"SCUM OF THE COUNTRY."

Colonist, Volume III, Issue 294, 14 August 1860, Page 4

"SCUM OF THE COUNTRY."

TO LOED EOBERT MONTAGUE, M.P. My Lokd—As you thought proper, in your late speech in the House of Commons upon this subject, to stigmatize the order to which I belong as "the mere scum of the country," and considering that such language is at this time as unwarrantable on your part as it is undeserved by the working class of Great Britain, and believing that it could only have been used by you in your ignorauce of our rights, of our real desires, and of our true standing and position in the society, of the present day, I am led to address a few lines to you in vindication and in explanation thereof. But, my lord, although you may have used the terms you have, not fully knowing all you might have done concerning us, there is not much excuse for. your ignorance of the true principles upon which the British constitution is founded,,and which it is obvious you are also laboring under; for, in truth1, my lord, the working men of the day we live in have not only the necessary moral and religious standing in society to justify every extension to them of the franchise in the-fullest sense of the word, hut they also have; a clear constitutional right to what they ask for in reality. . When we claim to.be represented in the British House of.;Cdmrnons; we merely ask for,

our legal birthright; and notwithstanding, my lord, such one-sided acts of Parliament as the one passed in Henry VL'3 reign, whhh called the workers of that day " as people of small substance, and of no value," the people of the present day, when they ask for their suffrage, do not ask for it as a boon. No, my lord; but we ask for it as a just right, and you, as a legislator, ought to know that it is only by doing violence to the true spirit of the British constitution that such right is at present sus- | pended or withheld. ! And, however strange it may sound in your ears, my lord, I must respectfully yet firmly state that in making this claim, we are withal strictly conservative : in fact, that we are the only true conservatives of the day, inasmuch as we clearly wish the restoration of the old, and not the creation of anythiug new; and the principles upon Which the British constitution is based may well, my lord, have drawn the ad- * miration from time to time of some .of the world's greatest men; and it has been long admitted that it was only for Englishmen to have kept it in true working order, and by letting in their fellows as they budded into political exis» tence in proper union and communion, to have insured the real good of all. And you should know, my lord, that as a precedent, the British constitution was perfect at its creation, and that if different generations had kept up 1o it, in spirit and in truth, no reform in our day would have been necessary. All writers, my lord, upon our constitution say that we have gone from it, and not our constitution from us, and that there lies the wrong; that if we would only adapt ourselves to its excellence, it is flexible enough for all people of every day,—for the monarch, the aristocracy, and the democracy properly working together for the common good of tue commonwealth. Now, all we ask, my lord, is to be properly represented in the British House of Commons, in keeping with the creation and foundation thereof, when King Edward 1., by his writ, first summoned the Commons, " on the just ground that what concerned all ought to be approved of by all," and we ask it to be so represented, because the British constitution, in its present working, is imperfect, and even illegal, without its proper and full democrat ingredient; and therefore, again, it is that we seek to amend and perfect, rather than to pull down and destroy; and, my lord, as if specially pleading our cause, that great lawyer and writer, Judge Blackstone, and other constitutional writers say, " that the excellency of our constitution consists in its having.the monarchial, the aristocratic, and the democratic oombined; that is, we lodge the executive power in one person, and the legislative authority in the joint hands of an independent sovereign, an aristocracy selected for piety, birth, wisdom, valor, or property, and a House of Commons freely chosen by the people from among themselves;" and further, as to electors, they say, " that the true reason for re ■ quiring qualification at all was that of excluding persons in so mean a situation, that they are esteemed to have no will of their own;" and Blackstone further says, " if it were probable that every man would give his vote freely, and without influence of any kind, then, upon the true theory and genuine principles of liberty, every member of the community, however poor, should have a vote in electing these delegates, to whose charge is committed the disposal of his property, his liberty, and his life." And, my lord, particularly observe, that these gentlemen also say, that one power must not encroach on the prerogatives of the others; and that the constitution of our island is so admirably tempered and compounded that nothing can endanger or hurt it but destroying the equilibrium of power between one branch of the legislature and the rest; for if ever it should , happen that the independence of any one of the three should be lost, or that it should become subservient to the views of either of the other two, there would soon be an end of our constitution. Now, my lord, does not this give us something like a clear right to what we ask ? and if, as Wfc have seen, the British constitution can only be legal by the means pointed out, is it not illegal at the present day, when no such means exist, aud only one million out of seven millions of men exercise a right applicable to, and tbe birthright of, all? la conclusion, my lord, let me respectfully advise you to throw of the uncalled-for prejudices and fears you entertain, and let your order" do justice to us, the true well-wishers and the real support and protection of our native land; let us have a voice in the proper election of our representatives in the British House of Commons, to whose charge 13 committed the disposal of our property, our liberty, and our lives. You would then perfect our glorious constitution, by giving to it the ingredient it now lacks, and by thus giving the working men of the realm their proper stake in the country they would become in a sense as much property men as the men of £10,000 a year and instead, of acquired property being endangered it must become better secured, as every man would then be on tbe high road, through good laws aud good' government, to acquire and hold property of his own. The working men of England are now her intelligent and brave freemen, and not the poor unlettered, debased, and unnerved serfs of bygone days; and, my lord,.they muse be treated accordingly.—l am your lordship's humble servant, Henry Cooper. 1 — Lloyds.