The Express.
London, England, 1858-06-08 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY -.EVENING, JUNE 8,

placing him in such a condition that he san•
never prove how he voted, never estalteal
a valid claim on the corruptiFinist. Vot
given beyond the reach of buskin • scrutiny's?* ale
only ones of the sincerity of Which we omit* Olt
tain. The true expreesiod of the radial estimate of
candidates can only issue from the Ballot-box.
Secret Voting will place at the head of the poll the
man who enjoys the confidence of the largest number
of the constituency ; and this, not the triumph of
any ?arty or individual, is whafeught to be amidst.
It has been sillily asked—lf the Electors are to
vote in secret, why not the Legislators ? There is
no parallel between the two came. The Elector has
to express an opinion as to a man's fitness; no man
has any interest to know what is an individual's
opinion on this point; the fact to be ascertained is
the aggregate opinion of the community. But the
Legislator has to perform acts upon which the
Electors are to form an opinion of him : every man
has an interest to know what those acts are. The
Representative has no right to ask what opinion
Toy, I or HA RRT have formed of his conduct to
Parliament; enough for him to know what impres-
sion that ceeduct has made on the whole Constitu-
ency. Bat the whole Constituency have a right to
know how their Representative acts in Parliament,
for only the. sea they form some opinion as to his
fitness to represent them.
It is alleged that if the Ballot is conceded it will
give victory to the Conservatives.. It can only do
so if the Conservatives are the majority—and if they
are, by every principle of representative govern-
ment they ought to have the victory. But it will
not ; for the principles of the party of program are
the principles of truth, and if earnestly and pares-
veringly advocated they most become those of the
majority. This is the great recommendation of
Secret Voting. It renders the dissemination of truth
the only means of obtaining a triumph for it at elec-
tions. It frees men from all temptation to aim at
the establishment of truth by corruption and oppres-
sion—means that can only substitute one lie for
another.

The other &nuclei of the opponents of Secret
Voting do not deserve notice. We are told that it
will encourage falsehood. Is there no falsehood in
• man's voting contrary to his conviction ? We are
told that the man who seeks to conceal his vote is a
coward. Well, is it not enough that he is &coward?
—most he be made a liar too?

We are told that it is impossible to devise a
method by which Secret Voting can be ensured. Let
us make the experiment. If one means fail, we can
try another. At the worst we can oome as near
secrecy as the limited powers of human nature will
admit of.

But let us not desist from the attempt to obtain a
mode of voting that promises to destroy corruption
and intimidation without a sincere and earnest
attempt to achieve it. The Ballot is the only security
for real freedom ; for the freedom of the weak from
the oppression of the strong ; for the freedom of the
poor from the seductions of the rich ; for the free-
dom of the enlightened few from thepereeentionof the
ignorant many. But if the experiment is to have
any chance of succeeding, it must be made without
compromise. If we are to have real Secret Voting no
man can be allowed an opportunity to show how he
votes. If it is made optional, so many will be in-
timidated or seduced into voting openly that no
doubt will remain as to how the votes of the rest are
given.

