The Express.
London, England, 1867-08-19 00:00:00

MR, BRIGHT AND MR. MILL 9A.THE FUTURE

4;416,-6171a

The following letters have recently been receited
by Mr. E. Bales, the president of the Reform League, in
reply to the announcement that the league would use its
°reanimation, consisting of 430 branches, for the purposes
of registratioa, eduating the people in the use of the
vote, and promoting the return to the next parliament of
members pledged to advanced liberal principles :
"My dear r. Beals,—l am glad to see that it is not
intended to discontinue the organisation and labours of the
Reform League, although so great • step has been piped
in the extension of the mama On that branch of the
question of reform I presume you will not feel it namsery
now to agitate further, so far as the boroughs are con-
cerned. But the concession of a wide franchise is mast
incomplete so long aa the security of the ballot is denied.
As a machinery for conducting elections without disorder'
the arrangement of the ballot is period, and if ea, Hat
ground only, it should be adopted. But there is • higr
ground on which all reformers should insist upon it.
The more wide the suffrage, the more there are of
men in humble circumetentem who are admitted to the
exercise of political rights, the more clearly is it necessary
that the shelter of the ballot should be granted.
confident it would lessen expenses at elections,
diminish corruption, and destroy the odious system-oig
timidation which new so extensively prevail., and that it
would make the House of Commons a more complete le-
presentation of the opinions and wishes of the electoral
body. I have a very strung conviction on this subject,
and I hope all our friends throughout the country will
accept the ballot as the next great question for which,*
oonnexiou parliamentary reform, they eosah, )0
eemeend. thweitbie asfortard, Sere can be go
from corruption and oppression at elections, Aar our
political contests will still remain, what they now amp •
discredit to us as • free and intelligent people. If the Re-
form Lessee and Reform Union will make the ballot eh&
next work, theymust soon summed. I need not tell you thtt
I shall heartily join them in their labours fcr this greatemL
I hope the friends of the ballot, those who care for freedom
and morality in the working of our representative
system, will ,provide the needful funds to enable you to
move on with an increasing has to • complete access.—
Believe me always sincerely yours, " JOHN Balt.HT.
" Edmond Beale*, Esq., Lincoln's-inn, London."

" Blackheath-perlxx
" Dear Sir,—l have already, by sending a subscription
gtven in my adhesion to the detemainntion of the Helen:
1,0111/U0 to empley its organisation in promoting the regis-
tration of the liberals who will become entitled to the
suffrage under the new Reform Act. With regard to .the
further object of promoting the election of candidates pap-
fessing advanced liberal pruiciples, I should be glen if apt
only the Reform League, but all the other orpailatimus
of reformers throughout the country would keep them-
selves in existence for that purpose. There will be ample
work for all of them' and I only hops that they will not
confine their support to candidate, who adhere to their
own particular programme, but will extend it to advanced
liberals of all shades, a close union of whom among
themselves wss never more needed than it will be at the
first general election under the new sot.—l am, dear air,
yours very truly, " J. S. MILL."
" Edmond Reeled, Esq."

THE PROPOSED COUNTY RATE FOR THE CloVes::
LC:MOS.—A strong and stern opposition is being
to the county rate in the various parishes of the City, and
but for the vacation there is no doubt that ward meetings
on the subject would be pretty numerous. As it is, the
justices have, in a formal way, asked if there are any ob-
jections to be offered to the basis of the rate, and the
easwer they have bad from such parishes as have yet
given utterance to any opinion on the subject has been, in
effect, a reined to enter upon the consideration of the
basis, and its merits or demerits, " inasmuch as," my
they, "we object to the rate itself, and should like to
know a great deal more about the necessity for it, and so
forth, before we commit ourselves to any sort of consent
to its principle." This is not the first time the question
has been brought forward. The justices have always had
a kind of hankering after a fund of their own to manage
as they plea's, but hitherto public opinion has been too
powerful for them, and as it does net appear chid the gene-
ral feeling on the matter has undergone any material
change, it is by no means improbable that the proposition
for a rate may again be shelved. —City Preis.
MIL. L&HONT, M.P., AND THE SCOTTISH REFORM
LEAOCL—Mr. Lamont has just addressed the following
I reply to a communication from the secretary of this
bedy :—" Knookdow, August 14, 1807.—iiir,-1 have re-
ceived your letter of the 10th Mat., and I beg to decline
to attend the • greet public meeting of political and social
reformers' to be held at Glasgow on the 17th September.
My opinion as to the 'future polio y of reformers' is, verydecidedly, that they should be thankful for what they
have got, and refrain from further mjitation on the s-
jest at present. —I em, sir, your obedient servant, Jail=
',Amon'. George Jackson Esq., secretary to the Scottifsh
National Reform League, Glasgow."

