The Express.
London, England, 1852-07-26 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY, JULY 26.

DIFFERENCE of opinion may exist as to the effect
which the general election, now drawing to a close,
will have on the position and prospects of parties
and political leaders. Bat there is one tact made
clear by the tone and tenor of all the elections that
have taken place, respecting which there can be only
one opinion ; and that is the pervading, enduring,
irreinoveable hold which Liberal principles have
taken upon the public mind. Mr. CoaDEN said to
the crowd assembled at the nomination for the West
Riding, "We are all Free-traders now," and not •
voice was raised—neither from the hustings nor
from below—to contradict him. And in the mum
manner it might have been declared, without risk of
provoking dissent, at every nomination throughout
the United Kingdom. " We are all Reformers now."
In so far as Ministers and their partisans Sr.
concerned. the practical value of their liberal
and reforming professions is perfectly well known.
Nobody is deceived by them ' • nobody looks for
real substantial reform from such hands. But
still the affected indignation of the Derbyites
at being charged with hostility to Liberal and
Reform principles, their admissions that there are
many things in our institutions that need to be
amended, their protestations of eagerness to contri-
bute to the amendment of all proved abuses, have a
value of its kind. Like all other hypocrisies, they
are a homage reluctantly paid by rice to virtue.
They show that liberal opinion, the determination of
the people to obtain reforms, are so strong, so ardent,
that no politician who seeks for public confidence
dare oppose them. In the same manner u reformed
biblical religion and the principles of the re' olution
of 1688 have become part of the popular creed—
axioms in religion and politics which all agree to
take for granted—so it is clear from the elections ter-
minated or in progress that the principles professed
by the Reform Bill Ministry in 1830 are henceforth
to be considered indisputable—fundamental points of
belief to be acted upon, not criticised or contro-
verted.
In those constituencies in which the Derhyites
have carried the day, the successful candidates have
been obliged to pronounce the Shiboleth of—free trade,
the abolition of electoral abuses, law reform, economy
in the public expenditure, and reduction of taxation
and equalisation of its pressure. With most of the
candidates, and with many of their voters, such pro-
fessions were doubtless no better than empty gri-
mace. But men do not affect a character different
from their real one without good cause; and the
cause of the Derbyitc hypocrisy on the occasions ad-
verted to was the knowledge of the storm of public
indignation that the use of any other language would
have brought down upon their heads.
Nor is this aIL With a majority of the consti-
tuencies, this word-homage to sound political princi-
ple has proved unavailing. Mere professions of
liberalism and attachment to reform were not
enough. The Tory dews wearing these borrowed
plumes were unmercifully stripped, and the real
owners of such feathers chosen in preference.
That mere conformers, mere empty praters about
reform and justice to the people, should have been in
so many instances elected, is no proof that the public
seal in behalf of these objects is cooling. The people
feel convinced that no body of men have it in their
power to undo what has been done in the way of
reform. There were no specific reforms pot forth to
be struggled for at the elections. Benin a certain
amount of inertion on the part of Reformers, which
the Derbvites have turned to account. But let Lord
DERRY and his colleagues make one attempt to retro-
grade into the old practices of Toryism, the spirit of
reform will be rekindled with tenfold intensity. The
result of the elections in all the centres of keen poli-
tical feeling sufficiently proves that this would be the

In Middlesex, an insidious attempt to unseat an
efleient Reformer, by raift a prejudice against him
on a question regarding all Englishmen are
at one, by gross misrepreneotadens, alarmed the Libe-
rals, and was signally daketed. In tho West Riding
and in Birmingham the Tories did not venture to
make an appearance even in their mosed
slander. At Manchester and Glasgow
t=
proveited contests whisk only showed
weehasse. In these parkas communities whisk
was the centres and •011111115 of action during dm
Mom Bill and antiarra.law struggles, there is
not sal, that passive detsreskatioa to hear at on
retrograde monment whisk penalise all the rest et
the empire; then is a sisepiess *bap of all who
ban onatimmermesed the pagan d Lineal opinions, a
to miss amensee inlay sure by
seined% ane bat tried kalemare with the tosit
=ardent, labia the dialing pada
et hostility to it on the pert of ma
is ppoewworor mold Man through the whole nation.
Wborver bib the rein el vvanesst mot be
so content to do on the ass at
those reform spas whisk the people havell=
hearts. bastion will set Lug be Iskratedoshstkir
it mead lam be_ or almobring Aar old
dam The MISR -blinalso--esee inorable
mite et *slug assimptian—anot bo animated.
The power at Wake sr imam mot
be wanted kin Ile heeds et the weakly and
vemessemay pails angealibm mot
CligtelLeit basil maim edhosedes kr &ab
tsred by tho high ma be intiodneel The
obey et ear eereta et kw ant be increased; this
einem and Allays iaii I the law they admi-
nister rendered more ample, more intelligible, mare
eousenant to the dared videos et moiety sail
more ealightend moslity that panda IL The
powers of local asitgewaramsat aid be extondedoni
as eSsinteastrelnor load Falk expeuditure eroded

la tbeiriza. A awe illeleat isd trustworthy
heal mg be ealedatted for " the great
All esehelaThel abases mist be hosed.
rahremei The pigsties et Iketresade
TT* be tbarougbly aebreei. Tha swum dSe
pleb& to see these amelioratlese remind im liseamiag
Impatience. A do-aotlabeg shalatry TM met be
tolerated.

