deplorably is, can long resist this consideration among a people so
thrifty and saving, as are in the main the wielders of political power
in this country.

_Political Reforms_ move slowly here. Mr. Hume's motion for Household
Suffrage, Vote by Ballot, Triennial Parliaments, &c. was denied a
consideration, night before last, by the concerted absence from the
House of nearly all the members--only twenty-one appearing when forty
(out of over six hundred) are required to constitute a quorum. So the
subject lost its place as a set motion, and probably will not come up
again this Session. The Ministry opposed its consideration now,
promising themselves to bring forward a measure for the Extension of
the Franchise _next Session_, when it is very unlikely that they will be
in a position to bring forward anything. It seems to me that the current
sets strongly against their continuance in office, and that, between the
hearty Reformers on one side and the out-spoken Conservatives on the
other, they must soon surrender their semblance of power. Still, they
are skillful in playing off one extreme against another, and may thus
endure or be endured a year longer; but the probability is against this.
To my mind, it seems clear that their retirement is essential to the
prosecution of Liberal Reforms. So long as they remain in power, they
will do, in the way of the People's Enfranchisement, as near nought as
possible.

(----"Nothing could live
Twixt that and silence.")

Their successors, the avowed Conservatives, will of course do nothing;
but they cannot hold power long in the Britain of to-day; and whoever
shall succeed them must come in on a popular tide and on the strength of
pledges to specific and comprehensive Reforms which cannot well be
evaded. Slow work, say you? Well, there is no quicker practicable. When
the Tories shall have been in once more and gone out again, there will
be another great forward movement like the Reform Bill, and I think not
till then, unless the Continent shall meantime be convulsed by the
throes of a general Revolution.

I should like to see a chance for the defeat of that most absurd of all
Political stupidities, the _Ecclesiastical Titles Assumption Bill_, but
I do not. Persecution for Faith's sake is most abhorrent, yet sincerity
and zeal may render it respectable; but this bill has not one redeeming
feature. While it insults the Catholics, it is perfectly certain to
increase their nu