The Sun.
London, England, 1852-02-18 00:00:00

THE NEW REFORM BILL.

An important Return has just been printed by order
of the House of Commons, which casts a strong light on
the probable operation of the new Reform Bill. It gives
us the present number of electors in every borough in
Great Britaip ; and it gives us the number of houses
rated to the relief of the poor in those boroughs. By
comparing these two sets of figures together, we may
form some reasonable computation of the result of the
proposed measure, so far as it is intended to augment the
co..stituencies of those boroughs.

The whole list is too hin.g to be given; but we will
extract from it some of the most important CAWS. In
the following borough*, :he present constituency
placed side by side with the numaer of rated houses,
and thus we shall s•e the greatest present extension of
the_e electoral bodies.

Present Electors. Rated Houses.
Kidderminster...,
Whitehaven
Warrington
Wigan
Tynemouth
Wakefield
Ashton 937 ...... 5,439
Dudley ' 912
Wenlock
Bury
Walsall
Macclesfield..
ILdifax
.li,ich!ale
Blackburn
Stockpot' 1,341
. S:roud
Huddersfield
Bolton
Stoke
Oldham
Bradford •
Preston
Salford..
Wolverhampton
Leicester 3,853
Hull 5,221
Nottingham .5,260
Sheffield
Leeds
Birmingham ............ 7.936
• Manchester 13,921
Liverpool 17,433 ..,, ... 64,212
These specimens may suffice. Lot us now deal with
one or two frauds which are attempted to be pracased
upon us.
1. We are told that not all these houses will be en-
titled to confer the franchise, for that frequently houses
are not rated as of 54 value except they are really
worth 71.

We answer, that we do not believe that there are in
Liverpool, Birmingham, or Leeds, or any other of the
great towns, many cottages letting for less than 71. per
annum, or rateable at less than 5/. Hence we believe
that must of these " house rated" will qualify their occu-
pants to be on the register.
2. Next we are as.ured that the number that will
pay their rates and qualify will be only a small propor-
tion of the whole. We believe that this will be the
case at first. But there is nothing to prevent future
overseers from screwing up the rating, or from collect-
ing the ratea sharply, and in this way 64,212 rated
houses in the borough of Liverpool might soon be made
to yield 50,000 votes.
Tho process, we know will be gradual. We may see
how it has worked in the city of London. There are in
the city of London 16,031 rated houses. As the whole
ground has long since been built over, there were,
doubtless, as many in 1832, when the first register was
made up, under the Reform Bill of that year. Well, in
1832, out of all these 16,031 houses, only 2,057 electors
were qualified. And we haie no doubt that a similar fall-
ing short would now be perceived, if the new Bill were
pasiid and a registration taken up,na it.
But I't US peocee.d a little farther. Although it is
trua that in 1832 little more than half the householders
in London were placed upon the register, it is equally
true that th'y have been inerea.ing year by year ever
since; and n.,w the numb. r n-glArereri is no fewer than
13 525, or about six out of every seven.
'roe same t&nriency will be round in all other places,
and we have no doubt that the result will be genet ally
the same. Place a privilege within reach, and it will
naturally be grasped at. Let us not, then, be deluded
now with the vain assurance, that although we nominally
enfranchise the Si. occupiers, nut half of them will avail
themselves of the privilege.

THE HOLMFIRTH R tEERVOIRS.—The bodies of
three more of the unfortunate people who were swept away
by the bursting of one of the Holmfirth reservoirs, have been
recovered. One of them, the remains of Samuel Metterick,
aged 20, son of James Metterick, of Water-street, Hinchliffe
Mill, was found about eight o'clock in Mr. Farrar's mill
goit ; and Mrs. Metterick, the youth's mother, was also
found the same morning in Armitage Mill, several miles
from Water-street. In the course of Saturday the body of
Alfred As. all, son of John and Margaret Asnall (both of
whom perished by the flood), was picked up at Stanley
Ferry, two miles below Wakefield, and about twenty-four
miles from the place where the boy resided. The time the
bodies bad been in the water rendered early interment neces-
sary, and it was expected that the jury would view them
yesterday. The interest which the public appear to take in
the scene of the extraordinary catastrophe seems rather to
increase than to flag, and the number of persons visiting the
vale of the Holme and the seat of the r‘lervoir on Sunday
was, at least, from 20,000 to 30,000.
The accounts of the state vi trade in the provinces
during the past week show no particular variation. At
Manchester the market has been quiet, but in the demat:ld
for soir.e description of goods there has been a further sliegnoif
improvement. Birmingham continues its steady c
prosperity, and although occasional strikes take
From
do not appear to be characterised by much bittearncees
1 trade, the
Nottingham there is an improved report of theeafr
ected by the
demand for the continent not having been -
was apprehended.
state of politics to the full extent that
satisfactory, espe-
The orders for hosiery have also been
pposed to have been
cially on home account. A di'"verY' t straw and the
chemist that oa
made by an amateur c
other common straws of coruocet-s, in the same
into cAton by M. Claussen's
as flax straw, has created Fons
o change.
woollen markets there has been n The Irish
with out an
linen trade has been dull, although reaction is
P dne tr
rayb can
prices. this
interest. be pe
51
nculelestrhtt
wayee 3de'

