Lord Macualay, a historian and Whig politician, was an active supporter of reform of
the British Parliament. Until the Reform Bill, the House of Commons had been elected in
almost completely non-democratic ways. The 1832 Bill did not create a democracy, but it
did enfranchise the British middle class. The process of extending the franchise continued
for almost a hundred years, until women were given equal access to the vote.
On Lord John Russell's motion for leave to bring in a Bill to amend the
Representation of the People of England and Wales.
It is a circumstance, sir, of happy augury for the measure before the House, that
almost all those who have opposed it have declared themselves altogether hostile to the
principle of Reform. Two members, I think, have professed, that though they disapprove of
the plan now submitted to us, they yet conceive some alteration of the representative
system to be advisable. Yet even those gentlemen have used, so far as I have observed, no
arguments which would not apply as strongly to the most moderate change as to that which
has been proposed by his Majesty's Government. I say, sir, that I consider this as a
circumstance of happy augury. For what I feared was, not the opposition of those who
shrink from all reform, but the disunion of reformers. I knew that during three months
every reformer had been employed in conjecturing what the plan of the Government would be.
I knew that every reformer had imagined in his own mind a scheme differing, doubtless, in
some points from that which my noble friend the Paymaster of the Forces (Lord John
Russell) has developed. I felt, therefore, great apprehension that one person would be
dissatisfied with one part of the Bill, that another person would be dissatisfied with
another part, and that thus our whole strength would be wasted in internal dissensions.
That apprehension is now at an end. I have seen with delight the perfect concord which
prevails among all who deserve the name of reformers in this House, and I trust that I may
consider it as an omen of the concord which will prevail among reformers throughout the
country.
I will not, sir, at present express any opinion as to the details of the Bill; but
having during the last twenty-four hours given the most diligent consideration to its
general principles, I have no hesitation in pronouncing it a wise, noble, and
comprehensive measure, skilfully framed for the healing of great distempers, for the
securing at once of the public liberties and of the public repose, and for the reconciling
and knitting together of all the orders of the State. The hon. baronet (Sir John Walsh)
who has just sat down has told us that the Ministers have attempted to unite two
inconsistent principles in one abortive measure. He thinks, if I understand him rightly,
that they ought either to leave the representative system such as it is, or to make it
symmetrical. I think, sir, that they would have acted unwisely if they had taken either of
these courses. Their principle is plain, rational, and consistent. It is this-to admit the
middle class to a large and direct share in the representation, without any violent shock
to the institutions of our country....
…I praise the Ministers for not attempting, under existing circumstances, to make
the representation uniform - I praise them for not effacing the old distinction between
the towns and the counties-for not assigning members to districts, according to the
American practice, by the rule of three. They have done all that was necessary for the
removing of a great practical evil, and no more than was necessary....
... I believe that there are societies in which every man may safely be admitted to
vote.... I say, sir, that there are countries in which the condition of the
labouring-classes is such that they may safely be intrusted with the right of electing
members of the Legislature. If the labourers of England were in that state in which I,
from my soul, wish to see them-if employment were always plentiful, wages always high,
food always cheap - If a large family were considered not as an incumbrance but as a
blessing-the principal objections to universal suffrage would, I think, be removed.
Universal suffrage exists in the United States without producing any very frightful
consequences; and I do not believe that the people of those States, or of any part of the
world, are in any good quality naturally superior to our own countrymen. But, unhappily,
the lower orders in England, and in all old countries, are occasionally in a state of
great distress....
For the sake, therefore, of the whole society, for the sake of the labouring-classes
themselves, I hold it to be clearly expedient that, in a country like this, the right of
suffrage should depend on a pecuniary qualification. Every argument, sir, which would
induce me to oppose universal suffrage, induces me to support the measure which is now
before us. I oppose universal suffrage, because I think that it would produce a
destructive revolution. I support this measure, because I am sure that it is our best
security against a revolution....
... I support this measure as a measure of reform; but I support it still more as a
measure of conservation. That we may exclude those whom it is necessary to exclude, we
must admit those whom it may be safe to admit....
My hon. friend the member of the University of Oxford tells us that, if we pass this
law, England will soon be a Republic. The reformed House of Commons will, according to
him, before it has sat ten years, depose the King, and expel the Lords from their House.
