Page:Australian views of England.djvu/24

  The reply sent by Mr, Miall, one of the most thoughtful and conscientious of the extreme Liberals, supplies a striking confirmation of the opinion I expressed In my letter by last mail of the demoralised state of political feeling in England. For this reason I copy the letter as it appears in the papers.

"The Firs, Upper Norwood,&emsp; "November 16, 1861. ",

"I am afraid I shall have to plead guilty to the charge of paying but too little attention to the dates fixed upon for the Reform Conference at Leeds. I saw by your note of invitation that it was to be held 'next week,' but knowing that it would be impossible for me to be present, I did not notice the details announced in the programme on which that note was written, until too late for my reply to reach you on the 18th. I beg most heartily to apologise for this mishap.

"I need hardly assure you of my earnest wishes that the Conference may prove the means of reawakening a Reform feeling in the popular mind. Till we have an infusion of fresh blood into the constituent body, no great good can be expected from Parliament. But I freely confess my conviction that until the people of the country are un-Palmerstonised, I do not anticipate there will be any great earnestness on the question, so far as they are concerned. When a whole country gives itself up to 'a strong delusion,' under the influence of which they can almost complacently throw away millions sterling upon armaments of all kinds, not excepting fortifications, at the mere bidding of a popular, because plucky, Premier, I am sometimes tempted to suspect that even a large Parliamentary Reform will hardly go deep enough to cure the evil, and that the first and most important change required is a change in the