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT

--a,~-.

HOUSE OF LORDS, Feb. 17.
The LORD CLTANCZLLOR took his seat on the Wool-
sack at Five o'clock.

LORD CLANCARTY.
Lord CLANCARTY came to the table to be sworn, but
the NAle Lurd refused to tak the oath of supremacy,
and, therefore, after a short diseussion, tho Noble Lord
was directed to withdraw, which he did accordingly.

DISTURBANCES IN IRELAND.
The Earl of RODEN then rose to put a question to
the Government on the subject of the outrages in Ire-
land. Since be last had the honour of addressing their
Lordships on this subject additional threatening notices
had been sent to some of the landed gentry in his neigh-
bourhood, and he was very much afraid the failure of
the Special Commission would have the effect of aggra-
vating the evils. A meeting of landed proprietors
and agriculturists had been held in the county of Louth,
and they had passed a resolution expressive of their
opinion that it was the duty of the Government to take
immediate steps to suppress the secret societies existing
in Ireland, and thus arrest some of those agrarian crimes
which some members of those societies had in contem-
plation.—(Hear, hear.) Many of those societies had
other objects besides agrarian; they were, in fact,
dangerous political societies, and it was hope-
less to expect peace or prosperity in Ireland
while they were allowed to carry on their proceedings
with impunity.—(Hear, hear.) It was not' for him,
or those who urged him on this matter to suggest the
means by which these societies could be suppresse'd and
the terrible crime prevented, because it wa3 the duty of
those who undertook the government of the country
to be prepared of their own accord to meet the
emergency.—(Hear, hear.) It was a lamentable
fact that crime of every description, bet more
especially that of murder, was rapidly on the increase,
and the peaceably-disposed portion of the community
had a right to look to the Government for immediate
protectiou and redress.—( Hear, hear.) Justice was
defied in many parts of Ireland, for those who made
any attempt to maintain or enforce the law went in fear
of their lives; and already, as the returns on the
table showed, a worthy and humane gentleman
had been barbarously murdered for having done his
duty as a magistrate.—(Hear, hear.) Now Govern-
ment, instead of taking measures to remove this shock-
ing state of things, were lukewarm in the discharge of
their duty to the state, and no later ago than last Tues-
day two policemen were fined 10s., or ordered to be im-
prisoned as many days, for stopping people on the high-
way whom they suspected as being in possession of arms.
It turned out, however, when they came to search one
of them that, instead of a blunderbuss, it was a bottle of
whisky the man had under his coat. The policemen,
however, erred in the right direction, and they were,
therefore, not deserving of any punishment.—(Hear.)
He trusted thin and all other similar cases would be in-
quired into, and that care would be taken to protsct the
police under all circumstances in the execution of their
dtey.—(Hear, hear.) Ho concluded by moving t ...or cer-
tain returns conntoted with the state of the counties of
Louth and Armagh, and relating to the crimes of
murder and other outrages committed in those counties
since the let of January.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE, who was scarcely
audible in the gallery, was understood to say, that Go-
vernment was tully alive to the evils which existed in
Ireland, and the importance of applying a remedy to
them as speedily as possible.—(Elear, hear.) Govern-
ment had dune all in their power to discover the perpe-
trators of these murders, and he was not aware that any
of the police force had been ever blamed for exercising
an undue vigilance in the discharge of their duties.—
(Hoar, hear.) There would be no objection to make the
return which the Noble Earl culled for.—(Hear, hear.)
The Earl of WICKLO VIT hoped the Government would
not lose sight of the fact that many of the evils could be
removed by legislation.
The Earl of GLENGALL blamed the Govern-
ment for having appointed the recent Special Com-
mission; it would have been much better had
the law been allowed to follow the usual course, and
there might have been a chance of insuring a con-
viction of the offenders. As it was, the Special Com-
mission had only bad the effect of increasing the alarm
which prevailed in Ireland, for while some of the jury
were for a conviction, only three were for an acquittal,
and as those three would not give way, an im-
pression had got abroad that this might
be the result of the trials in other cases.
and thus neither property nor life was safe in the
country. The criminal law of Ireland required amend-
ment, and he hoped the present session would not be al-
lowed to close without an effort being made to effect that
amendment.—(Hear, hear.)
Lord LYNDHURST postponed a motion of which he
had given notice on this subject until after the triald at
the approaching assizes.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE thought it would be
desirable that their Lordships should see the shorthand-
writer's notes of the trials of the special commission at
Monaghan.
Lord BROUGHAM thought the suggestion to change
the venue was very important. It was net a novelty, for
the practice existed in Scotland; but he could nut say
that he gave his assent to it.
Lord ABIN GER believed the proceedings had origi-
nated under the Crime and Outrage Act, which authorised
a search fur weapons, so that toe matter was the more
unexplainable.

