The Sun.
London, England, 1839-06-07 00:00:00

EXTENSION OF THE FRANCHISE.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Stn,—l am one of those who consider that the electoral
franchise ought to be extended to every honest man in
the kingdom, of mature age and sound mind, and I
have come to this conclusion after a calm and careful
consideration of all that has been urged on both sides
of the question.
The system of representation is an invention for
the purpose of enabling the people to be present at
the discussion of every measure ; so that no law
shall be made affecting the property of any indi-
vidual, without his having an opportunity of
expressing his assent or dissent." All the people,
not a mere class or portion, ought to be represented ;
and the election should be equal and proportionate—
that is to say, every ten thousand, or some other given
number, ought to return one member to the great
council. If a few arrogate to themselves the exclusive
right of electing representatives to govern the whole
community, that must be a usurpation in direct viola-
tion of the inherent rights of msn.
With regard to the argument that men cannot claim
a right of voting because women and children are not
expected to do so, it is too preposterous to require any
comment. As well might it be said that those men
who now exercise the right, have for the same reason no
good claim.
The language of Mr. Grote in the late debate on
Household Suffrage, exactly expresses my sentiments.
That high-minded and talented man—the chief orna-
ment of the Radical party—said he " saw no reason
For withholding the elective franchise from any man,
unless it could be proved, or a strong presumption
could be raised, that he was unfit to exercise
it. That view he conceived to be in accordance
with the theory of Representative Government in every
nation which had possessed one. He believed the
principle universally assumed was, that it was desirable
to have the representative body coincident, as nearly as
possible, with the body of males of mature age in the
community.'
Even those who are of opinion that the time is not yet
come for the enfranchisement of the working classes,
will, I trust, look with an eye of sympathy upon their
peaceful endeavours to raise themselves in the scale of
society ; and possess the name and privileges of freemen.

Various favoured towns had from time to time had
the boon of liberty conferred upon them ; and the
masses are surely justified in striving to attain the same
blessing. In the towns alluded to individuals enjoy
the right of voting in the election of Members of Par-
liament, although not householders, nor possessed of
any property. These men are dignified by the title of
freemen, to distinguish them from those who have nothing
to do with the making the laws by which they are governed.
Now, Sir, I contend that all men in Great Britain
ought to be freemen—there should be no slave class.
Mark, too, the inconsistency of the present system !
Why should the mechanic in one town have a vote,
and his brother workman in another town have none ?

According to Mr. Hume, " taxation and representa-
tion ought to be coexistent and coextensive. This is
sufficient for my purpose, because all consumers are
tax-payers ; but even if that were not so, they ought by
their Representatives to express their assent or dissent
from laws affecting their property, liberty, and lives.
It is quite true that there are many of the working
classes who would not use their freedom with discretion ;
but the same remark applies to the present constituency.
And a little reflection and calculation will clearly show
that any rule excluding a large portion of the people
from their birthright, will shut out two fit and proper
persons for every one who would abuse his political rights.
The question resolves itself into this, Ought we to ex-
clude three individuals from the franchise, because one
would prostitute his vote to base purposes ? You look
upon the vicious and destitute prowlinc, about the
streets, and exclaim—" What use would they make of
political power ?" But then you should take into con-
sideration that these are but few in number compared
with the rest of the community, and that the rule
which puts them beyond the pale, also proscribes three
times their number of respectable and intelligent work-
ing men, whose votes would far more than countervail
their influence.

The purchased votes under a system of universal
suffrage would have far less weight than at present, for
in nearly all the small towns the elections are turned
by the direct influence of money. This is owing to the
fewness of the electors.
• The effect of Universal Suffrage would be to create
a lively sympathy on the part of the Government in
favour of the working classes, and to confer vast politi-
cal power on our great manufacturers and merchants.
A manufacturer employing, say 500 men, would usually
have at least 350 of them concur with him in general
politics. This is the sort of man in whom large political
power ought to exist ; the influence of a great manufac-
turer ought to be much beyond that of a landlord hav-
ing only 20 or 30 men on his estate. The mighty inte-
rests of commerce would then stand a better chance of
being properly attended to.
Universal Suffrage would give .the predominance to
the intelligence of the empire ; for as two thirds of the
population are employed in manufactures and trade, and
only one-third in agricuhure, the ignorant country peo-
ple would be represented by a small minority ; whereas
the booby squires and bigoted parsons are completely
paramount under the r. ient system.
The county should be divided into electoral districts.
each containing a given numbk,r of electors ; and in
each district there should be numerous polling places, to
Prevent the uproar and confusion caused by large as-
semblies of p'eople. To say with Mr. Thomas Attwood
that every man ought to have a vote, but that in one
part of the country a Member should be returned by
fewer constituents than in another part, is inconsistent
and absurd. Suppose a town, containing one hundred
electors, returns two Members to Parliament, whilst
another town, with ten thousand, sends no more ; upon
what principle or reasoning can the disparity be defended?
We should want but a small standing army if the
people were really governed through their own repre-
sentatives ; for every man might then be entrusted with
military knowledge and a sword for the defence of his
country, without fear or jealousy on the part of the
Government, and as an armed nation we should be
quite safe from foreign invasion.
I may say, with Mr. O'Connell " Is it in accordance
with common sense that the present system shall en-
dure—the master classes of the people having votes, the
slave classes none ? Talk of property being represented!
What property is more valuable than physical strength,
and the possession of intellect, which God and nature
have given to man ?"

