The Express.
London, England, 1848-07-25 00:00:00

Vitt erIIVEISIS.

MAILS.
The mail. for Vigo, Oporto, Lisbon, Madeira, Cadiz, and Gibraltar
will be made up on the morning of the 27th July.
The matt. for British North America, and the United States,
will be made up ea the evening of the 28th July.
The mails for Yew South Wales, Van theman's Land, aad New
Zealand will be made up ou the evening of the 3lst July.
The mails for the West Coast of Africa and Madeira will be made
lap on the evening of the 31st July.
The West India Mails, including Bermuda, Nausea, Havana,
Honduras, New Orleans, Vera Crux, Tampico, and Porto Rico, end
excluding Owen for Madkra, Jacmel, Carthagena, Santa Martha,
Mayes, Panama, Went Coast of South America, and St. Juanwle-
Nicaragua. will be made up on the morning of the 2nd August.
The mails for the Brazils, the River Plate, Mane Video, rerMllll.
burn, Bahia, Madeira, and Buenos Ayres, will be made up on the
evening of the Ith August.
The overland closed mails, cia Marseillm, to the editerranean,
Egypt, Aden, Ceylon, India, Hong-Kong, lac., will be Mmade up on the
evening of the 7th Aug.
The overland mails toe Gibraltar, Malts, Greece, the lonian Islands,
Egypt, Aden, Ces lon, India, (long-Kong. and Chins, rise Southamp-
ton, will he made up on the evening of the 19th August.

NOTICE TO ADVE2TISERS.
The number of STAMPS issued by the authorities of the
Stamp-othee, during 1847, to the
DAILY NEWS was 3.447,009
This, we believe, is within eight p.r C 611.1. 01 the number
issued to the Morning Herald, Morning Chronicle, am:
Morning Post, ALL PUT 10013TH813.
In addition to the above, issued to the DAILY NEWS,
Morning Paver, there were issued for the Evening Edition,
THE EXPRESS 778.714
Which was more, we believe, than were issued rithcr to
the Globe or Standard, Eveninit Papers.

HIGH WATER AT
T.I. DAs-14,nros. ala.
PsstLONDON
Afters..., BRIDOI.
tsts• Ps. 9.
TP•11101.101F —WM., s 7 tam put 9; AIMING. 31 611. WI ID.

LONDON, TUESDAY, JULY 25.

- - - -
THE most important point in Mr. HUME'S plan of
reform is the equalisation of the electoral districts.
This one thing would do more towards diminishing
the undue ascendancy of landed and moneyed wealth
than all the other points, even of the charter, without
it. It would reduce the nominees of the landlords in
the House of Commons from about two-thirds of the
whole assembly to about one-third. And by making
every electoral body too numerous to be bribed, it
would put an end to the obtaining seats by mere ex-
penditure, an object for which so much virtuous zeal
is so ineffectually professed by all classes of half-
re formers.
This, then, being, of all the " points," by far the
meet disagreeable to the present ruling powers, the
opposition to it is proportionally more obstinate than
to any other. But as it is not convenient to say that
the real objection to the measure is its efficacy, every
encouragement is held out to the invention of senti-
mental objections. Electoral districts are said to be
mechanical, pedantic,arule-andquare system; and all
the other phrases usually employed to throw discredit
on precise and business-like modes of conducting any
transaction. Serjcant TALFOURD, the " good poet bat
bad politician," lent himself as an organ for this
style of declamation ; and clenched his first specimen
with the passage, known to all reeders of poetry,
from COLERIDGE'S translation of SCHILLER'S, " Wel-
lenstein," in which the crafty (Mario Piemlonuni
inculcates on his high-minded son the superiority of
tortuous courses :

