The Press. — London, England, 1858-07-24 00:00:00

;~ (i~B is now certain and serious among the Liberals This makes the plaition of the Government greatly stronger. But, then, if some of the Liberals refuse to follow Lord PALWEINTON any longer—declaring that " he is no trite Liberal " there are also those among the Consrvatives4o begin to fear for the truth and faisikraWess of t h e Government, and to ask, " Is it sincerely Con servative?" As another instance and proof tic these at tracting doubts, we observe, while we write, that Mr. G. C. GLYN has just visited his e(onstitttents, and "referring to the present position of the "Government, he charged them with sacrificing "principle to place, and honesty to expediency : " adding that they were led to a very great extent "by a man whom he respected, but whose prin. " aples he did not think conducive to the dignity "or honour of this country ; he meant Mr. " BRIGHT." Now Mr. GLYN is not a sharp and unscrupulous assailant—a Duncomhe or a Roebuck. And we are sorry to find that such a man can deem it at all justifiable to represent to his constituents, that a Derby Administration is " led to a very great "extent by Mr. BRIGHT." Not that we give any credence to the story; but that we regret that it should be possible to moot such a supposition in the hearing of an English audience, without raising shouts of unextinguishable laughter. Mr. BRIGHT we believe to be a sturdy English Round head. He would have no Established Church ; he would have no House of Lords; and we doubt if he would allow more than a life interest to the present occupant of the Throne. Is it not strange, therefore, to hear such a supposition, as that Mr. BRIGHT leads the present Administration, put forward without being instantly hooted at as a monstrous absurdity ? Lord PALMERSTON, however, is cashiered----he is past and gone, as a leader of the Liberals. It scarcely seems a possibility that he should ever regain the confidence of that party. Lord DERBY, on the other hand, has advanced—has immensely advanced, during the last three months—in every point except one. But the surrender of that one point—a point on which many hearts were set—has deeply grieved many of his best supporters. And in this doubtful and divided condition, Parliament is about to separate, and a six months' vacation to commence, during which, preparations, on both aides, of the most critical importance, will be made, to meet Parliament, in January next, under other and probably very different circumstances. "LEGAL TRAVELLING EXPENSES." THE House of Commons has recently been puz zling itself very unnecessarily over a question which, taken hold of by the wrong end, proves itself a very difficult one, but which, if rightly handled, might be solved in a moment. Property in England being widely distributed, in large and small parcels, among the middle classes, it follows of necessity that the persons entitled to vote in counties in right of property are found scattered all over the kingdom. In Middlesex, for instance, there are, we believe, some 1,200 or 1,500 voters registered, whose resi dences are in various places, far from Middlesex. Scotland and Ireland, France and Germany, contain registered voters for Middlesex. And hence, when an election takes place, the question immediately arises,—lf these electors are to be brought up to Middlesex to give their votes, at whose expense are the journeys to be performed ? Two brothers, resident in Durham, write up to the committee to say that they are quite wil ling to come up and give their votes for Lord R. CatosvErion, or Lord CHELSEA, but that the journey and return will cost, for the two, about 151. Will the committee defray that expense ? hitherto the answer has generally been—" Yes, all legal expenses will be paid" ; and thus, in every Middlesex contest, the mere item of tra velling expenses for "out-county voters" has always amounted to several hundreds of pounds. Within the last year or two this question has been mooted in the courts of law, and so much doubt has been thrown upon it that a new Act of Parliament seemed necessary; and, accor dingly, the House of Commons has recently been mumbling and chewing this hard morsel—What arc "legal travelling expenses," and how are they to be paid ? Yet, surely, a looker-on from a distance would be very apt to airy, What an idle and foolish dis cussion I " Travelling expenses !"—why travel ? Do railway conipanies oblige their sharehold to come from ell parts of England to give th votes ? No, indeed, they are not so silly. Th have provided fir the coma by an Act of Parr •i , ment. They have got stamped proxies; and thus, for a few pounds, the Whole thing is better done than it could be kiy thIS outlay of hundreds. And, with this example before them, bow is it that members of Parliament cannot have regard enough to their own pockets, and to the pockets of their friends and supporters, to frame a similar system ?" But would not this "open the door to elec tioneering frauds " ? Most certainly not. The door for such frauds cannot be opened any wider than it is at present. For instance, at a Middle sex election, a booth is opened on the highway at Charing-cross, and six clerks are placed there to receive any votes that offer. The list of voters who have a right to poll at that booth contains the names of persons residing in every county in England, all of whom are utterly unknown to the poll-clerks. A respectable-looking man ap pears at the polling-desk. " Your name, sir ?" John Simpson." " Your number ?" " 3,241." " Oh, John Simpson, Bicester, Oxon ?" " Yes." The name is entered. " Who do you poll %I.?" "Lord —or Mr. —." A declaration (no oath) is given, and all is done. Now we ask, supposing the disposition to commit a fraud to exist, how is it possible to offer greater facilities than those which here exist ? Let any man o f loose morals desire to help any one of the can didates at a Middlesex election, and he has only to select his assumed names well from the re sister of voters, and poll early, and he may give, if he pleases, a vote, in different names, at each of the twelve or fourteen polling-places before two o'clock on the day of election. Voting by proxy might be fenced round with many more defences than now exist in the case of voters in person. Voters at the poll-book, as at present, are wholly unknpwn to the vote-takers, in 99 cases of 100. gut'Soters by proxy might be forced to sign the parchment-proxies, in the presence of a magistrate to whom they were