I am not, Sir, of a sanguine temperament, but I feel
a deeply rooted conviction that, before many years,
there will be Universal Suffrage. That mighty engine
the Press, is thoroughly arousing the people from the
lethargy of ages, and nothing can resist the just and
reasonable demands of the millions.

The objectly will probably be attained by progressive
steps, but nothing will henceforth lull the multitude ;
every additional post taken will only be used for the
advancement of the great cause.

But what benefit would be derived by the working
classes from Universal Suffrage? Those who ask
this question believe that the condition of the people
cannot at all be affected either the one way or the
other, by bad or good government. On the contrary, I
maintain that a series of judicious measures would make
food and all kinds of necessaries more plentiful,
vastly increase the employment of the people, and
greatly improve their mental and bodily condition in a
hundred different ways.
In fact, I want Universal Suffrage, because I want a
Repeal of the Corn-laws and the New Poor-law—be-
cause I want a totally different system of taxation, and
a liberal and universal system of education—a thorough
Reform of the Church, and equalization of its revenues,
cheap and good Government, and the abolition of the
law of primogeniture, cheap, speedy, and equal justice.
In fine, I want this great principle to be acted upon
" the greatest happiness to the greatest number ;" and
I see no hope of that until " the greatest number" are
represented.

A PHILANTHROPIST.

BREACH OF PROMISE OF MARRIAGE.--A
jury of the inhabitants of the city of Exeter were called
upon on Monday to assess damages in the case of Hutchins
v. Much, grocer, for breach of promise of marriage. The
defendant is a grocer in the city, and had promised to
marry the plaintiff, a young woman of respectable family,
who carried on the business of a dress-maker and milliner.
After paying attention to her for three years, during which
time ho had repeatedly promised to marry her, the first
intimation of his intention to alter his mind was seeing his
marriage to another person in the Devonshire papers.
Several persons proved the promise by the defendant, and
evidence was given that he turned 100/. weekly in his
business. The jury returned a verdict 2001. damages.—
Exerter Flying Post.

REPRESENTATION OF THE COUNTY OF
EDINBURGH.—A requisition is now in course of signature
to Mr. Ramsay, of Barnton, to become Candidate for the
representation of this county at the next election.—Edin.
burgh Observer. ..

A NOVEL RELIC OF ANCIENT TIMES.—A
quantity of butter, about ten pounds weight, was found in
Oumley Bog, near Muff, county Donegal, last week, by a
labourer of Mr. E. Johnson's, of Drumshellan. It lay in
the lowest cut of the bog, in a solid mass ; and, although
it must have lain in that situation for a great many years,
perhaps centuries, it was in a state of good preservation.
It is of a pure white colour, somewhat resembling tallow,
and, when reduced to a liquid state, seems to have tho ap-
pearance and properties of butter of a superior quality. A
small portion of it has been left at our office.—Londonderry
Sentinel.
LUXEMB MAY 25.—His Royal High-
ness the Crown Prince of Prussia arrived yesterday even-
URG,
ing at the residence of his Excellency the Governor of the
fortress. The Prince immediately received the civil
authorities and public functionaries; in the course of the
evening all the officers of the Governor were admitted to
an audience. This morning his Roy al Highness has re-
viewed the garrison. We hear that be will leave us to.
day and go to Treves.
DREADFUL ACCIDENT —A
lady in crossing
Regent street, on Tuesday, was knocked down by an om-
nibus, and her leg so lacerated that amputation was re.
sorted to. 1

