The Express.
London, England, 1857-04-11 00:00:00

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• TO CORRSOPONDINTO.
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MGR WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
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LONDOIf, SATURDAY, APRIL 11.

Twos will be a decisive majority in the las
How. That is quite clear. We arc told that it
will be a decisive Liberal majority, and we are only
too willing to believe it. The word Liberal, how-
ever, cows oath a multitude of political opinions
that we shall be Wined to watch a little how the
sew Haw works bane we feel entitled to decide
whether or not it adequately represents the strong
wastes of the English mind that the time is now
folly ripe for an immediate and extensive measure
of Parilementary Reform. The liberalism of the can-
didata whose election is doubtful is one thing—the
Illierallwa of the M.P. whose seat is sure is very
apt to be quite another thing. On the hustings.,
hoe to doe with a middle claw eager for the
satessisa of their privileges, and a non-electoral
claw timorous for the cosoremion of their righter
the paha= of a vane liberalism is an easy
homers to the neesesity of the moment esti
the spirit of the abilities. In the atmosphere of the
clubs this bedtime and insulated virtue is not Lei
in giving way to the blandishments of society. the
persiflage of plowmen, and the suppled seiner
of party. Men soon get ashammipase2sholleg a
purism which is ridiculous in s MA the
austerely sawn virtue of the indspeelbei emilliele
speedily sahebs into that docile senkliseele he tie
reasssion of the Secretary of the Tommy rani
hymn so towhing a prat of the modest .calfsiewp
Whoa of the British ihestor. After Paz meet
has owe fairly gat Weelher it will be rosier to peen
sootiest* and deg le mat.
At the sew doe, ion appmemem or. met
than mealy Welke% Awe era be Ude lemihm
that the People, as well as Lord PerhilailleN, ben
secured a majority in the new Have et Clammem r
and we believe it greatly rests with the pee mil
that portion of the press by which its and isdeseis I
are advocated, to keep that majority to its and
imperatively praising work—the readjustment et
de the representative system to the actual weals., a•
time. When even Conservatives of so deep • a
Sir lemuot InLT have discovered nil 1
the seonsity of extending the right of Led 1
those who are spialifled for its exercise kr Ws
of education and residence, it must be the bell dee
coustitaencies, or of those whose duty it is leigeekes '
their behalf, if an extensive measure of Parliswebey
Berens is not successfully griped upon a Hewes. dear 1
and decisive majority of which is profeceedly Liked.
And with this extension of the setter there mot
come, as it was well put is the address et on al the
metropolitan candidates, "Triennial Perlis:Dent% le
mike that extenuate of selbsge a power, the Bast
to make its exercise honest, and an Equal Division of
Electoral Districts to make it just." Such is the out-
line of that new Reform Bill which Lord PALYII-
- of course is not prepared to grant, which the
new Reuse very likely will not be advanced enough
to support, but with lees than which the people will
sot and ought not to be ultimately contested.
Leaving for the moment the questions of a
shortened duration of Parliament and a more equal
division of the electoral districts, it is away
not too much to expect from the new Reuse
that it will be prepared to support by a &sided
majority both vote by ballot and residential, oomideeil
with educational, suffrage. We purposely kW
these two portions of the reform programme is Ow
bawls we end, much to oar regret, and still wee
to oar surpass, that certain influential womb= of
the Libra party still suffer themselves to be ple►
pleased by an objection to the Ballot, in whisk ihr
our own parts, even with the present limitable eff
the suffrage, we can see no force, and to whit
them who now attach importance to it miff de=
all, v • the sir nee
objection Is 111de.
where the buy of
. the framilies is a
tibia the aimmissesse
eigarela. Ilea le the
gimewhelemdilit whet.
'eweemehrive eer-

