The Press.
London, England, 1857-01-10 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

new in it; but I now proceed to make a proposal
which I have not seen before, and which dovetails
with the main object I have in view.
It is clear that. if the franchise I propose were
adopted, the number of electors in the kingdom
would bo ascertained from the books of the tax col-
lectors by a little clerkly trouble. Suppose it done,
and, for precision sake, let us assume the aggregate
to be 2,000,000. Divide this sum by the number of
members of Parliament in the present house—viz.,
034—and you will have 3,154, or roundly 3,000, as
the average constituency to return a member. Now
go hack to the counties, and get hold, in the case of
each, of all its collection-books. That done, find how
many there are within the bounds of each county who
have the income-tax qualification : divide their num-
ber by 3,000, and you will find the number of
members of Parliament to which each county, with
the towns it contains, is entitled.
The next step is to divide the counties into
electoral districts, and to distribute the right of
electing the members in as just a way as local cir-
cumstances will permit. Here I despair of theoreti-
cal justice. as it would confuse ancient territorial
arrangements, and necessitate some troublesome
geometrical geography. But a much nearer approxi-
mation may be obtained to justice than under the
present system, with no farther inconvenience than
an alteration of the spick•and-span arrangements of
1832, which confused most of the ancient landmarks
of the country. And I do not see any necessity for
insisting on the maintenance of the distinction of
town and county members; but where it can be done
without disturbing any arrangement existing prior to
1832, I should like to see the distinction rounded off,
or even obliterated, so that the members elected by
the voters within the county bounds might feel that
they were as much town as county members, as
much representatives of the commerce as of the
agriculture of the kingdom.
One exception only my plan desiderates, and that
is in the case of London. Wealth there is so concen-
trated that my system would give the metropolis one-
fourth the representation of the kingdom. To that
London is not entitled, being already better repre-
sented than any other place ; for every member of
Parliament, when once he comes to Westminster,
besides being member for his own constituency,
becomes a representative of London, and the aggre-
gate Parliament attend to its interests with a solici-
tude which the rest of the nation may well consider
exaggerated.
But even although no additional members were
given to the metropolitan constituencies, my plan
involves a greater change in the constitution of the
electoral body than the simple demand of an addi-
tional fifty members to which I think the counties
should restrict themselves. But a party may
have a Utopian theory besides its practical one.
The one the limit of what they ask, the other the
minimum which they will consent to take—the one
proposing an adjustment to last till the millenium,
and, therefore, based on a qualification likely to last
the interval; the other content with an adjustment
which will stand together for fifty years.
But let me not be mistaken. I have no strong
conviction of the wisdom of my plan, and no great
wish to see it put in practice. If any one can shape
it to practice he is welcome; but at the best it is
simply a theory, and there is no obligation on any
one to take it up. But the disfranchisement of the
counties is a wrong, and men are not morally at
liberty to let a wrong alone, but are under the
obligation to give redress by every effort within the
limits of their legal powers ; and, therefore, it is the
duty of the English as a nation to redress the wrong
done by the Reform Bill to the county constituen-
cies. More particularly is it the duty of those who
hitherto have profited by the wrong, and of the
whole body of Whigs. who have been professing
principles of justice and equity since they first began
to attend to their private ends.—l am, Sc.,
J. A. G.

LAW APPOINTMENTS.
TO THE EDITOR OF " THE FRESS."