Thus are the rocks a-bead of the ineenmetent and
unprincipled men who have crept into idles. Even
with the support of a venal majority in the Home of
Coollloll/ they would be unable to keep their ground
against the earnest determination which prevails
out of doors to obtain these reforms. The public
will not be diverted from their purpose by hollow
and irrelevant cries about Maynooth, or by captions
criticisms of the abilities and judgment of nval states-
men. They will not patiently submit to the
retention of office by fawning parasites of foreign
despot& like the Earl of MALHEUR:HT—trafficking
in electoral corruption and hustings bullies like the
Szeu W rr•ae at as—dealers in phrases ss empty
as they are sonorous, like the CHANCELLOR of the
EXCHEQUER They will have men who are in
earnest to uphold what is free and liberal in our
institutions, and to amend what is amiss in them,
and who have the ability to accomplish those ends.
There is one device to which the Derbyites are
disposed to have recourse, which cannot be too early
or too perseveringly exposed. It is the imputation
of disloyalty to all who distrust or oppose them.
They affect to set themselves forward ea the exclusive
champions of the monarchy,and impute republican ten-
deficits and leanings to all their opponents. Such pre-
trues are not addressed to the people. Englishmen
love a hereditary monarchy on principle because they
know and feel the advantages it possums over any
form of government in which the chief magistrate is
elective. They know that a tempered aristocracy is
required to serve u buttresses and props to the
monarchy. They are, therefore, devotedly attached
to the constitution, let the personal character of the
reigning monarch be what it will. And at present the
high pnneiples and amiable demeanor of the reign-
ing Sovereign have elevated this enduring loyalty
to a pitch of enthusiastic love. The Ikrbyite
protestations of exclusive loyalty are not ad-
dressed to the people; they are insidious appeals
to the court—attempts to breed distrust of her people
in tho breast of oar Sovereign. But her own clear ,

judgment and her experience of the people's love
will defeat the base and unprincipled attempt. That
it has been made, however, is a ground for undying
hostility to those who have as& it. There pa be
no reconcilement with those who, to serve their own
selfish and sinister ambition, have dared to think of
sowing the seeds of dimension between the people
and the Crown.

" A coon and safe man, with judgment and quick-
' nese, is wanted immediately at Derby." These are
the words of • letter found on the person of a man
arrested in the act of bribing electors at Derby,
signed "W. 8.," and which the secretary of the late
Reading and Reigate Railway Company declares he
has not the slightest doubt is in the handwriting of
Major WILLIAM BERFJPORD, now Secretary at War,
formerly chairman of that company. The gallant
major might have written—" A good and sale arm
'is wanted immediately for Derby ;" for Illmedl7
there never was a Ministry so utterly doodle's of
such a character—whose members showed se Emelt
taste and talent for getting into serapes, es the
egregious gentlemen whom Lord DESIST hes ame-
elated with him in the arduous task of
this country. Lord MaLstatn nite wean=
to have attained to a climax in minisha-
rial blundering, but Major BIRESTORD has outclass
him. A pleasant personal question tor Ministered&
letter will give rise to at the opening of parlianmat.
It will be edifying to watch the fluttering and Ilona-
dering of the SeeILgTART at WAS and his collegian.
In the meantime, we feel disposed to urge • paw
ttcal application of this flagrant ease of Ministerial
corruption; viewing it in connexion with the Duke of
NORTHUMBERLAND. proceedings in the dockyard
boroughs, and in his county of North Northumber-
land.
A morning contemporary is extremely scandalised
—well he may—with these samples of Ministerial
electioneering, and is loud and indignant in his
denunciations of them. Apropos, of North North-
umberland, the journal to which we allude
takes care to hint that the hands of the
Whigs are not much cleaner than these of the Der-
belies. But, like Lord Jong RUSSELL and Sir
fixonos GREY, it will not hear of the ballot as a
remedy for these abuses, though neither the news-
paper nor the statesmen have any other to offer in
lieu of it.
Where is the use of indignant or pathetic denun-
ciations of corruption and intimidation by men who
will take no steps to prevent or lessen the evil ?
They are mere cant ; mere appeals ad inrilians to
render political rivals odious. Men who proclaim
that such malpractices exist, yet will take no steps
to prevent their recurrence, do not hate the abuse ;
they only envy their adversaries the advantage
they derive from it. They rail at others for doing
what they would gladly do themselves.
But the people have a vital interest in the extinc-
tion of these abuses; and the people, it is clear,
must take the work into their own hands. Political
leaders will not denude themselves of such a potent
instrument for the attainment of power, of such a
popular topic for criminating their rivals, of such a
fertile theme for popular declamation, as electioneering
mal-practices. Corruption and intimidation of electors
are valuable political capital ; the majority can use
them, the minority can affect a virtuous indignation
at them. But neither will abolish them; that the
people must do, or it will be left undone.
Now there is no need for instituting analytical
comparisons between the efficacy of secret voting to
render electoral corruption and intimidation impossi
ble, or at least to confine them within much narrower
limits, and any other means of accomplishing that
end. They who affect to disbelieve the efficacy cf
the ballot offer us no substitute for it.