_sallishons
would be =
smash=
o ens Ifewslise
nag% Ilbsy
assolsist

would be? And yet surely so amain is clearer,
vsloothor Limo or ecumnon sees', than &it, that
!rule' pease reiseeeieri jeri pro as istrodwele.
Zak thiesima, is the Mt answer. You ergo against
the islet an objection preheardly taken as behalf
at the non-electors, which the nou-eleeton
would themselves be the first to repudiate.
But, setoodly, we demur to the supervision
theory altogether. If a teen is Not it to be masted
with the Whop exespt nadir the inspection of his
neighbours, he is not At to be traded with it at all.
Again, the ohlectisa, as Wag as it it sustained, goes
to perpetuate anal sad flagrant them and barialdp,
out ci alleged desire to avoid a faitaithl asses and
hardship. Dose anyone really toilers that If the
prams electors, without any suffrage extenaon,
could vote remedy, their votes would be more unfa-
vourable to the interests or more opposed to the
wishes of the nowelestors than now that they Tote
openly ? Bat if no one does or can believe
this, is it not ious that the alleged danger of
the betrayal ci the ncm-sisetors by the secret
Toting of the electors is • chimerical and
daager—a pretty enough theoretical ab-
jection for a half or insincere thinker, bat an of
whisk a reload sad mincers thinker bad better get
I rid es soon as potable? But on the other hand, is
it not squally plain—too plain for argument—ed.
emitted, in bet, ea all hands—that the evils arising
from the supervision of the humbler clam of electors
by the more powerful class is pregnant with 'vib—
rato, Notorious, sad lamentable? Are, than, these
universally admitted evils to be perpetuated beanies
them is a remote potability that once perhaps in am
thoemad imitation • new kind of odiodalot might
ormativably arise hem their abolition?
Even assoming, thou. that there were to be so
Bicommion of the Bangs, we wholly fail to me any
prey imp Ames whatever in the orpiment spina
the SAN waded ea the euppeeed right et the wa-
iled= to naprvim the Totes of the destoes. At
the elm dm we most readily milt that the
Ballot is oat be itself an infallible mina tee the
_____stile at the espremmtatire spin. Until
Ihe mange Ile midenodtheareae[Tollager
ag
bmged. ammemim ausret sea% Omagh a
timeidasebts imporami. wadi ale called a tenth
girt ci the admeingee w th lair east amain-
Menses It would be capable et walkdag. Even
thus, we may esMy eballinge any me, mat the vic-
tim of tentimsatal fallacies, to point eat nig harm it
ie capable of doing—all that can be eSY b that in
certain coon, ouch as the smaller beraughe for
imams, it could do but little geed. Ad-
mitting all this, however, it is no argument
spinet the ballot, bat a strong argument
for extending the suffrage and equalising the con-
stituencies. We published in our yesterday's im-
pression the text of the law by which the ballot has
been established in oar wealthy and flourishing (o-
kay of Victoria. The entirely satisfactory working
of that law is already familiar to oar readers. Who
can doubt that if the Englishelectors and non-electors
ware free to choose for themselves, they would
establish hare what their countrymen have taken
the earliest opportunity ofestablishing there ? And
yet we are told by great political authorities that to
concede the Ballot without extending the Suffrage
would be to infringe the rights of the non-electors.
It is to be hoped that we have pretty nearly heard
the last of such en argument as this. The People
have a right to expect that Suffrage Extension and
Vote by Ballot will both be carried by large majori-
ties in the New Rows of Commons.

AlllDfr the absorbing interest of the general
election, the half-yearly report, mid meetings of our
Railway Companies have beer allowed to pass
almost without comment. Let us endeavour,
iron late, partially to sepair iie asision
lid& has been in SIM *gees eeseilide.
'lt, prospects of English Whew poe, eon-
AMA as a whole, are unimblelly •oving.
BA hailear an increased dispagiles b sired to
allies lee acts of railway administedre. soh% es
they Mod the vigilance of shareholder lernssing
um
active, become more cautious theorises, The
ihrrions in the press have, beyond surd" or
Idholtd ready, of late yeses, towards &salmi or
haviipat expenditure, inducing more herr& so. I
ressesbansrrat: deAsveloprimebnliet of IRO% ad
ben.* aro stsysey to bear upon the fIISOMI
voirs of noway accounts, the voice et
Rio inniellire has acquired more practical
hihraco. We cannot help thinking that the
isreoved financial position to which most of the
chief English railway companies are gradually at-
taining is in great measure traceable to these public
dismission'. Such being the ease, railway reformers
have the strangest pamible motive for persevering in
their watchful attitude. Whilst recognising with
satisfaction the present tendency towards a better
state of things, they should remember that much yet
remains to be accomplished. Of the numerous rail-
way companies of the kingdom two have of late
been pre-eminent for an objectionable system
—viz., the Eastern Counties and Great West
ern. Within the last few months the direc-
tion of the former has been remodelled, and
the proprietor. have thus far every reason to be
gratified with the changes effected. Attention is
now chiefly directed to the Great Wistern Company,
in which the germ exists of an agitation that will
probably at no distant period either lead to im-
portant modifications of management, or alto-
gether displace the present executive.
What we are especially anxious, however, to
impress upon railway reformers is, that attention
should not be too much concentrated upon
the affairs of any one Company. A gue-
rilla warfare must be purred; in every
part of the kingdom shareholders, when assem-
bled in public meeting, ought to perseveringly
demand from their directors explanations of each
objectionable feature of the half-yearly balance-
sheets. If the explanations afforded be unsatisfac-
tory, the widest possible publicity should be given
to the facts in the press. In saying this, we are not
addressing osrselves to mere speculators in railway
stock, but to bona fide permanent holders, whose
earnest and natural desire is to see the railway in-
terest purified by the abolition of abuses still too
rife. This is the class to whose sound sense and steady
co-operation we look for the resuscitation of railway
property. The field for exertion is a wide one, for
it will be found on examination that, despite
the program gradually achieved of late years, there
culaStis is ear el our great companies that is not
by SO/20 palpable abuse, either financial
If eve. As an illustration we may refer
to the Irroaddre and Yorkshire Railway Company,
whisk hot scant bat its half-yearly marls
M IliSmissler. 'W a comparatively dirt
this Company les rads grit sides Made
. Its mils *WOW a arbsd broom
rullirtl dividssis lave srposeted how 11 per mt.
to II per cent.,l!Shew being the ante last
dared. The The repay. recently perribei ANSI i 1
steady increase of gross remit, ~.belts
in connexion with the growing essmoss
of LiverpooL The working expenses have at the
same time been reduced, and hopes arc held oat of
I a farther " material decrease" in the cost of fuel

would be no cogency at all, were tl
extended to its jut limits. The c
Secret voting is indefensible, wb
scuelectors is large, because th
trust owe the exercise of which
have a right to exercise a nurvisio
ariplaitat. To u we confess it carries
ever. It admits of two perfectly cos
Thievight of supervision, &wended
sea-elesten, to ate which they won]
the fat to restates. Poll the
Renew ea the question, whether, I
t• have a► immediate extension at t/
veabler wield net have en Wawa
161101 Ma lily erne lade 'Nth