The Sun.
London, England, 1837-11-06 00:00:00

for his Lordship—for whose past services in the
cause of Reform the country has every reason
to be grateful—we must beg to enter out protest
against this, we will net call it tricky, but equivocal,
mode of dealing with tr great question. Either the
Ballot is a dangerous experiment, or it is not. Either
it will tend to demoralise, or to elevate, the majority
of the more dependant class of electors. If, as Lord
EBIIINGTON inclines to think, it is of a dangerous
and demoralising character, how is it that he takes cre-
dit for having abstained from voting against it ? Judg-
ing of it as he does, it was his duty to have given it an
unequivocal and manly opposition. But the truth, we
suspect, is, that his Lordship holds no strong opinion,
either one way or other, on the subject ; and that next
Session, when the Ballot comes formally under dis-
cussion, he will be just as likely to vote in its favour
as against it. Fortunately, the people are not equally
undecided on the point. They, at least, are in earnest.
They hold a strong, incontrovertible opinion on the
question of the Ballot ; and it is only by expressing
this opinion as frequently and as energetically as they
can—in short, by agitating for the Ballot at every
suitable opportunity, that they can expect to have it
become the law of the land.

It is gratifying to the friends of morality, as well as
to the advocates of popular representation, to observe
the efforts which the people are making to emancipate
themselves from the slavery to which the present elec-
toral system subjects them. Ballot Associations
are springing up throughout the country ; the
great body of the working classes, who are
so unjustly excluded from the suffrage, are be-
ginning to show the interest they feel in good
Government, by taking an active part in the proceed-
ings of these associations ; so that it may be said with
truth, that " the Ballot" forms a fundamental article
in the political creed of ninety-nine out of every
hundred Reformers in the three kingdoms. Here,
then, we see a striking instance of the way in
which, in the economy of a wise Providence,
good is produced out of evil. Had it not
been for the blind and desperare plunge which the
Tories made into the regions of iniquity during the late
general election—had not these unscrupulous politicians
given the world a proof, ocular and palpable, that they
could sound all the depths and shoals of infamy to
make the elective franchise subservient to their selfish
ends and ignoble ambition—we might have gone on
from year to year, and from Parliament to Parliament,
shilly-shallying between two opinions, doubting and
dreaming, but never acting. As things have turned
out, however, we shall now come to the point at once.
The minds of men have been convinced, and the
national spirit roused, by the intolerable tyranny of
the Tory aristocracy, and the general cry is for legis-
lative protection. " You have given us the franchise,"
say the people ; " but of what use is this, if we can-
not exercise it ? Unless you intended to mock, or
degrade, or ruin us, give us the means of
doing that with safety to ourselves, which the Consti-
tution requires us to do." What reply can be given
to this reasonable demand ? None ; it is unanswer-
able. There are a few Reformers—and, thank Heaven,
they are growing fewer every day—who doubt the
efficacy of the Ballot, and dread its consequences
We shall not here stop to point out the inconsistency
between the doubt and the dread. Many people are
afraid of that which will never hurt them, being of the
class " who flee when no man pursueth." But there
is a class whom it cannot fail to surprise the unini-
tiated to find open-mouthed against the Ballot on
account of its immorality—we mean the Tories.
These political Puritans watch over the morals of the
electoral body with so tender a concern, that they can-
not brook the mention of any mode of voting that is
likely to introduce dishonesty and insincerity among
those who now vote so conscientiously
Among the demonstrations in favour of the Bal-
lot which have lately taken
.place, there is none which
has given us so much pleasure as that which has
been made by the constituents of the Noble Lord who
holds the seals of the Home Department. A great meet-
ing was held at Stroud in Monday last to consider this
most important of all questions, when it was resolved,
with one dissentient voice, that a petition in favour of
the Ballot should be presente to the House of Com-
mons by Mr. POULETT SCROPE, and that Lord
JOHN RUSSELL should be requested to support it. Wp
trust the Noble Lord will not shrink from this duty.