MODERN PRIIESTCRAFT•

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Scut—ln these days, when priestly domination is
threatening to plunge us back again into mental night,
it is the clear duty of all who value the liberty of rea-
son to examine into the solidity of the foundations on
which modern priestcraft rests, that so we may either
discover the root of the evil, and strike there, or failing
to discover any rottenness in the foundations, we may
gather reason for thinking that priestcraft is a super-
structure which can never be legitimately raised from a
basis to opposite so itself.
Such being my opinion of the indispensableness of
free inquiry, I was gratified by the acute critique
of your correspondent " Rusticus," on the much-vexed
question of the first chapters of Genesis, though I feel
bound to say that I differ from him, in tote, in holding
that there is a divineness in every iota of the Books of
Moses ; and as I conceive that I maintain this opinion
on a rational ground, I shall, I trust, be answering all
the questions of " Rusticus," if I endeavour to state,
with great brevity, what that ground is. The views I
our about to propound, are those which I (at one time,
like your correspondent, " in search of a religion") have
found in the clear, cool, and reasoning pages of the much
celebrated, but much-unknown Emanuel Swedenborg.
I hold, then, that the holiness and divine trueness of
the word of God consists in the spirit, or spiritual sense,
which resides within it, and which is composed of spi-
ritual ideas, correspondent to the material ideas which
appear in the sense of the letter. In this manner,
therefore, the true value of the first chapters of Genesis
does not consist in their giving any account whatever of
the first creation of the world of nature, or of the body
of man ; these being subjects which come to be con-'
sidered by the sciences of geology and physiology, and
not by the life-influence and inward consciousness, which
is alone religion. But it does consist in their pourtray-
ing, under the images and symbols of a creation of
visible nature, the successive formation, by a Divine
hand, of intelligence, wisdom, and love, in the dark,
primeval chaos of the natural man.
The first account of the creation carries the work of
man's regeneration up to that state in which he becomes
obedient to the truths which are revealed to his reason,
and from his reason, fights against the corrupt desires of
the natural will ; this operation in man being effected by
the Divine Truth, for which, in the word, the name God
is a representative symbol. But the second account of
man's creation is a higher evolution of the Divine Pro-
cess, or the creation of a still higher form of man, in
which man, after being under a constrained obe-
dience to the Truth of Reason, comes at length
to yield a willing obedience to them, or to act
from the love of a newly created will. And this
change is the operation of the divine goodness, which is
signified by the word Jehovah ; and which, when united
with God, as Jehovah-God, signifies the oneness of the
Divine goodness and truth, in effecting this high
process in the souls of men. The true exposi-
tion of the Books of Genesis and Exodus may be
seen, by your truth-seeking Correspondent, in the
great work of Swedenborg, entitled " Arcana Coe-
lestia," in which every word of those Books is shown
to have a spiritual sense within it, treating solely of that
which is the sole subject and object of religion, namely,
the soul of man, and the laws of the Divine operation
upon it. Here are no apostolic successions, or belief of
books on the human authority of fathers, grandfathers,
or well-fed heads of stone churches, but mere appeals
to the reason and best affections of the inner man.
Here, in the pages of this great work, are the energetic
truths, before which Protestantism, Catholicism, Tory-
ism, and all other partial or perverted views of truth,
must melt away, like mists from the presence of the
sun. Here, in a word, is " the truth which makes men
free," and the real freedom of thought which is the re-
sult of truth.

A SWEDENBORGIAN.

THE CHARTISTS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SIR,—An erroneous opinion being prevalent that the
Chartists are holding their meetings at my house and
which is calculated to prove highly injurious to me, I beg
the favour of your allowing me to explain away the error
through the medium of your columns.
At the time the Corn-law question occupied so much
attention, a meeting of the Chartists was advertised " to
take place at Brown's Hotel," which was done without my
sanction, and, indeed, without my knowledge. Some
members of that body, after the announcement, applied for
the accommodation of rooms for the purpose of holding
their meetings, but I distinctly declined receiving them,
and they engaged apartments at some other hotel.
The announcement that their meetings were to be held
here obtained great publicity, and, as I took no public step
to make known my refusal to receive them, the impression
has gone abroad that their meetings take place here, which
is not only unpleasant to my feelings, but, as I before ob-
served, calculated to be of serious injury to me, I trust,
therefore, to your well known candour to insert this expla-
nation,

And remain, Sir, your obedient servant,
A. BROWN.
Brown's Hotel, Palace-yard, June 1, 1839.

