The Sun.
London, England, 1837-12-04 00:00:00

Zln ann.

LONDON:
MONDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 4, 1837.

Among the recent converts to the Ballot, we may
mention one who is himself a host—Lord BROUGHA M.
Convinced by experience, the best and most efficient
of all teachers, his Lordship has come to the conclu-
sion that this measure is indispensable to the safe pro-
gress of Reform. The unparalleled bribery and cor-
ruption practised with such unblushing effrontery by
the Tories during the last elections, when parsons,
squires, lawyers, and paid agents were all seen actively
engaged in the work of coercion, have no doubt
mainly assisted to help the Noble Lord to his pre-
sent conclusions. Henceforth he is as warm a
friend to the Ballot as its most sanguine ad-
vocate need desire ; for he is not the man to
stand dallying with an opinion, or to wait until it shall
have become the unanimous one of an empire. Far
otherwise; he will lose not a moment in giving that
wholesome impetus to the Ballot, which he, of all
living statesmen, is so well qualified to give. We con-
sider his Lordship's conversion as an omen of victory
to the good cause. We remember well the influence
he exercised as a Reformer, both within and without
Parliament, when it was the fashion of the day to
laugh at the very idea of Reform ; and sure we are
that on the present occasion that influence will not be
less potent. The same cogent necessity that made
him a convert, will make him a vigorous and
irresistible advocate for the Ballot. Little cause,
therefore, have we to dread the hostility of Lord
JOHN RUSSELL, seeing that we have a BROUGHAM
and a DURHAM on our side ; and in addition to their
powerful support, that of nine-tenths of the enlightened
and influential portion of the community. The country
is indeed fast coming to a unanimous declaration i❑

favour of the Ballot. The Tories have furnished it
with practical arguments in its behalf, that are per-
fectly irresistible. It is no longer a mere Radical fac-
tion that clamours for the Ballot, but a nation. All
who love constitutional freedom and hate despotism ;
all who desire to enjoy liberty of conscience, and main-
tain an opinion of their own ; all who wish well to
the cause of good government, which is only to be
effectually maintained by purity of election ; lastly, all
who respect their own just independence, and hold in
abhorrence the never-ending exactions of Toryism :
all these, and they constitute the majority, are, to a
man, in favour of the protection of the Ballot. They
see that Reform, in the legitimate sense of the term, is
hopeless without it, and that a free and full popular re-
presentation in the House of Commons is nearly equally
impossible. Hitherto the Reform Bill has been little
better than a plausible shadow. Its avowed object was to
purify the Senate. Has it done so ? Certainly not ;
for it has merely transferred the rottenness of the bo-
roughs to the counties ; and left the bribery and cor-
ruption so notorious, from time immemorial, at elec-
tions, in pretty nearly as bad a state as it found them.
What then is the natural remedy for these glaring
imperfections in the Reform Bill ? The Ballot I Ask
Messrs. POULETT THOMPSON and HOEHOTJSE if
they be not of the same opinion, and sure we are that
these high-minded statesmen will make answer in the
affirmative. It is impossible indeed that it can be
otherwise, for both have a hundred times declared
themselves in favour, not of Reform as it is, but of
Reform as it should be. Let them speak out, then, on
the subject—boldly and unequivocally—and give us
fresh cause to admire their manliness, their sagacity,
and their patriotism. They can never have a
fairer opportunity, for, as they may perceive, by the
different extracts which we have made from the
Provincial Journals, and which express the prevailing
sentiments of their respective localities, that public
opinion is assuming a stern, uncompromising tone on
the subject of the Ballot—that, in fact, the hurricane
is getting up. Many important provincial meetings
have already been announced on this great question ;
petitions are lying for signature in all quarters ; asso-
ciations are in the course of formation for the pur-
pose of furthering its progress ; and everything de-
notes that the people will no longer be trifled with.

Since the above was written, a great Public Meet -
ing, which even at this early hour is crowded
to an overflow, has commenced at the Crown
and Anchor Tavern. The object of this Meet-
ing, is to consider the late unfortunate declarations
of Lord JOHN RUSSELL in the House of Commons.
It will shortly be followed by similar meetings in many
of the principal towns of the North. The steam is
getting up.