Sir,—The subject to which in your paper of the
23rd ult. "A Solicitor" drew your attention and that
of the public, is one of the greatest importance.
One would think that a chief qualification for a judge
or law officer should be purity of moral character.
To reprove and punish vice and crime, and to avoid a
gross inconsistency, we want, it is true, good lawyers ;
hut no less should they be good men. So long as
these can be obtained, we do not want persons
of notoriously immoral habits condemning to
severe punishment men from whom they differ
only in the accident of birth ; we do
not want a commissioner of bankruptcy, who
sheltered himself from arrest under the much-
abused privilege of a member of Parliament, and
who, on obtaining his appointment, was obliged to
stipulate with his creditors for a payment to them
of a portion of his salary ; we do not want a Crown
officer, who from his immoral life is so deeply in-
volved in debt, that he is compelled to have a receiver

SATURDAY,

of his fees appointed, and who accepts from his
creditors a salary out of his own earnings. Such men
ought to be left to metropolitan and other liberal
constituencies, who care not for independence or
purity of character, and seek only for delegates
having little or no status in the country, and
who will promise anything on the hustings
that they may acquire the right to put M.P.
after their names, and turn it to their own advantage.
And this is one cause of the number of the bad and
inefficient laws which are passed; such men take no
interest in the good of the country.
You, sir, deserve the thanks of the public for your
attention to this subject.—l am, sir, your obedient
servant,
Dec. 26, 1856.

lertign Q,;orrtspont tutt.

(From a Correspondent.)

PARIS, JANUARY R.
AT last the Moniteur has announced the settlement.
of the questions which for ten months have kept
Europe in perplexity. Russia (as I told you last
week would be the case) gives up Bolgrad, and gets
a tract of Moldavian territory on the Yalpuck river,
comprising the town of Komrat or Conrad. Englami
and Austria (as I told you would be the case) have,
been required to leave the Black Sea and the Princi-
palities, and the 30th of March is fixed as the latest
date at which they are to stay there. So now peace,
which was concluded on the 30th of March last, has
been concluded over again.
What view will be taken of this peace in England,
people here are very curious to know. There was,
it appears, at one moment, every chance that the set-
tlement would not be attained. Our ambassador, Lord
Cowley, created all manner of difficulties, as to whe-
ther the terms agreed on should be set forth in a
proces verbal or a protocol, or whether they should,
be worded in this or that way. Still greater diffi-
culties did he create with respect to fixing the date•
of withdrawing the fleet from the Black Sea. He de-
manded that no period should be named; that Eng-
land should leave or not when she pleased. But
the Russian and French Plenipotentiaries, and espe-
cially the former, were so firm on the point that he
had to give way. His Excellency was, it appears,
reproached for his unconciliatory " attitude."
The murder of the Archbishop, of which Ow
papers will give you an account, has created great
consternation, though without just cause, as it is
supposed that the murderer must have been a
maniac.

BRUSSELS, Jean.
TIIE jour de Van and the festivities of the season
tend to vary and enliven a dry attention to local
politics, and the relaxation is to all an agreeable
relief. On the Ist there was a crowded attendance
at the palace, each notable being anxious to reiterate
the loyal asseveration of the August fetes. The
King looked remarkably well and in high spirits.
He was surrounded by the members of his family,
and his future son-in-law, the Archduke Maximilian
Joseph of Austria, seemed well content at his ap-
proaching connection with a dynasty so deservedly
popular. It is affirmed that his Imperial Highness
has proved his qualification for the important posi,
tion he is about to assume in Italy by a careful
digest upon the state of that country. Amongst the.
glittering decorations, the Crimean medals of the•
English officers were conspicuous, and, with the
Cross of the Legion of Honour in brave proximity,.
afforded testimony of the national confraternity in
the deeds of an heroic past, and of the " entente
cordiale" between the allied nations. It is not sur-
prising that the display occasioned many a curious
reflection amongst certain of the Belgians who might
have remembered another version of affairs more
palatable to their jealous prejudices—albeit, less•
redounding to their interest.
Hitherto the attempts to impede the progress of
the Prussian and Swiss quarrel have been unavailing,
and the hopes of the last few days have been
destroyed by a succession of diplomatic failures. M.
1 Fay, the American Minister, could make no impres-
sion on the Court of Berlin, as it insisted strongly on
the acceptance of its ultimatum without equivocal
contingency—the unconditional release of the
royalist prisoners. M. Ferrer was not more fortu-
nate in his interview with the Duko of Saxe Cobourg