Straightforward flies
The lightning flash,aml straight the ninnombalL
Shattering that it may reach, and shattering what it reaches.
So, because the lightning and the cannon-ball fly
straight to their mark, nothing else should. Straight.
forwardness and directness of aim are declared to be 1
discreditable things, and whatever takes the straight
road to its object is an agent of destruction. Le, us
rather say that directness and power are the same
thing. or always accompany each other. If the object
be to destroy, the means which are most direct are
the most effectual; and so they are when the object is
to preserve. When a person is in the water and
drowning, Mr. TALFOURD would hardly quote
SCIIILLER in favour of going round about, instead of
straight in to deliver him. If it is absolutely neces-
sary to have an illustration from visible nature, the
sunbeams move in straight lines as well as the light-
ning ; indeed more so, for the lightning makes no objec-
tion to twisting and turning in order to accommodate
itself to the direction of the conducting medium. A
steam-ship, also, would have been a more appropriate
exemplification of rectilineal movement than a cannon
ball. The poet goes on to say that the road on which
blessing travels
Winds round the corn field and the hill of vino,
Honouring the holy bound. of property;
but the very words of the quotation suggest that the
illustration and the philosophy are both antiquated,
and that roads, in these days, are not made on the
principle wh;ch the poet patronises. Does it not
occur to the admirers of crooked paths that we are
living in an age of railroads; and that, now-a-days,
rather than not go straight to our object, instead of
winding round the hill we even tunnel through
it? The spirit of the time requires that its

machinery, whether for physical or for political pur-
poses, shall be efficient. It is not reckoned a merit in
machinery to imitate the pleasing irregularities of
nature. Its beauty is in its accuracy : it works by
straight lines and right angles, and works best when
its lines are most correctly straight, its angles moat
exactly square.
COLERIDGE himself, though fond of quoting the
passage which Serjeant TA LFOURD cited from him, is an
authority in favour of electoral districts. He recom-
mended, we think in his " Church and State," a new
administrative division of the country, describing the
present one as barbarous, and a great obstacle to im-
provement. Even SCHILLER is against Serjeant 'AL-
Fot•nu; for the fine "knee put into the mouth of PIC-
COLOMINI do not express SCHILLER'S opinions; on
the contrary the whole tragedy is a demonstration, not
for, but again.: Piceotoutsi's maxims and conduct.
Electoral districts are mechanical. And why not?
In whatever manner members of parliament are
elected, there must be mechanical arrangement of
some sort ; and what these should he is not a ques-
tion of poetry or the picturesque, but of means to an
end. What is the right end, and by what means can
it be accomplished ? Is it the proper end of a House
of Commons to make the landed and monied aristo-
cracies the masters of the legislature? If so, Keep
the system as it is. Is it the object that no
class shall predominate, but that all sec-
tions of the community shall be powerful in
proportion to their numbers and their intelligence?
A new division and constitution of the electoral body
is then imperative; and the mole nearly equal the
number of electors in each constituency the more
nearly is the end attained. There is a sentiment con-
cerned in the matter, without doubt, but it is that of
justice. When just ends are aimed at by just means,
and means well adapted to their attainment, all other
sentiment will take care of itself. Sentiment, and of
the best kind, is sure to gather round all things which
are large diffusers of good among the human race.
Unlortunately, reformers no more than anti-re-
formers have yet leatned :o make great principles
their object, and in this lies the secret in the affairs of
communities no less than in those of individuals, of
ineffectual struggles and mean results. The world
will rally round a truly great principle, and be as
much the better for the contest as for the attainment ;
but the petty objects by the pursuit of which no prin-
ciple is asserted. are fruitless even when attained.