We recommend to the attention of Lord MEL-
BOURNE, his official colleagues, and the supporters
of the Whig Cabinet in the approaching Session of Par-
liament, a Pamphlet just published by Messrs. RIDG-
WAY, entitled " The Politics of 1837, by an Old Re-
former." In the counsels of this writer we recognise
the deliberate opinions of nine-tenths of the people of
England, Ireland, and Scotland. Want of space to
day obliges us to content ourselves with a reference to
the course which he points out as the safest and most
honourable one which Ministers can pursue ; but this
shall not prevent us from again reverting to the subject.
After entering into the details of the late election
struggle, and proving to the satisfaction of every man
of common sense, that the Reform Bill is en-
tirely defective—that corruption to any extent may be
carried in every borough and county in the United
King,dom without let or hindrance—that no honest
Reformer can have recourse to such foul agency, and
therefore that the Reformers are not placed on a 1ev,.1
with their Tory opponents; he proceeds to show that
MiniStcrs arc bound by every principle of honour, of
patriotism, and by regard to self-preservation, to widen
the elective franchise, and to secure the freedom of the
elector by the immed;ate adoption of the Ballot. "As
to the . objection that the Ildllot is not English,"
argues the Old Reformer, " the same argument would
have held equally good against the habits of sobriety
introduced among the-English Squirearchy and Clergy
since the renewal of our intercourse with foreign
nations at the corn.'.usion of the French war, and
against which '' new-fangled Frenchified habits" the
descendants of .1./lessrs. WESTERN and TRULLIBER
di'l at first most loudly protest. Nobody, however,
demo" that it is prrfectly English to lie, to bribe, and
'":.mare, arid to ruin those who presume to follow the
dictates of their conscience, rather than their landlords'—
practices for the due maintenance of which the Torii s
are zealous sticklers. * * By the Tory objection of
uncertainty is merely Meaet uncertainty whether a bribed
rogue performs his engagement or not to his suborner ;
and what harm is there in such uncertainty ? Is it not
rather a gain than a loss to society ? If he take
money to barter a national-right conferred for the good
of others he is a knave quoad hoc only, and if left to
himself would probably save his conscience from fur-
ther violation of his duty to Goo, his country, and
his character by voting right. Nobody would be a
loser in this ease but he who deserved to lose. This
restriction and simplification of the meditated fraud,
and thus punishing the guilty suborner only, is what
the Tories dread ; if they buy at all they must have
body and soul, nothing less will satisfy them but the
triple deception in order to ensure the third part
of it." This is as true as it is clearly and
forcibly expressed. The Tories know and feel that
whatever tends to diminish corruption must accelerate
their death-blow as a political party. Bribery is their
last stake—now that the tide of intelligence has set
in against them. The writer is opposed, with equal
justice, to any coalition between the Whig and Tory
leaders as a scheme fraught with danger, dishonesty,
• ,
and dishonour. " The truth is,,, he observes in con-
cluding his remarks upon this head, " that apostates,
be their calibre what it may, are but like spiked guns,
wholly unavailable to the captor ; you may load and
cram them to the very muzzle, but they will not go
off, and are in reality good for nothing but empty
show—mere objects of aim and attack for every one to
fire at with impunity ; and thus they weaken rather than
strengthen their allies by inviting assailants whom they
cannot answer. Let the base bear in mind, that spite of
their greedy calculations, there is no eloquence power-
ful
enough to defend political inconsistency—no sto-
mach
strong enough to digest unnumbered self-contra-
dictions—no front brazen enough to endure the scorn-
ful imputation of abandoned principles, to which such
recruits are constantly obnoxious during the remain-
der of their brief and disgraceful career. The only
possible result, therefore, of such new connections
would be the ruinous opprobrium of such as made
them." We leave the Apostate Times to digest this
eloquent passage. Such choice morsels as this are