The Sun.
London, England, 1852-01-29 00:00:00

NUN.

GREAT REFORM MEETING.
Oa Tuesday evening a numerously attended mee,t-
ing of the inhabitants of Edinburgh was held in tne
Music-hall, to consider the subject of Parliamentary
Reform. The chair was occupied by the Lord Pro-
vost, and amongst those present were--Mr. Cowan,
M.P., Mr. J. F. Macfarlan, Mr. J. H. Burton, advo-
cate ; Mr. W. Duncan, S.S.C. ; Mr. W. Tait, and
other influential citizens.
The LORD PROVOST, in opening the business of
the meeting, said it bad not been got up either to
support or oppose the present Government, but simply
to give the inhabitants an opportunity of expressing
their views on the great question of reform. The
first resolution to be submitted to them proposed
that all who paid local taxes should be entitled to
vote for Members of Parliament. The second pro-
posed that all small burgh constituencies should be
extinguished, and the Members given to large towns,
Scotland getting a fair share in the division. The
third resolution proposed that the 40s. freehold
should be extended to Scotland, and that all fictitious
votes in counties should be extinguished by requiring
residence and infeftment. The fourth resolution
proposed that the list of tax-payers taken from
the local rate-books should be transferred to
the register of voters, without the necessity for
any claims being given in, and that the fee of 2s. 6d.
now charged in Scotland, which deters so many
voters from registering, should be abolished. The
last resolution declared for the balloC, triennial Par-
liaments, and the abolition of the property qualifica-
tion which now exists for Members of Parliament in
England and Ireland. His Lordship, after enforcing
at some length the propriety of adopting this scheme
of reform, which, he said, was substantially the same
as that agreed to at Manchester, but modified so as to
be applicable to Scotland, called upon
Mr. J. F. AIACFA.RLAN, who moved the following
resolution :

" That provision should be made for a large exten-
sion of the constituency, which in England and Ireland
should take place by conferring the franchise on all
persons chargeable with the poor-rate; and in Scotland
(where the poor-rate does not u❑iversally apply) by
conferring the franchise on all persons who are charge-
able with any general local rate, such as an assessment
or the support of the poor, for prisons, or for police
purposes; and, in the event of there being any burgh or
district in which no such rate is now levied, that in such
cases the franchise should be conferred on all persons
who would be chargeable with any such rate if it were
levied."

In supporting the resolution Mr. Macfarlan stated,
that 880 parishes or combinations for support of the
poor in Scotland, in no less than 226 the principle of
voluntary contributions existed ; but no difficulty
would be found in these cases in finding a mode of
enfranchisement similar to that employed where
rating for the poor prevailed. He then went into a
variety of arguments to show the necessity of lower-
ing the franchise, and thereby adding to the number
of the constituent body.
Mr. APCREE seconded the motion.

An amendment was proposed by Dr. GLOVER, a
Chartist, in favour of universal suffrage, but only
thirty or forty bands were held up in its favour, and
the original resolution was carried by an overwhelm-
ing majority.
Mr. J. H. BURTON, advocate, moved the following
resolution :

" That provision should be made for the extinction
of all small burgh constituencies, either by such an
amalgamation of burghs as would form a united consti-
tuency of not fewer than 5,000 electors in each group, or
by merging the voters for small burghs in the constitu-
encies of the counties in which such burghs are seve-
rally situated; that the right to elect members no longer
required to be returned for small burghs should be
transferred, either to towns which have acquired a large
population since the passing of the last Reform Act, or to
burghs which have so much increased in population since
the passing of that Act as to be uow inadequately re-
presented; and that in any re-arrangement of members,
Scotland should have an equal proportion with England,
having regard to the population of each division of the
United Kingdom, and to the net amount of revenue con-
tributed by each for national purposes."
The resolution was seconded by Mr. DURHAM, and
carried unanimously.
Mr. F. BUSSELL, advocate, moved—
.

That provision should be made for the establishment
of the 40s. treehold franchise in counties throughout the
whole of the United Kingdom; that all real property
held by any other tenure than as freehold should give
the same right to the franchise as freehold property; and
that in Scotland provision should be made to prevent all
merely nominal owners from being registered as electors
by requiring all claimanta to make up their titles in the
moat complete manner, by infeftment or otherwise; and
that a residence of not less than three months yearly
should be required within the county is which the pro-
perty is situated."
Mr. W. DUNCAN, S.S.C., seconded the resolution,
which was adopted unanimously.
Resolutions in favour of an improved system of
registration and the ballot were then agreed to ; and,
after a few words from Mr. Cowan, M.P., a vote of

thanks was given to the Lord Provost, and the mee
ing separated.