TH6 Seorint REFORM BILL —The quarterly
meeting of the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce was hdd
on Friday. The minutes of the special meeting with re.
ference to the Scotch Reform Bill having been rind, the
chairman narretd the steps which had been taken by the
chamber in cooperation with the other municipal bodies
in Scotland, with the view of securing • larger represen-
tation for Scotland. The Scotch bill, however. had been
delayed for asession, but he was sure Scotland could lees
nothing by this dela. Her claims were based upon justice
and upon the general principles of the English Reform Bill,
and every delay that took place only seared to bring oat
mom strongly that population, wealth, activity, and emu-
mares all had tended fur a time to make much greater
progress in the north of the island than in the south.
The English bill had therefore increased the number
of members in the northern counties, diminishiag tar •
considerable extent those rem creating the south ,• but
Scotland had increased to • much greater extent in all
these respects than England. In addition to the state.
meet of facts made at last meeting, a return had bgep
published within the last few days showing that the
agricultural wealth of Scotland had increased in • proper-
lions' great as the wealth and population of the loves,
and in a ratio still greater than in England. From the re-
turn, it appeared that there had been a large increase in
the rental of land in England ; but there had been en in-
crease to the extent of 5 or 6 per cent. more in Scotland
and while in no county in England had the increase much
exceeded 20 per cent., in the county of Forfar it bad
amounted to 35 per cent. Ho had therefor not the least
doubt that next seesiou would show that Scotland had not
lost by the delay of the Reform Bill. He would suggest
that the committee of the chamber should he motioned,
and that they should be instructed to oceoperate with the
other public bodies in promoting the measure. The sug-
gestion was unanimously agreed to, and the committee
will be continued accordingly.
CITY OF LoNltoN COLLEGE EVENING CLA6EEB
FOR Yore,: Mee. —The annual examination of tl.c studeste
of the above institution took place recently. The follow-
* is a list of the succeesful candidates :—The scholar-
ship(the gift of the council), 10/., with free admission to
the college for one year, to be given to the student who
obtains the highest aggregate number of marks in any
three of the subjects of examination, was awarded to
William Spier'. The Thompson prize, Si. (the gift of
Messrs. W. .1. and H. Thompson, Mincing lane). for pro-
Sammy in arithmetic and bookkeeping, to William Spiess
who also receives prizes in arithmetic and geogrephy, and
Hat-clue certificates in bookkeeping and English history.
The Greatorex prize, 5/. (the gift of Mr. Watford Credo-
rex, for proficiency in modern languages, teJ. K Hate.
man, with first-class certificates in French and German.
The Divinity prize, 31.35. (the gift of the Rev. B. White
tirigton, the principal of the college), to T. li Shoe. The
Ist Goethe mire, 31. ithe gift of Dr. Zerti), for German
composition, to Thomas Abbott. The Lowth prize, 3/.
(the gift of Mr. G. T. Lowth), for profiriency and regu-
larity, to J. T. Moclburst, who obtained first-class oertili-
cotes in arithmetic and French. The English essay prize.
Y. (the gift of the council), subject, " Co-operative Socie-
ties." divided between J. H. Ingram and .1. B. Muir. Die
bookkeeping prize, Joseph Moles. The freehand drawing,
J. K. Elliott. First-class certificates were awarded to the
following, viz. :—H. Meadows, A. Bakewell, G. Willrnott„
W. IL Phillips, W. A. Smith, for arithmetic: T. J. Day.
W. H. Barnes, G. Willinott, W. Msckintosh, W. K.
Phillips, G. Pickett, A. Bakewell, for bookkeeping ; F. N.
Jewesbury, for chemistry ; G. Smith, for Divinity •, J. L.
Williams, freehand drawing ; J. F. Ellis, G. Hill, po-
graph), ; J. H. Ingrain, German; W. J. Bishop, Spanish;
H. Adams, J. Dien., mechanical drawing—the total mon-
her of certificates awarded being of the first class, lad
the second, end 17 of the third.
Di.,covEltr OF AN ANCIENT FOREST AT !IT'LL.
—ln the course of the excavations at the West Deck
works, opposite Messrs. Earle's cement woiks, the navvies
have come upon a stratum of dark soil, in which a number
of trees in horizontal position were met with. They are
oak, and in excellent condition, sad remarkably hard.
Besides these interesting remains of a long oast age. a Lute
number of acorns and hazel nuts were found, and some
oyster and mussel shells. The discovery I. the more in.
tcrethiug to geologists, seeing that trees were found at a
depth of about nineteen feet below the water line of the
river. The wood wee of a similar nature to that found
whet the Victoria Dock Extension was in progress, and
goes far to prove the correctness .f the supposition that
Holdernem and this part of the river were ware covered
With • dense forest; The trees at the Victoria Dock were
found at about the same depth. Several eminent geologists
hare visited the West Dock, and examined the wood and
the ground. Many gentlemen have secured pieces of the
coksind,had fancy snide' made out of it. The oyster
shells are characterised as very much larger thin those
ordinarily seen, but no remains of other fish were found.