The Express.
London, England, 1868-12-09 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS,

was shouted down. The clergyman who followed
him, " amid continued clamour," had b 110‘00
effectually drowned by the incoherent noires made
while ho was speaking; the AVAIIDVIZOP pro-
nounced his unheard amendment to be eat of
order ; and the proceedings were diversified
by " a stentorian voice " yelling out from
the crowd, " there will be a serious accident
" presently," apparently in the spirit in which
an alarm of fire is thoughtlessly or wickedly
raked in a concert-hall or theatre. The right
reverend chairman had at this juncture to expa-
tiate upon the architectural and other advantages
of the Freemasons' Tavern, digressing gently into
details concerning the pre-engagements of Exeter
end Et. daniee's Halls, and, with bland optimism,
entreating the reverend brawlers "to make the
" best of the room they had got."

The opinion of Mr.WICKENS as to the legality
of the grant having been read, the fortuitous oon-
course again became chaotic. Cries of " Chair,
" chair," as at an harmonic meeting; and of
" Divide, 'vide, 'vide," as at an after-dinner sitting
of acme convivial House of Commons, might
he distinguished amid the din ; but when
the Chairman suggested that they should
not divide, " becisuno"—with evident irony
this " division under the circumstances
" would be a matter of great difficulty," the
criers seemed to have so given way to passion as
to be scarcely accountable for their acts. The
appeartuice of Dr. MILLER, the Vicar of Green-
wich, than whom there is no more temperate and
enlightened churchman, was " the signal for an
" uproar the like of which has seldom been wit-
" nessed." Taking advantage of a pause, and
just as the disturbance was breaking out afresh,
the Archbishop interposed with the benedic-
tion, and the assembly, after four and a half
hours' brawling, dispersed.
We venture to say that a more scandalously dis-
graceful scene has never been recorded. The im-
propriety of the Christian Knowledge Society arro-
gating to itself the right to decree who and what are
the ecclesiastical authorities of Natal, and of any
section of its members setting up an iniperitim in
i,,,peri" which would override the prerogative of
the Crown and the decisions of our courts, is ob-
vious enough. But the turbulent disorder of
yesterday, the apparent justification of the
sneer, " just enough Christianity to hate,
" but not enough to love one another," the
shameless and open exhibition of potty motives
and narrow jealousies, the contemptible lack of
self-control and moral discipline, the ostentatious
disregard of public decency, the brutal trampling
under lovt of the virtues it is their high function
to inculcate, the open indulgence in evil passions
and the consequent degradation of their cloth—
are all heavy sins comru;netl by these clergymen
against the community, and ag,_inat religion
itself. Such brawls as these are fonzidabls
weapons in the hands of the infidel and the
scoffer, and

Christian,. have burnt each other quite persuaded.
That all the apostles would have done as they did,
will be echoed in various forms in all parts of the
world in which English newspapers are read. The
Christian Knowledge Society has, in short, brought
discredit upon Christian knowledge, and its most
earnest efforts will bo needed to remedy the evil
yesterday's rioting will have wrought.

TEE LisT JR(IIMENT AGAINST THE
BALLOT.

Ors ingenious contemporary the Pall Mall
Ga:ftfe bas discovered a terrible clincher against
the Ballot. Here it is, under the good old
stereotyped heading. The Ballot in tho " United
" States
To those who think that improper influence or intimi-
dation is not possible where the ballot is in operation we
commend the following story from an American paper :
Au ironmaster in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, was in
the habit of driving his men in a waggon to the polls on
election days. He did not trouble them to get out of the
waggon, but took their ballots and handed them in, saying,
" This is Pats Ilummell's vote ; this is Jacob Miller's
vote ; this is Casper Weber's vote," and so on. Then the
waggon was sent off for a fresh load, Mr. C. waiting until
it arrived and banding the ballots in himself, so as to be
sure they were on the right side. Suwon" the advocates
of the hellot system explain how this could have been pre-
vented I.

We have never heard it argued that the use of
the ballot-box would put an end to attempts at
improper influence or intimidation OA the part of
landlords and employers. On the other hand,
the worst that has ever been alleged
against the morality of the ballot-box is that it
would serve to defeat roguery with its own wea-
pons, by depriving those who prachice improper in-
fluence and intimidation of any security for the
profitable investment of their money, or for the effi-
cacy of their pressure upon the dependent tenant
or tradesman. So far as the ridiculous case cited
by our contemporary is concerned, we are
almost ashamed, as " advocates of the ballot
" system," to waste a drop of ink in ex-
plaining how it could have been prevented. Is
it not obvious that a sufficient number of
voting places within easy reach of every elector
would prevent the use or abuse of conveyances,
and that the law might compel every elector to
place his own vote in the ballot urn; bal-
lot urns being labelled with the names of the
candidates and so constructed internally as to
guarantee the perfect secrecy of the vote ? Or, if
voting papers were used, might not each elector be
required to receive his paper from the official in
charge of the ballot urns, and sign it for himself
there and then, under complete immunity from in-
terference, just as simply and easily as each pas-
senger takes his ticket at a railway station ?
And might not the arrangements of tho voting
places be such as to make it at least an ab-
solute certainty that every elector should
vote by himself and for himself, exempt
from the scrutiny of any human eye or
the interference of any human hand 1' Nor
would such secrecy, which is the proper object of
the ballot, and which in electoral matters is only
another word for independence, be less secure if
every elector presenting himself at the ballot urn
were required to sign his own name on the list of
electors before giving his vote. The cause of
the Ballot must indeed be approaching victory
when its opponents are reduced to such pitiful
stories as that of the Pennsylvanian ironn►aster
and his three " men."

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