personally known. That magistrate might then be empowered and enjoined himself to transmit the vote by post to the returning officer. In every respect, this way of voting might be made far more safe than the present mode; and by this course, the two brothers at Durham, whose case we have above described, might record their votes for their favourite candidate at a cost of 10s.,—instead of spending three days in a journey, and incurring an outlay of 1.51. Why is not so simple a remedy at once applied ? Is it from a lurking fear, anywhere, of making elections too cheap ? This can hardly be the case, for, of late, county election-bills have shown such a tendency to increase in amount, as to call loudly for some check. We can perceive no other reason for the neglect than this—that Govern ments are overworked, and active members of Parliament are too busy ; and so the thing is left undone. But, surely, it is a stranse specimen of the skill and contrivance of the nineteenth cen tury, that a man in Orkney or in Berlin, having a vote for Norfolk, and wishing much to give it to his friend, should have no other means of performing an act which occupies one minute, than by taking a journey of3oo or 400 miles, and back, to do that which might be better done by a properly attested Power of Attorney. AN EMBANKMENT OF THE THAMES. Tak Main Drainage of London will now be taken in hand, and before July in 1859 great works in tunnelling will be in progress in many parts of London. And this will render it abso lutely necessary to decide, once for all, on the subject which we have placed at the head of this article. If an Embankment of the Thames is to take place at all, it must be decided upon now. If the Main Drainage is effected without an embankment, then an embankment we shall never sec. That . an immesh*, matter , " But, as diffteulf Board but it of the Theie . owlish or thrge these, it it would work. An . important it almost Board to Will miles of , one, but it wouli main difficulty the course it now - fingers, all Some of these wharf be innumerab) enough to fortune An large twill) series of • date the thirdly, the public effected, stopping being. permit, , a liberal perhaps Probably mere mason three - hazardous banded • we ought meat without outlay - We We do thrown prudent, ._ an undertaking, Board money Would for five years it would was so Dublin and ehester, Would of Q. or has been Drainage, of sheer the river was not ' ) iipply a l eeived • still larger additional required There is prodigiously by an f similar that tax made several remain and the means Embankment could be calmly inhabitants the a great - tax remain, So thinking, ginning , be submi other pal the coal-t effect this want. B€ Metropolitan iat an Emlnealtment of the river would b e =ewe improvement of the Metropoli s , i s a er about which there cannot be two opinions, as the advantage would be great, so are the aides great also. In the Metropolitan I of Works the question was ofte n mooted; t was , always put down by th e remonstraneeß e pider and mbre experienced members,e always urged that the Board h a d qu i te gh before it, in the Main Drainage, and tw o rep new streets ; and that if, in addition to it undertook an Embankment of the river, ald l iebn find itself overwhelmed with the Embankment of the river is so great and tint a question, that, if undertaken at all, nost dbserves, and requires, a separate or Commission. If the task were merely Id quays and terraces along two or three of naked banks, the wogriTtpuld be a great ait it would be of a simple elmiracter. The difficulty in the case as it exists, is, that in kurse of two or three miles of the river, r runs, you find four or five hundred what.. s, all whose claims you have to deal with. of these will demand 20,0001. for a single Aad law suits and Chancery suits will Lumerable. The soliCitor who was happy h to be employed, would make a decent to in the next five years. Embankturnt i i niplies, of course, first, a tunnel, to , carry oft the sewage; then a of wharfs, shrove the tunnel, to accommo- he riverside trade of t the,inetropolis ; and ', a carriage-way, above all, for the nse Lblic at large.. Now, all this could not be d, in front of any exititing:Wharg without ng the trade of that.~ for the time And this stoppage, the owner would not t, unless you bought his wharf or gave him ral compensation for the stoppage and is destruction of his trade. bably —we speak unprofessionally the nation's work might be effected for two or millions sterling. But it would be lons to estimate the compensation. de- xl at less than an equal amount. Hence ;ht not to think :OC.* Thames. Embank- without associating with it the idea et:an of five millions sterling. do not say that this ought to deillifitel• not think that five millions wad& he a away on such a work. But it wcwaid be it, before seriously contemplating such [dertaking, to ask, as the . Metropolitan of Works has asked, " Where is the to come from ?" aid Parliamenycite it Million per annum e.37ears for melt a work We strppose that la not„'isiii-iTetV the hale FprLondon 30 imfor6ved lit The cost of the nation, and flAinburgh, mid Glas)glits end Man- r, would soon claim td 'belittle:Med also. aid the metropolis submit tq . another rate or 6d. in the pound ? A threepenny rate een quit* contemplated for the Main ige, becanse that work was regarded as one !I' necessity. To go on as we were, with rer emitting a fearful stench every summer. it to be thought of. So the proposal to a remedy at a cost of 3,000,0001. was re- without a dissentient voice. But would a rger rate be for submitted to—an .nal rate, and for a matter not absolutely ed ? We think that it would not. re remains only one other course. rark Ligiously Unproved, chiefly by funds raised octroi. In London we have only. one • tax—that upon coals. By the aid of x we have built one noble bridge, and several new streets. Only , let that tax as it av for another thirty er . ikeif years, ie means are at once' plowed for an 'lament of the Thames. If this question be calmly put to the most intelligent rants of the metropolis, we believe that t majority would reply i —Let the ca- non - 4 and let the river be embanked, pinking, we should be glad if; at the be- st of the next session, the question could imitted to the London Corporation mid public bodies, whether, in their opinion, il-duties might be continued, in order to his particular object. But here we feel a Beside the London Corporation and the iolitan Board of Works, we have scarcely