the Library:

Subject Area: Political Theory
Collection: The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill

90.: THE PARLIAMENTARY REFORM BILL EXAMINER, 6 MAR., 1831, P. 147 - John Stuart Mill, The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, Volume XXII - Newspaper Writings December 1822 - July 1831 Part I [1822]

Edition used:

The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, Volume XXII - Newspaper Writings December 1822 - July 1831 Part I, ed. Ann P. Robson and John M. Robson, Introduction by Ann P. Robson and John M. Robson (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1986).

Part of: Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, in 33 vols.

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


90.

THE PARLIAMENTARY REFORM BILL

EXAMINER, 6 MAR., 1831, P. 147

One of Mill’s few direct contemporary comments on the British reform agitation of 1830-32, this article appeared in the “Political Examiner” under the heading “[From a Correspondent].” It is described in his bibliography as “Paragraphs on the Parliamentary Reform Bill headed ‘from a Correspondent’ in the Examiner of 6th March 1831” (MacMinn, p. 15); in the Somerville College set it is listed as “Article on the Reform Bill” and enclosed in square brackets, with one inked correction, “had had” to “had led to”

(277.23).

in estimating the nature of the change which Lord John Russell’s Bill,1 if adopted, will produce in the practical working of the Constitution, it is necessary to look somewhat closely at the specific character of the abuses by which our government has hitherto been deformed.

These are of two kinds: 1st, private jobs, for the benefit of individuals possessing Parliamentary influence.—2dly, bad laws, and great naval and military establishments, for the benefit of the higher classes generally.

We expect that the proposed Reform will almost entirely extinguish private jobs. The supporters whom the Minister secures by the direct expenditure of the public money are seldom those who are returned by numerous constituencies. It is worth while, for a minister to purchase a vote in parliament by giving a place to the son or younger brother of a borough patron; it is seldom worth while for the sake of two votes, to give valuable consideration to each man of the majority of the influential landholders of a county. Westmoreland is an exception; but Westmoreland is, in reality, a close borough.2 County members are seldom the paid and regular supporters of an administration; they seldom receive any thing out of the taxes, and are therefore generally friends to retrenchment; but they are, more than any other class of the members of Parliament, the stedfast and unbending supporters of bad laws. For bad laws do not exist for the benefit of borough proprietors, but of the landed, or the landed and monied classes at large. The same may be said of large military and naval establishments, the chief cause of the magnitude of the public burthens.

The proposed Reform will take the nomination of a majority in Parliament from two hundred aristocratical families, and will give it to the Aristocracy generally; for, without the protection of the Ballot, it is absurd to suppose that the nominal electors, except in a few places like Westminster, will be less subject to undue influence than at the present moment.3 Instead of our own old oligarchy, we shall have a French oligarchy: the undue power, instead of being unequally divided,—a large mass being held by one very great man, and small portions by a number of small men, will now be more equally divided among the higher classes at large; but subject to no greater responsibility than at present; with the same sinister interests, and under a more specious appearance.

Heretofore a Minister, hard pressed by public opinion, could carry with him a large portion of the borough members, who, to save their place, would at times separate themselves from their order. Hereafter an immense majority of the House will be the mere men of their order, or would be so, were they not controlled by the irresistible spirit of the age.

If the proposed Reform had been introduced in quiet times, and had led to no ulterior changes, we question whether the alteration which it would have made in the composition of the Houses would have been in any respect an improvement. But with an excited public, and a public fully possessed with the importance of the Ballot, the members whom this measure will send to Parliament must represent, in a considerable degree, the real feelings of their nominal constituents, or the cry for the Ballot will become absolutely irresistible. If we gain this Bill, therefore, we shall gain all; and every nerve ought to be strained by every Reformer throughout the nation, for the success of the ministerial measure.

If there were no other reason for giving it the most strenuous support, the consternation which it has spread among the whole tribe of the people’s enemies would be a sufficient one.

[1 ]John Russell (1792-1878), later 1st Earl Russell, parliamentarian from 1813, was Paymaster of the Forces in 1830 when he helped draft the Reform Bill (see No. 84, n6), which he introduced in the Commons.

[2 ]In 1832 Westmorland, which had 4392 registered electors, belonged mostly to the Earl of Lonsdale.

[3 ]Westminster, which had the largest number of voters of any urban constituency, was one of thirty-seven “scot and lot” boroughs; i.e., all male householders paying municipal tax were enfranchised.