To any one who believes that dullness is the por-
tion of the " truly blest," an opportunity now offers,
which certainly ought not to be neglected. In one
of the new committee rooms looking out upon the
Thames—rooms which have, as it' in tantalisation
and derision of the occupants, a glimpse of t''e day-
light and the sunshine out of doors—there sit, from
10 to 4 every day, five gentlemen, members of the
House of Commons, engaged in what is jocularly
called the Dublin Election Scrutiny. It would be of
inexpressible benefit to any eager aspirant
for parliamentary honours, would he pay a short
visit to the scene of this investigation. Even Mr.
CHARLES COCHRANE might find substantial reason in
this room to avoid enter ing upon a legislative career.
There, for six or seven hours daily, ma five members
tied to their chairs—there have they thus sat for row
between fifty and sixty days—and there, should the
parliament continue unprorogued so long, it is pro-
bable they may have to sit some fifty or sixty days to
some.
Unhappily for them this is not the only painful
duty to which these gentlemen are condemned. Ranged
at a long table opposite to them are an array of
learned counsel, to whom the proceedings are admir-
able sport, each of whom, on an average five times a
day, repeats for the edification of the members in
question, arguments which won't bear dissecting here,
on the corstruction of some such interesting legisla-
tive enactment as the Dublin Local Paving Act. It
appears that in order to be qualified to vote at an
election for the City of Dublin, a resident in that
blest metropolis must be assessed to somewhere
about fifteen local rates of the object, end,
or purpose of which, he may or may not
have any knowledge. But not only must he be
assessed in order to be qualified, but, what is infinitely
more provoking, he must have paid before he can
vote. Thus, if a local rate of a farthing in the pound
is made to erect a new pump, or rebuild a new watch-
house, a ten-pound householder, assessed to the extent
of twopence halfpenny, would be a bad vote unless he
had paid the amour'', of his rating ! And this has to
be repeated fifteen times over! And the object and
business of the Dublin comlnitt c is to see that
each voter objected to has been regularly assessed,
and has regularly paid all these trumpery locc.l taxes,
and the dull and dreary proofs i.nd arguments upon
points of such interest and importance are the sum
and substance of the business of this committee on
the Dublin election.
Well, as we have said, for more than fifty days this
wretched proceeding has dragged its slow length
along—wearying to the very soul the members
engaged in it —stupifying the reporters who are necessi-
tated to attend—and driving from the neighbourhood,
as from a plague, even those habitual attendants who
seek committees when the courts are shut,for no conceiv-
able purpose that it is possible to divine, except a
strange taste for legal argument, or an urgent need
of the warmth and shelter which the rooms afford.
We are afraid to say whether this is the 10th or
12th Dublin Election Committee that we remember
to have sat in the same way. There was one of them,
in 1835, the business of which, if we rememb,r right,
was not brought to a close for two years. On that
committee there were no less than thirteen luck-
less members. The committee met: very soon they got
so tired of their business that they thought it right to
recommend to the House of Commons that a commis-
sion should be appointed to examine into the facts
upon the spot. A commission accordingly proceeded
to Dublin, where they held their court all the winter,
of course conducting their proceedings at the charge
of the parties. Haying reported tee sta'e of the case,
the committee next year re-assembled. They met, we
remember, in the rice-Chancellors' Courts, and there
they sat for 80 days, going through j ust such dry details
as the present committee are appointed to investigate.
At last, if we recollect right, one of the parties gave
way, in consequence of want of funds to prolong the
contest.
It is a dangerous thing to impute motives, and we
are consequently far from saying that the same ob-
ject is aimed at now. But it is by no means impro-
bable, at any rate, that the same result will be
effected. The member against wham the pre-
sent petition is presented is Mr. REYNOLDS,
a gentleman engaged in commercial pursuits in Dub-
lin, who was elected for the city last year against his
inclination and to his personal inconvenience. Mr.
REYNOLDS entered the House of Commons with no
prestige in his favour; but it is not too much to say
that there are few members within its walls who
have gained in so short a time so many political and
personal friends. We cannot give stronger evi-
dence in his favour, than by remarking that,
amid all the personalities and criminations of
last Friday night, Mr. Reynolds' speech stood atone
for temper, argument, and freedom from invective.
It is against this gentleman that this pocket attack is
made, as will be found more circumstantially narrated
in the following outline of his case, which some of
those friends to whom we have referred have thought
it right to place before the public :
DUBLIN ELECTION PETITION.—Mr. Reynolds at the
lost gi ne•ral election was requested by his teilow-citizens to
become a candidate for the representation of the City of
Dublin in parliament. Being fully occupi,d in bu"iness, he
was unwilling to engage iti the contest if any other gentle-
man entertaining the same political opinions would come
forward, and in that event he offered to contribute liberally
to a fund to defray the legitimate expenses of the election.
As no other candidate was announced, Mr. Reynolds, only
forty-eight hours before the nomination, accepted the requi-
'Won, and became a candidate. At the election Mr. Rey-
nolds polled 3,229 votes, and his opponent, Mr. Gregory,
3,125 ; leaving the former in a majority of 194, exclusive of
29 votes not totted correctly on the poll books, and which
will make the majority 133. The election was ['comely over
wnen a petition was threatened against Mr. Reynolds's
return—although that gentleman felt confident that his seat
could not be fairly impeached, he had every reason for
believing that his opponents would follow uo their threats,
sleculating upon the inadequacy of his individual resources
to engage in such an expensive contest. He, nowever,wasdeter •
mined to vindicate the freedom of election thus attempted to
be violated in his person, and he made vigorous preparations
for the meditated attack, by employing solicitors, clerks. and
arnts, at a great expense, to prepare materials for his de-
fence. In due time the petition was presented ; it eid not
pretend to impute to Mr. Reynolds either intimidation,
bribery, treating, or any other corrupt practice. It professed
to dispute his property qualification, and impeached tome
hundreds of the electors on his poll, on the alleged ground
that they had not paid certain municipal rates arid taxes,
although a larger number of those who voted for Mr.
Gregory are impeached by Mr. Reynolds on similar and much
more serious grounds. From the commencement of the pro-
ceedings betore the committee, it became manifest that it was
to be a contest of pocket, and not of principle. As an in-