One of the most novel, if not the most im-
portant feature of Lord BROUGHAM'S Educational
scheme, is the introduction of an intellectual test of
qualification for voters. This, some of our readers
may recollect, is the principle contended for by Mr.
ADAM, the editor of the Aberdeen Herald, in a
pamphlet entitled " the Knowledge Qualification,"
which we were the first, we believe, to bring promi-
nently into notice, and of the merits of which we ex-

pressed ourselves in very high terms. It gives us I
much pleasure to find that we are borne out in our
opinion by the Noble and Learned Lord ; and to Mr.
ADAM it must be peculiarly gratifying to see his pro-
ject, which was condemned as at present altogether
impracticable by some of its warmest admirers, taken
up and incorporated to a certain extent with a measure
that must come immediately under discussion by the
very first practical Statesmen of the day.
As a means of rendering the constituencies, of
whatever kind fit to exercise their duties, and as a
substitute for the justly reprobated system of compul-
sion adopted in Prussia, nothing better than " the
Knowledge Qualification" could be devised. On this
last point Mr. ADAM, says, " But it is not merely as
a means of extending the suffrage and improving the
intellectual character of our constituencies, that the
Knowledge qualification is advanced. Its influence
in promoting the spread of education among all ranks
of the people is its most powerful reccommendation.
At present, there is no degradation in being excluded
from the right of suffrage. Poverty is not morally re-
garded as a crime, although it is often punished as
such ; and as it is impossible that the masses can oc-
cupy houses rated at 101., or farms at 501. per annum.
the non-elector represses his desire of political power
and consoles himself with the thought that he is but
one of many, and that some fortunate turn in the pub-
lic or in his own private affairs may happen, placing
him, either as an individual of along with his whole
class, on the list of the enfranchised. But it would
not be so if education and intelligence were the quali-
fication ; for, besides the ordinary spur of ambition,
every man would be urged on to educate himself and his
children to avoid singularity. It would become a just
reproach to be disqualified by ignorance for exercising
civil rights ; and a non-elector arrived at years of man-
' hood, and not otherwise incapacitated, would feel
ashamed of his position. Who, under such circum-
stances, if he could pay for a teacher, reach a charity
school, or educate himself, would remain ignorant ?"

Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S Bill, providing a Poor-law
for Ireland, was read a first time on Friday night. The
Bill of last Session reached a second reading, and con-
siderable progress was made in Committee with its
clauses, when it fell to the ground, owing to the sud-
den dissolution of Parliament. The Government,
however, did not therefore lose sight of a measure so
necessary to the social well-being of Ireland. Mr.
NicHor,Ls, upon whose Report the Bill was founded,
was commissioned to make further inquiries into the
actual condition of the poor in Ireland, and to com-
municate what new facts he might discover to the Mi-
nistry. The result was a second Report from that ger,
tleman, which was presented to the House of Com-
mons on Wednesday night. To this Report we are
desirous of directing attention, though the shortness of
the time that has elapsed since it was delivered will
not allow us to remark upon all the points adverted to
in it. The necessity of some provision for the poor
of Ireland is now generally admitted ; the question is
as to the proper nature and extent of that provision ;
and on this question there is much diversity of opinion.
The weight of evidence and experience, however,
greatly preponderates in. favour of that system which is
founded on the principle of relief afforded in a work-
house as at present put in practice in England. Al-
most any system of relief will be a boon to the pea-
santry of Ireland, who are now depressed to the
lowest grade of existence ; but it is the duty of the
Legislature, in introducing a new system into that
country, to benefit by the melancholy experience of
England, and to avoid the evils which have flowed
from bad laws and a worse administration in this
country. If out-door relief were given in Ireland, what
would be the consequence ? You would have a nation
of paupers—the whole population would become ap-
plicants for that relief—and the miseries of Ireland
would soon be increased tenfold. Such consequences
are not to be anticipated from a system of in-door re-
lief, administered on the principle of the English
workhouses. There is sufficient evidence to prove
that this description of relief may be as safely granted
a 3 it is urgently demanded. We shall put this argu-
ment in a more clear and forcible manner by quoting
a passage from Mr. NrcrioL Ls's Report, showing his
conclusions on this subject. After detailing the evi-
dence which he obtained from men whose opinions are
rendered valuable by experience, at Bristol, Liverpool,
Manchester, and Birmingham, he says