Tfie returns wena then ordered.
VOLUN PEER RIFLE CORPS.

Lord COLCHESTER, gave notice of moving for re-
focus relative to theforma:ion of volunteer corps.

THE SIEGE OF LAGOS

Viscount CANNING, seeing the Noble Earl the Se-
cretary for Foreign Affairs in his place, wished to ask
him if he had any objection to lay on the table any
pipers relative to the events which had taken place at
Lagos? Their Lordships would have seen a copy of
the Lfficial reports of the commodore of the squadron
on the coast, from which it appeared that there
had been a great loss of lite. Their Lordships
might reasonably claim to have further information.
on the subject, as in the first paragraph of the report
allusion was made to instructions which had been re-
ceived from the Admiralty. He did not ask this ques-
tion from any feeling of Opposition to the great cause of
the suppression of the slave trade. It bad been the
practice to father on the *Lye trade much expense and
loss of life; but be thought they might gather in this
instance, from the statement which bad already ap-
peared, that the present loss of life was not entirely de-
pendent on the slave trade. Whether the attack on
Lagos had been consequent on a desire on our part to
protect our commerce, or to depose one King and set
up another, he could not say; but he thought the expe-
rience which his Noble Friend had bad from being ex
officio protector of one black King on the Mo:quito
snore would not induce him to take upon himself a
similar office with reference to another on the other side
of the Atlantic. It his Noble Friend consented to lay
the papers he bad moved for on the table, ha would ask
him also to cause to be extracted from any preceding
blue books such dispatches as would tend to throw light
on the instructions which had been given to the naval
officers on the west coast of Africa.
Earl GRANVILLE would lay the information re-
quired on the table at the earliest possible opportunity.
The Earl of ELLENBOROUGH should like at the
same time to know whether any order had been issued
from the Admiralty to the officers on the coast of Africa
not to fight on Christmas-day?—(A laugh.) Operations
had been commenced two days before that day, and bad
then been suspended for 24 hours, to which delay he be-
lieved might be attributed the loss of one-half the men
who had been killed. With reference to the mortality
generally on board African ships, he thought great im-
provement might be made in fitting them our. Some
years ago he saw an awning on board a ship at Ply-
mouth about to sail to Africa, and he was astonished to
would neither keep off the
find its wretched state ; it
rain nor sun ; and he consequently ordered a new one
properly constructed to be fitted to the ship. Some time
afterwards the captain informed him that it answered
most admirably; that it was the envy of all the other
ships on the African coast, and tended greatly to pre-
serve the health of the crew. The awning was so con-
trived as to save all the water which fell on it, and it
was a great advantage and comfort to the crew. He
wished the Megasra had been fisted with one of the same
character.—(Hear.)
COUNTY COURTS FURTHER EXTENSION