MR. COWPICIL'S Bill on Medical Reform stands to be
considered tonight in a Committee of the House of
Commons, and we trust that the understanding
come to on Wednesday last will be carried out—
that this Bill should be made the basis of an Act of
Parliament, to be passed in the present Session. So
much of the time of Parliament has been already
devoted to the executive affairs of the country, or
wasted in party conflicts, that it is quite refreshing
to see a chance of having the real business of legis-
lation forwarded, especially when the subject
matter, though important, is far from being
attractive. Mr. MEADLAY is not the parent
of a Bill this session, and we feel bound to
' allow him the credit which he claimed on Wednes-
' day in forbearing to strangle at its birth Mr. Cow-
' PEIt'S infant. Lord Etcno and Mr. DO/ICOR/II
have withdrawn or postponed their respective mea-
sures and consented to assume, in place of the tender
' relationship of parentage, the less endearing but not
less useful occupation of nurses. Too many cooks
are said sometimes to spoil the broth ; we hope that
in this instance too many nurses will not smother
' the baby. The chances of success are greatly en-
hanced from the fact that Mr. WILI.POLL, unlike
' former Home Secretaries, has promised his aid in a
more substantial manner than by mere expressions
' of sympathy with the cuse,or a willingness to agree
' to anything which the parties interested can agree to
amongst themselves ; and not only is his conduct
creditable to the Government of which he is a
member, but the principles which he laid down as
guiding the extent of interference in the question
are calculated to secure all the purposes of of
legislation. The first evil complained of, and there-
fore the first to be removed, is the privilege possessed
by various medical bodies of exclusive practice
within certain districts. No one reason can be as-
signed for maintaining, at the present day, such an
anomaly, except the particular advantage of these
bodies themselves. We cannot, perhaps, expect that
the possessor of a privilege will voluntarily resign
it, even for the public advantage ; but neither
do we anticipate that more thananominal opposition
will be offered to the removal of that which the
public u well as the greater part of the medical
profession have agreed con no longer be maintained
as heretofore. The second point on which all parties
are agreed is the necessity for a general Register of
duly qualified practitioners, in order that the public
may have the means of distinguishing the scientific
man from the mere quack. So long as ignorance
prevails amongst the masses, so long will pretenders
to science find admittance within the doors of the
ignorant sick. It would be the height of impolicy
to deny to anyone the right to call to his bedside in
the hours of illness whomsoever he pleased,
or to prohibit under penalties another from
answering that call ; but it is both just to
the profession and beneficial to the public
that a Register should be provided, in which no name
will be admitted but that of a duly educated man ;
and that none but thus whom names are on the
Register shall be enabled by law to recover the fitting
remuneration for medical services. It must be ob-
vious that such a Register will be useless, if not per-
Dianne, 111111111 the right to be placed upon it is
coupled with submission to such an examination se
will test the scientific qualifications of the candi-
date for registration. How then is this examination
to be provided? To leave it in the hands of the
Universities and existing Medical Corporations would
perpetuate a system under which exorbitant fees are
exacted from the candidate es well as the required
amount of knowledge, or where names would be placed
en the Rigider without any real examination at all;
0.1 the other hand, to take this examination altogether
furl them would cast a reflection on those bodies to
which :hey are not in truth olsnoxione, would tend
to depriv► them of their ability to do good, whilst
Puking only td restrain their power to do mischief,

and provoke from them as corporate bodies an
hostility referm which the individuals iaonposing
the* w i
01
not otherwise feiL The alternative &p-
-riers to, to establish an Educational Conseil in
which the Universities and existing Medical C arpors-
lions stall have their due weight and iniuenoe,
which will form one greet Prnfessional University,
coonferriog the right to regieAration, and regulating
the standard of proficiency which is to con-
stitute a claim to be registered. We do
sot see the force of the objection urged by Mr.
WALPOLE against conferring too extensive powers
upon this Council, us inducing a minimum standard
of education. We think it may safely be left to the
discretion of a properly selected Council, as it will
become their moat important function, to fix the
minimum '.mount of knowledge below which a can-
didate sball be altogether disqualified for registra-
tion ; whilst the Medical Corporations, deprived e 1
their obnoxious privileges, but retained in their just
position, will be stimulated to carry the education
of their members to the highest attainable pitch of
scientific cultivation, so that their diplomats will be
valued not for the exclusive right of practice which
they confer, but as patents of proficiency all the world
over. Mr. Cowria's Bill contains no interference
with the medical body IMP a profession, and we sin-
I early hope that no attempt will be made to intro-
duce clauses having such an object. Parliament can-
, not by Statute raise a calling to the dignity of a
p profession, nor can it meddle to any good purpose
with the habits, traditions and feelings of a large
• professional body.
Left free to themselves, the distinctions in science
0 will arrange themselves according to their essential
• differences; and if in the Medical Profession these
0 distinctions have been confounded oa the one hand
r or enlarged upon the other, the error is due not to
L the profession itself, but to the mischievous med-
• dling of Charters and Statutes. We are confident
that Mr. COWPIA'S Bill contains the elements of a
judicious reform in the system ; and the time has at
' last arrived when even the Doctors may be found
to agree.