INVASION OF ENGLAND.-NATIONAL
DEFENCES.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Six,—Under a similar title to the above the Times
of to-day has an article well calculated to frighten all
the old ladies of both sexes in the Queen's dominions,
and I believe it was so intended, that the lieges, being
thoroughly alarmed, may, without grumbling, con-
sent to an increase of the army estimates. That
there are some old ladies in the House of Commons,
who will be alarmed to the heart's content of the
Times' writer, I verily believe. And lest your readers
participate in this senseless feeling, I hope you will
allow an old officer, who served during all the active
period of the late war, and saw a good deal of French
naval tactics, to tell them why there really is no
cause for alarm. In the first place, Sir, allowing
that the Ruler of the French should collect the
vast army the Times names—say 151,800 soldiers—
opposite the coast of England, I think we not only
possess wooden walls enough to keep them out of
England, but we have intelligence enough at the Ad-
miralty to direct that force so as to "confound their
politics and make them fall " And I hope the follow-
ing simple ideas, struck off at the moment, may prove
that, if required, the tars of Old England will con-
tinue to make Old England's colours fly.
It is presumed that a large part of the intended in-
vading force shall sail from the port of Cherbourg,
and others from Brest and other Channel ports. They
are none of them to come from a distance—of course
Johnny Crapaud will be too wise for that. Well, we
have got the Channel only to guard therefore ; and
that, mark Sir, only in fine weather—a most im-
portant fact, which the editor of the Times loses sight
of, for reasons best known to himself. A large fleet,
with numerous transports, and conveying some 70,000
troops, with all their necessary material, will never
attempt to venture to sea in a gale of wind.
It is clear, therefore, that when the weather allows
that fleet to put to sea, intending to land that vast
army on the shores of an enemy, it will also permit
our ships to be in mid-channel to intercept them and
give them a warm reception. The plan I should
suggest to do that to most advantage is, to have, of
course, plenty of men-of-war in all our channel ports
ready to put to sea at a moment's warning ; but not
by any means to rely on them only for the destruction
of the invading fleet. No ; I contend that we should
have spread over the whole channel, for a space of
200 miles, at an interval of only ten miles from each
station, a series of large and powerful war steam-
ships, cruizing in couples; that is, twenty couples of
large war steamers, at a distance of only ten miles
asunder, or between each two. This would require
only forty war steamers, as our advanced guard, out
in all weathers when it were possible for the enemy
to leave his ports. Each of these couples of large
fighting
all but teamers, no
ships
plaln,nwed tocontainould have accompanied by three
small s
t fitted for
an
ships.
Alongustibles
thisi and
cordon
be em poye
of combustibles, d as steam fire- mbpass
sat lelfamoaenvrashs ot fivar cihsfutirigaonnnmg
one
of
ot inoef
" the enemy" wouldat
,
e x eemt t
sy t tho the
e nsn
pother.pnseL the
enemy
seen by those of
the cordon stationed off Cherbourg
the five vessels stationedar to
to weigh anchor.
In one hour
the east, and
the five to the west, would have
Cherbourg. In one more hwonunrttylii
miles
at fivend on eachd
the next
the five off
side would have steamed t
imebul er ds
them : and, at the end of three hours froma ss.joinne
t
signal of alarm, there. would be ten inoreass
steam"
or, in all, the whole stationed at seven stations, viz
and these, at the end of the fourth hour,
fourteen large war steamers and twenty-one
joined by ten others. why, the whole of
the enemy s transports.
would fire-ships
be ,
would be in a blaze by this
time ; his large steanierat• and other ships crowded,
with troops, as the Times describes, would be swept'
with grape, and, as I once witnessed myself, bags
containing 500 musket balls each would be discharged
n longer,am on
and
dthetsheenlivuipnwhom few would sur-
vive to tell the tale. Ihe battle might rage for an hour
of
gwmoualscisesCome ten other vessels,
with the broad As of England flying, and fresh and
eager for the work ;• and if there were any of the
enemy who had not found their way down to where
the elastic cable lies, at the end of six hours from the
time they started, why another batch of ten fresh
ships would have reached the scene to help them
there. The whole
English force collected being by
that time, ere the transports could be balf.channel
over, not less than 65 vessels, viz., 26 large war
steamers and 39 fire-ships. When it happens, Sir, I
hope the editor of the Times may be there to give a
faithful report for the amusement of the frightened old
ladies of England ; for I am sure by that time none
others will read his paper if he go on erecting bug-
bears of the Iyohuarvse;
scc.,
I hope, knocked on the head.
I
R. J. MORRISON, Lieut. R.N.
London, Jan, 23, 1852.