Sir, if my hon. friend could prove this, he would have succeeded in bringing an argument
for democracy infinitely stronger than any that is to be found in the works of Paine. His
proposition is, in fact, this-that our monarchical and aristocratical institutions have no
hold on the public mind of England; that these institutions are regarded with aversion by
a decided majority of the middle class.... Now, sir, if I were convinced that the great
body of the middle class in England look with aversion on monarchy and aristocracy, I
should be forced, much against my will, to come to this conclusion, that monarchical and
artstocratical institutions are unsuited to this country. Monarchy and aristocracy,
valuable and useful as I think them, are still valuable and useful as means, and not as
ends. The end of government is the happiness of the people; and I do not conceive that, in
a country like this, the happiness of the people can be promoted by a form of government
in which the middle classes place no confidence, and which exists only because the middle
classes have no organ by which to make their sentiments known. But, sir, I am fully
convinced that the middle classes sincerely wish to uphold the royal prerogatives, and the
constitutional rights of the Peers....
... Is it possible that gentlemen long versed in high political affairs cannot read
these signs? Is it possible that they can really believe that the representative system of
England, such as it now is, will last till the year 1860? If not, for what would they have
us wait? Would they have us wait merely that we may show to all the world how little we
have profited by our own recent experience? Would they have us wait that we may once again
hit the exact point where we can neither refuse with authority nor concede with grace?
Would they have us wait that the numbers of the discontented party may become larger, its
demands higher, its feelings more acrimonious, its organisation more complete? Would they
have us wait till the whole tragi-comedy of 1827 has been acted over again-till they have
been brought into office by a cry of "No Reform!" to be reformers, as they were
once before brought into office by a cry of "No Popery!" to be emancipators?
Have they obliterated from their minds-gladly, perhaps, would some among them obliterate
from their minds-the transactions of that year? And have they forgotten all the
transactions of the succeeding year? Have they forgotten how the spirit of liberty in
Ireland, debarred from its natural outlet, found a vent by forbidden passages? Have they
forgotten how we were forced to indulge the Catholics in all the license of rebels, merely
because we chose to withhold from them the liberties of subjects? Do they wait for
associations more formidable than that of the Corn Exchange, for contributions larger than
the rent-for agitators more violent than those who, three years ago, divided, with the
King and the Parliament, the sovereignty of Ireland? Do they wait for that last and most
dreadful paroxysm of popular rage-for that last and most cruel test of military fidelity?
Let them wait, if their past experience shall induce them to think that any high honour or
any exquisite pleasure is to be obtained by a policy like this. Let them wait, if this
strange and fearful infatuation be indeed upon them, that they should not see with their
eyes, or hear with their ears, or understand with their heart.
But let us know our interest and our duty better. Turn where we may-within, around-the
voice of great events is proclaiming to us, "Reform, that you may preserve."
Now, therefore, while everything at home and abroad forebodes ruin to those who persist in
a hopeless struggle against the spirit of the age; now, while the crash of the proudest
throne of the Continent is still resounding in our cars; ... now, while the heart of
England is still sound; now, while the old feelings and the old associations retain a
power and a charm which may too soon pass away; now, in this your accepted time; now, in
this your day of salvation, take counsel, not of prejudice, not of party spirit, not of
the ignominious pride of a fatal consistency, but of history, of reason, of the ages which
are past, of the signs of this most portentous time. Pronounce in a manner worthy of the
expectation with which this great debate has been anticipated, and of the long remembrance
which it will leave behind. Renew the youth of' the State. Save property divided against
itself. Save the multitude, endangered by their own ungovernable passions. Save the
aristocracy, endangered by its own unpopular power. Save the greatest, and fairest, and
most highly, civilised community that ever existed, from calamities which may lit a few
days sweep away all the rich heritage of so many ages of wisdom and glory. The danger is
terrible. The time is short. If this Bill should be rejected, I pray to God that none of'
those who concur in rejecting it may ever remember their votes with unavailing regret,
amidst the wreck of laws, the confusion of ranks, the spoliation of property, and the
dissolution of social order.
Source:
From Thomas Babington Macaulay, Speeches, Parliamentary and Miscellaneous (London:
H. Vizetelly, 1853), Vol. 1, pp. 11-14, 20-21, 25 26.
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