EXPRESS FROM PARIS.
•

(nos ors OWN oozzairoxport.)
PARIS, Monekr limns*.

It is stated positively that the day fixed for their
Majesties' leaving Fontainebleau is June 23. They
will not reside in the Thileries again until the com-
mencement of the winter season. On leaving Fon-
tainebleau they will go to St. Cloud for a day or two
preparatory to the departure of the Emperor for
Plombieres, sand that of the Empress for Biarritz.
M. de Persiguy, whose long absence front Fontaine-
bleau hag been the subject of remark, is invited there
this we.ek. It is asserted, but I am not quite sure
of t►.gyp fact, that neither Fnad Pacha nor M. de
litibaer have received invitations. In the present
ticklish state of the relations of France with
Turkey and Austria, such a marked excep-
tion to the compliment paid to the corps
diplomatigus generally would be very significant.
Immediately before the ceremony of the
military degradation of Lieutenant de Mercy,
which I described yesterday, he was brought
before the court-martial which last tried him,
to hear read the Emperor's letters patent
commuting the capital sentenoe. M. Chanmeil de
Stella, the officer acting as judge-advocate, thus
addressed him :—" De Mercy, you owe your life to
the Empress, whose noble heart takes an interest
in all who surer, pray, and repent. Your sword
will presently be broken, and the pieces thrown at
your feet. Who knows but that at some future
period you, purified by a long and painful expiation,
may, obedient to the instincts of your race, one
day draw another sword in some distant climate?"
I cannot but think it a pity that the Empress's
name should be officially cited to justify the mercy
shown to a criminal deserving of no interest what-
ever. He was found guilty by two successive courts-
martial of having treacherously inveigled a brother
officer into his quarters for the purpose of murder.
ing him, and the evidence proved that he had hung
up the sword with which he committed the deed,
and laid foils upon the Boor to give colour to a false
pretence that they had been fencing. Military de-
gradation is universally considered in the French
army as worse than death, and yet De Mercy, in the
face of the professions which he made on his trial
for the sake of effect, petitioned the Emperor for
pardon ! The commutation is granted under cir-
cumstances showing that the Emperor entertains no
more doubt of his guilt than the courts-martial did.
It is bard upon the Empress to impose such a pro-
tegi upon her.

The banns of marriage are posted on the Mairie
of the First Arrondissement between M. Adolphe
Ernest Fould, the eldest son of the Minister of State,
and Mdlle. Marthe Ledoux, the daughter of M.
Ledonx, a partner in the house of Rattier and
Ouibal, csoutchouc merchants of the Rue Fosses
Montmartre and the Rue Vivienne.
M. de Pene is much better than his friends ever
lexpeeted to see him. Within the last two or time
days he has been able to take solid food, and his
wound' are healing favourably. It is hoped that he
will be convalescent next week. The expectation
once entertained that he might have been removed
to Paris last Saturday was not realised, but it is not
doubted that he may safely undertake the journey
in a few days.
One of the largest shops in Paris, the Grand
Conde, in the Rue de Seine, wee completely de-
stroyed by fire last night. The bookkeeper was
seriously injured in endeavouring to save the books;
one man had his thigh broken, and a dozen others
were more or less injured. The loss is immense.
The fire is attributed to an explosion of gas.
The depression at the Bourse continues. The
Rents was finally quoted to-day, ex dividend, at
67fr. 60c. for cash and 67fr. 60c. for account, being
a fall of 36e. and 2k. Mobilier fell 17fr. 60c. The
Orleans Railway, notwithstanding considerable pur-
chases to realise profits in former " bearing " opera-
tions, fell 22fr. 60c. Northern fell 10fr.; and the
other lines from 2fr. 600. to Mr.

Despatches from Ragusa, of June 5, state that,
after a conference at Trebigne, which was attended
by the consuls of the Great Powers, a convention
was concluded between the Turks and the Montene-
grins for the suspension of all hostilities, until a de-
finitive arrangement shall be made.
Bravo Murillo has arrived in Paris, on what errand
I am unable to say.