stance of the harassing nature of this scrutiny, it may be
remarked, that out of a class of 395 voters objected to by the
petitioners, they only succeeded in striking off thirteen
votes after twenty days' inquiry,and they then abandoned the
r.maining 382. And ►nother class, containing upwards of
300, was given up altogether without the investigation of a
single vote. Mr. Reynolds having witnesses in London to
verify his qualification, challenged his opponents at once to
proceed with that part of the petition; so, if they failed, he
might be relieved frog. the expellee of maintaining his wit-
nesses in town, and if they succeeded, all further expense
and trouble would be at an end. His opponents resisted his
challenge, and have been allowed by the committee to ear r-
em their right of marshalling their case, thus exposing him
to the greatest expense in paying witnesses who may never
be called upon, and at all events not until the scrutiny
shall have terminated, The inquiry has now lasted
five weeks, forty-nine votes only hive been struck
off Mr. Reynolds's poll, upon the ground of non-
payment of taxes and local rates, amounting in the
whole to less than 301. ; whilst the expense of the in-
quiry has been little short of 10,0001. Mr. Reynolds has to
defray the daily charges of a numerous array of counsel,
solicitors, and agents, and also the travelling expenses and
subsistence of a number of witnesses from Ireland. It is
obvious, that in this unequal contest Mr. Reynolds may be
dofea'ed, although he have truth and justice on his side.
The attention of a few gentlemen having been drawn to these
facts, they have been!induced without party, political.or per-
sonal considerations, to commerce a subscription to uphold
Mr. Reynolds in this contest, and to enable him to vindicate
the freedom of election, and to stand up against the heavy
expenses of the conflict.
it is new nearly four weeks since this document
was first circulated, and the expense's, of course, have
increased in proportion, whilst the result seems as
distant ea ever. Last week five drip absolutely
passed without the committee moving one inch.
Every eingle vote objected to during those days was
retained. Objections, too, were taken to voters
for non-payment of a rate, the legality
of which was incapable of proof ! Why,
are not such prom edinge perfectly monstrous? Would
it not be an absolute act of shame if the ruin of Mt.
REYNOLDS were effected by such a perpetuation of
litigation ? The parliament may not be able to step
in and protect a private individual even from the per-
petration of a public wrong; but the public may do
so, and we hope they will. It is a most grati-
fying circumstance attending the appeal on Mr.
ItevreoLns' behalf, that it is made by a
body of Eay/isle members of parliament and gentle-
men, several of whom are not altogether of Mr.
Iternot,u,' political opinion. This is, indeed, an
occasion when men of all shades of party may unite
to show their feeling of the infliction of a public
penalty upon a private person. Members of the
legislature are es:teeially bound to look with favour
on the appeal, for Mr. Itmvouts' case may to-
morrow be their owe; and unless something be done
front some quarter or another to check so great a
wrong, the election to a seat in parliament will be-
come an insupportable inflict ion, and it will be only ne-
cessary to threaten the cost of a scrutiny to make any
member vacate his seat.