" My investigations at Bristol, Liverpool, Manchester, and
Birmingham, have thus been altogether confirmatory of the
view embodied in the Bill of last Session, establishing the
workhouse as a means of relief in Ireland. The experience
acquired in those places, proves that the workhouse system is
not less applicable to the Irish than to the English. Such
moreover has been the result of my inquiries in every other in-
stance. The answer has been always essentially similar to that
given by Mr. Barnett, the Master of the Nottingham Work-
house, when under examination before the Select Committee
of the House of Commons on the Poor Laws, as printed in
the Minutes of Evidence of the 28th June 1837 :

" Question 19,850, by the Chairman :
Judging from your experience, do you think the Irish are
more apt to stick to the workhouse than the English ?

" Answer, Mr. Barnett :
" No, by no means ; far from it. I should say the contrary,
speaking of them as a whole.
" It may possibly be objected, that although this disinclina-
tion ' to stick to the workhouse' is the characteristic of the
Irish when in England, such would not be the case if the sys-
tem is ere established in Ireland. This objection does not ad-
mit of an answer directly founded upon experience; but rea-
soning from analogy, and making due allowance for the diffe-
rent circumstances of the two countries, there seems no reason
to doubt a similarity of result in each. The Irishman is, per-
haps, by habit and temperament, somewhat more roving and
migratory than the Englishman, but this distinction is assu-
redly not calculated to reconcile him sooner to the restraints of
a workhouse, or lead him to resort thither more readily. In
this view nearly all the individuals with whom I have conversed
in Ireland, concurred ; and I made it my business to inquire,
and to court objections from all classes of persons : with
scarcely an exception, it was affirmed that an Irishman would
never go into the workhouse, if he could in any way keep out
of it. The result of my investigations in the several houses
of Industry and Mendicity Establishments has been to the
same purport, all tending to show that if the workhouse is pro-
perly regulated, it will be resorted to only by the actually des-
titute. It is not less important to state however, that I found
the same individuals unanimously and decidedly opposed to
any thing in the shape of outdoor relief. I have not met with
an individual conversant with the subject, either in England or
Ireland, who did not at once declare against the giving of any
outdoor relief. 4 Confine relief to the workhouse,' was the
general reply, and you will be safe ; but if you once grant
outdoor relief, your controul is gone, and the whole population
will become a mass of paupers.' "
• * • • a •

" The testimony which I have inserted in the Appendix, and
the facts and reasonings here adduced, will, I trust, serve to
remove whatever doubts may have existed on either side of
the channel, as to the sufficiency of the workhouse system to
afford needful relief to the destitute, as well as to protect the
rate-payers from the charge of supporting those who are not
really destitute ; and I feel it to be my duty to express to
your Lordship my conviction, not only that this system is ap-
plicable to Ireland, but that it is the only mode in which relief
can be safely administered to the destitute classes in tha t
country."
The report then proceeds to examine and dis-
pose of some minor objections to the establishment of
the workhouse system in Ireland, which we have not
space to notice here.
A measure which must go hand in hand with the
introduction of the proposed system of relief is the
suppression of mendicancy. The extent of vagrancy
in Ireland is a crying grievance ; it is a profession whose
practitioners comprise a large proportion of the people
of Ireland; and its mischievous influences on the com-
munity have been powerfully depicted. So long as
begging is allowed after the establishment of a system
of relief, the Irish occupiers will be doubly taxed ; the
burthen of relieving mendicants falls entirely on them ;
and with that of the numerous mendicity and other
institutions in Ireland, it forms a large item in the cal-
culcation of the probable amount of the tax which
will be levied for the relief of the destitute. 'We cannot
do better than quote a paragraph from the report be-
fore us on this point :
" The suppression.of mendicancy is necessary for the protec-