Wednesday was the birthday of his Majesty
Ernest the First, King of Hanover, heir-presumptive to
the throne of these realms, who completed his GBth year,
having been born in 1771.
PARIS, ,31.---This morning a young man,
I,,,inp• a name rendered illustriflns by ono of tLe brave
Marshals of die empire, M. Auguste S—, was arrested at
home, in pursuance of a warrant of the police prefect.
The unfortunate youth, led away by a fatal passion for play,
had yesterday abstracted some articles of plate from a house
where he had diined. He had immediately pawned them
at the Mont de Piete, and some minutes after the small
sum yielded by his ignominious action had vanished in one
of the abject gambling rooms whose existence we have de-
nounced, and which the police is unable to watch effectually,
tolerated as they are, by the silence or inefficiency of the
law. Auguste S— has been delivered over to the law
officers of the crown, in spite of the steps taken by his fa-
mily, who have interceded in his behalf, after indemnifying
the owner of the plate. —Paris Paper.
SINGULAR WILL.—A person lately deceased
in Bradford, after providing for the apprenticeship of his
three sons, bequeathed 5001. to his widow, but on the con-
dition that she marry before six months after his decease.
She is very good looking, and will have no difficulty in
complying with his injunction.
TIIE LINEN TRADE IN FRANCE.—The Mi-
nister of Commerce received yesterday a deputation of the
manufacturers and other persons interested in the linen
trade, to make representations to him on the question of
duties. The Minister demanded a delay of a week to give
the subject further consideration. A commission of the
Council of Commerce has been inquiring into the state of
the linen trade and manufactures, and has heard a great
mass of evidence collected from various quarters. hisT
commission recommends that the tariff of 1826 should be
re-established exactly as it was, and styles the tariff of
1836 malencontreuse. It also demands that the difference
of the duties on flax thread (fils de lin) and tow thread (fils
d'etoupes) shall be abolished ; and that the protecting duty,
which is now only from three to four per cent., shall be
rAi3ed to seven or eight per cent. ; as also that the duty on
machinery for the linen manufacture imported from Eng-
land shall be reduced 15 per cent. Some of the principal
manufacturers are anxious for a protecting duty of eight
per cent. on limn yarns, and 26 per cent. on linen cloths.—
Galignani.

T:HE CHURCIL-Here we have a cathedral
establishment which brings the facts to which we have al-
luded before the eyes of the most careless. We say
nothing of the income of the Bishop : his labour in at-
tending the House of Lords (to vote for every Tory mea-
sure), in superihtending the clergy of his diocese, and
preaching some three or four sermons every year, may be
worth the five thousand some odd hundreds per annum,
which the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have awarded
him ; but can the same thing be said of the Dean and Pre-
bends--five worthy gentlemen who last year divided
amongst them upwards of 7,0001. out of the revenues at
their disposal ? And for what was this received ? What
labour did they perform in return ? Were they busily en-
;aged in instructing the youth of the neighbourhood ?
Were they visiting the sick—sheltering the houseless—
comforting the widow and the fatherless? Alas, the dio-
cese saw little of them beyond the time required for coun-
ting the cash and writing out their respective receipts for
the money. Archbishop Cranmer, in his famous letter to
Cromwell, speaks of the canons and prebendaries of those
days, as a " superfluous condition," and says a prebendary
is neither a " learner nor teacher, but a good viander,
who wastes his substance in superfluous belly-cheer."
Whether they be as good vianders now, we cannot under.
take to say ; but that they are neither " learners nor
teachers" in the place whence they derive so much wealth,
it does not require the ghost of Cranmer to inform us. It
is not of the men we speak, but of the system ; and it is of
the upholders of that system we complain, when we hear
them denouncing grants of public money for the instruc-
tion of those whom that system has neglected and left in
utter ignorance. Shame ought, at least, to do their
tongues, if fear of public indignation at their own neglect
of duty, did not make them hide their heads.—Carlisle
Journal.

GLASGOW, JUNE I.—Yesterday evening Mr.
Paulton, Lecturer to the Anti-Corn-law League, delivered
his first lecture in the Baronial Hall of Gorbals. Al-
though the lecture had only been announced by placards in
the course of the forenoon, and although Mr. Paulton's
arrival was far from being generally known, the building
was crowded. For two hours the eloquent and accurate
lecturer was listened to with earnest attention. The pre-
dominant characteristic of the lecturer was that grim sa-
gacity peculiar to Scotsmen, but Mr. Paulton': appeal to
their feelings occasionally produced responses of vehement
cheering from the silent attention which prevailed. The
Committee of the Local Anti-Corn-law Association are
busy making arrangements for Mr. Paulton's lecturing in
the other districts of the city. On Wednesday and
Thursday first he is to address the central district in a ca-
pacious Church, and after that the suburbs. These Glas-
gow lectures are the commencement of a lecturing tour
through Scotland. It is not so much the opinion of Scot-
land that needs to be formed on the subject of the Corn-
laws as the feelings of Scotsmen which need to be strung
to action. In this task Mr. Paulton promises obe emi-
nently successful.

STATE OF TRADE.—There was some Improve-
merit in the demand for yarn yesterday, and a considerable
amount of business was done, but without any advance in
prices. In goods the improvement was not quite so mani-
fest as in yarn, though, on the whole, the market was
better rather than worse.—Manchester Guardian, Wed-
nesday.