The arguments in support of the ballot, or secret
voting, rest upon broad genersl principles. The
soundness of these principles is not, or is at most
but faintly denied. The objections to ballot or
secret voting rest upon special difficulties or points
of detaiL It is denied that any means of ensuring
secret voting can be devised ; it is alleged that there
will be great hardship in compelling those who would
vote openly to do so in secret; it is alleged that the'
elective franchise is a trust, and that the non-elec-
tors have a right to know how it is exercised.
With regard to the pretext that no means for en-
suing secret voting can be devised, that is a ques-
tion that can only be settled by experiment. If there
is no other objection to vote by ballot, let us try. If,
upon trial, it is found that secrecy is unattainable, why
then we may and must revert to open voting. But
it is childish folly, with a good of possible attainment
before our eyes, to remain inactive simply because
there is a chance of failure.

With regard to the hardship of compelling those
to vote in secret who would fain vote openly, it will
suffice to remark that those who are so anxious to
vote openly seek at best the gratification of an os-
tentatious display of partisanship. Now, this is an
innocent enough vanity, and might be indulged if
that were possible without entailing real hardship
and suffering upon others. But can it for a moment
be listened to, that A shall be allowed to strut
and show his plumes when this can only be done
by subjecting B, C, and so on through all the
other letters of the alphabet, to intimidation,
the seductive influence of bribery, and moral
' degradation ? But the desire to vote openly is some-
times prompted by motives lees venal than mere
vaidly—by a desire to earn, corruptly, patronage and
Apia, there are many who take upon
to claim tie privilege of open voting in the
=an of porgies who are most annoys to obtain the
, AIM of the ballet.

The answer to those who opook of the fran-
chise as a trust, and therein) .10 be exercised
openly, is equally simple and otedusive so in the
two preceding eases. If the framnise is held in
trust for the non.electors, and it the non-eleeton
have a right to know how it is not wised, then the
non-elector, have a right to dials bow it shall
be exercised. Merely to let Was know how
it is exercised, without girls, tea say control
denied the se issapdge elezerehlog it,
over its ezeroin,ftS neeksoy. If the aswwlestoes
are
them it is injudicious down= to gin theta say
envoi over itsatoreima. If tley are the bast judges
how it ought Se he emeliod, it would be better to
give them the bessldes at owe. If they can be
trusted with the power of dooking how oaten are
M vote, they aegis trusted whit Ile power of vot-
ing. There wall be no boodeldp or *jostles in
allowing them to vote as they pines; bat then is
hardship and injustice in empowesiwthsm to sow
pel others to vote against their crint. Dais,
the only means which non-electors haw of esoipel.
ling elector, to vote is accordesse with
their wishes is be violence and intimidation.
This theory of • the franchise, when vested
in a limited electoral body, being a trust'
that ought to be exercised for the whole community,
in accordance with the views and wishes of the
whole community, if true, is a good reason for ex-
tending the franchise, but not for withholding the
ballot.

The argument foe the adoption of the ballot is
simply as follows :—lt is the duty of every elector to
give his vote for the candidate whom he oonscien-
dansly believes to be the most capable and trust-
worthy.. If the elector gives his vote openly, he is
exposed to a variety of biasses. He may wish to
conciliate a wealthy or powerful candidate; he may
wish to conciliate the good-will of the multitude.
Under the influence of these and similar motives, he
may be induced to rotator the candidate whom iu his
heart he believes to be the least eligible. But when
ho deposits his vote in secret—with no witnesses but
OOD and his own conscience—he is treed from such
disturbing influences. The secret vote is much more
likely to be an honest and conscientious vote than the
public one, because the elector cannot possibly lose
or gain anything by giving it, except in so far as he
must bee gainer by the election of the beet candi-
date. _ _ _

We have omitted to advert to an argument against
the ballot that is sometimes seed. It is alleged that
inasmuch as the electors of a member of parliament
have a right to know how he discharges his trust,
so the member of parliament has a right to know
whether or not the electors are satisfied with him.
But he can learn this by the result of the ballot.
That will show him—not, indeed, how Tow, or Dim,
or HARRY, are satisfied with him, in order that be
way be able to pick a quarrel with Tow, or Dicx, or
HARRY—but it will show him how the aggregate
body of electors are satisfied with him ; and that
is all he needs, or has a right to kuo w.

SOUTH STAFFORDSHIRE RAILWAT.—The loop
line to unite with the Stour Valley Railway will be cow-
platod iu a few days.