"¢Spirit,' child ' Spirit of reform! Do learn to be more precise in your use of words."
"And what would you have me say, Grandmamma, if not spirit'
"Demon, my child; demon!
Thus a Tory Grand Dame of a bygone day, when even in England there had been aroused such bitterness of class feeling as we of these times can hardly comprehend. Fortunately we are not obliged on the present occasion to take sides," The word "spirit" covers all that could be wished for both, cherubim and seraphitn, fiends, imps, Apollyon, and Abnddon alike coming under its comprehensive expressiveness, It is not altogether a matter of up bri ing, nor of class education, nor even of prejudice in whatever way called forth, that causes such widespread difference of opinion respecting what usually goes by the name of "reform," by which is usually meant some more or less radical change in customs hitherto accepted as part of the order of things. Apparently trivial matters may under certain conditions cause no little excitement in the body politic of such a staid old Innd as England, where as Tennyson says, freedom has grandly broadened down from precedent to precedent. In 1831, it will be remembered, the administration of Lord Grey introduced our first Reform Bill into the British Parliament. It was a poor sort of thing at the best, intending only to do away with a few rotten and pocket boroughs, and broaden the basis of the franchise But the Greville Memoirs show us clearly with what apprehension a large section of the British public viewed it. "Nothing talked of, thought of, or dreamt of," says the diarist, "but Reform, There certainly never was anything like the unanimity which pervades the country on the subject, though I do not think they will break out into rebellion if it is lost"... and so on. Later on he returns to the subject. "The people are unanimous" he says," good-humoured, and determined; if the bill is thrown out their good-humour will disappear, the country will be a scene of violence and uproar, and a most ferocious Parliament will be returned.". When the vote was taken for the second reading " each party ronred 'Aye' and 'No' totis viribus." The Speaker. was. uncertain, and he put the question again. "Iam not sure", he said, "but I think the ayes '.have it." He might well be pardoned for his hesitation, for when the house divided it was found that there were 302 against the reading, and 303 for it.. Finally the bill was thrown out, only to be passed in a somewhat different form during the following year.
But the ugliest shape in which the " Spirit of Reform" has shown itself in modern England was in that of the Obartists, For the moment there was in that misguided movement all the elements. of widespread popular disturbance, Men met armed with guns and pikes; 200,000 of them threatened to march to the Houses of Parlinment to. present a monster petition, bub the police, aided by some 150,000 special constables, of whom the late Emperor of the French was one, ensily dealt with the 20,000 that actually, put in an appearance.
Far otherwise has been the aspect of the "Spirit of Reform" across the Channel. Where, in England; it has looked threatening, there it has been malignant. While angry words with went idly, by, in; France—they fanned the flames that swept to destruction chateaux by the hundred they cheered.: ien on to deeds of blood, and women too to worse; they gave vent to the pent-up curses of the centuries, and goaded their hearers to attempt revenge for. the wrongs of all the generations in one fell. week. Dragoons might stand amongst the corn stacks, but starving. men would either steal: or, burn. Crushed as they had been: with rents, and quit-rents, King's taxes, Church taxes, and who knows what "Seignorial rights," they. were. ripe. for.. the reception ofthe "Spirit" la-its most fiendish form.
Is the same true of the Russians just now? Some say "No, a thousand) times No! The Russian people are as true to the Czar to-day as ever their fathers were before them. The people who are-at the. bottom of the internal: troubles—of Russia are not her own sons but the scum the earth to whom she hus given "asylum Therein speaks our old friend the Duchess, But what she says is only partially true, and it should never be forgotten that it is not a whit more true of Russin to-day than it was of France when the Revolution began. Did not the revolutionists appeal to King Louis again and again? Did not the women of Paris go in person to him for bread? They had not a thought of disloyalty then, The ".piriv" had not yet been fed with the particular kind of food that breeds disaffection; that was held in reserve. to be issued later, intentionally by the directors of the revolt, unintentionally and in ignorance by the king himself acting under the advice of reactionary courtiers, But the Russian authorities must be very blind if they cannot read the signs of the times in their own land. are of.opinion that our friend the Duchess would not have mistaken the meaning of the Black revolt the other day. To wake up some fine morning in one's " cottage by the sea" and find a twelve-inch gun, pointing straight into the bedroom window "with intent," ete., ought to be a sufficiently broad hint, Massacres of hungry strikers with their wives and children by brutal Cossacks may help to prop up a throne supported by bayonets, but what if the holders of the bayonets like those of Paris refuse to kill kith and kin who ask for nothing more than freedom? Plot, riot, assassination;-and" disorder of every kind is rife in Russia. Which embodiment of the " Spirit of Reform" do her rulers wish to take shape amongst them Choice yet remains, But for how long?
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Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.