The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-28 00:00:00

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STATE OF TRADE

CARDIFF, Sept. 26.—The collieries of the district
have been working with tolerable regularity during
the last few days, and merchants are fairly off for
orders. There is an average Continental demand,
and the exports to the Eastern markets are increas-
ing. The railways are competing successfully for
the trade to certain points, and the quantity of coal
sent by rail is greater than it has ever been. Several
new collieries are being opened in the Rhondda and
Caerphilly valleys, and the get of coal will shortly
be considerably increased. The Irish, West of
England, and other coasting buyers of house coal
are taking in winter supplies and the shipments are
fully up to the average. The home consumption is
small, but as the cold weather sets in the demand is
likely to improve. In the iron trade the improved
feeling which has been evinced for several weeks is
maintained, and the orders on the books are suffi-
cient to keep the works going regularly for some
time. American transactions are being gradually
regarded with more favour, but it will take many
months before confidence is re-established. Higher
quotations are asked for pig iron. The patent fuel
works are fairly employed, and the local founders
are pretty busy.

LEICESTER, 27th.—There is continued activity in
all branches of the hosiery trade. Manufacturers
remain well employed in the warehouses, and orders
are plentiful. Business is also healthy in the coun-
try districts, and the workpeople well employed.
Worsted yarns continue firm, and spinners are well
engaged. Cotton yarns command very high prices.
There is a fair amount of business doing in wools
for the season, and prices continue high.
NOTTINGHAM, 27th.—There is no revival in the
lace trade at present, but it is expected that the
Americans will operate shortly. Cotton fabrics
generally are dull, and prices continue exceedingly
high. There is not much doing in any class of
silk goods. Mechlins are not in demand, and black
laces sell but slowly. The demand for hosiery
goods continues very active. There have been
several American buyers in the market during the
past few days, and orders have been freely placed.
Manufacturers complain of the great difficulty they
experience in obtaining sufficient labour, as many
hands left the trade during the recent fiat season.
Yarns are advancing in price. Last week spinners
demanded 2s. to 3s. advance on 101 b. bundles.

The iron screw steam troopship Orontes, Capt.
Henry W. Hire, from Portsmouth, arrived at Ply-
mouth on Wednesday, and was supplied with coal
and embarked supernumerary officers and men for
China.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

•
TIMES. —baring the present month we have from
time to time published abstracts of the expenses in-
curred by candidates at the late general election.
These abstracts are furnished to the returningoffi-
cer of each borough or county under the provisions
of the Corrupt Practices Prevention Act, and pur-
port to contain a complete statement of all that has
actually been disbursed on the candidate's behalf.
Perhaps it would be too much to expect that in
every case they should exactly tally with the corre-
sponding entry on the wrong side of his banker's
account, but they exhibit for the most part a rate of
expenditure which is quite high enough to be near
the truth. When we consider what the cost of an
election might be if it were conducted on principles
of strict purity, without paid canvassers or district
committee rooms; or conveyances to carry voters to
the poll, the lowest price of a contested seat appears
to be somewhat unsatisfactory. Even Mr. Guildford
Onslow, who was returned, unopposed, for Guild-
ford, had to pay £157, of which only £35 repre-
sented town clerk's fees and hustings' expenses, be-
cause the Liberals of the borough thought proper
to run a second horse against Mr. Bovill, the Con-
servative candidate. The contest for the City of
London must have cost, on the whole, an enormous
sum, although it was so hollow an affair that nei-
ther of the defeated candidates obtained two-thirds
as many votes as any of the four Liberal members
returned. The average expenses.of the latter are
stated at £1,560, making £6,240 in all, and as it is
known that no money was spared on the other side,
it may well be doubted whether £15,000 would
more than cover the expenditure of both parties.
The Leeds election is officially reported to have
cost very nearly £3,000, for £1,739 of which Mr.
Beecroft is responsible, leaving £1,223 to be divided
between Mr. Baines and Lord Amberley. It will
here be observed that the successful and unsuccess-
ful Liberal candidates spent jointly £3OO less than
the successful Conservative, a difference which
gives rise to a good many reflections on the various
ways in which elections are worked. It has long been
a disputed point, for instance, whether it is goodpolicy
to "take up" as many publichouses as possible. By
doing so, no doubt, you gain the publicans' interest
and a certain number of votes among their cus-
tomers ; but then you estrange the temperance in-
terest, and run a greater risk of being committed to
bribery and found out. If we analyse the returns
of the Leeds election, we find other contrasts of an
analogous kind. One item in Mr. Beecroft's account
is £344 to " solicitors for professional services,"
whereas in that of Mr. Baines and Lord Amberley
" professional charges" only stand for £lO5. So,
again, Mr. Beecroft's agent puts down £513 for
" horse, coach hire, and railway passes," against
which there is nothing to be set on the side of Mr.
Baines and Lord Amberley, except the compara-
tively modest sum of £169 for " cabs and tolls."
The greatest anomaly, however, and the one that
cannot admit of two explanations, is the flagrant
disproportion between the expense of contesting a
given borough and the number of its voters. It is
hardly too much to say that the smaller the consti-
tuency the more ruinous the process of canvassing
it. Leeds is by no means the cheapest of great
manufacturing towns, yet a contest for Leeds is
infinitely less formidable to an aspirant of limited
means than a contest for many small boroughs that
we could easily name. The meaning of this fact, in
plain English, is that Leeds being too large to be
effectually bribed, the inhabitants actually return
the man of their choice ; while in a small town, .
with one or two hundred registered electors, some
of them freemen and living close together, each vote
commands a monopoly price, which is pretty well
known to the neighbours. The same excuse, if it
be one, can hardly be pleaded in favour of places
like Cheltenham, which, having a constituency of
2,664 and a population of nearly 40,000, returns
only; one member. In this fashionable watering-
place we might expect to find a good deal of public
spirit, or, at all events, an ample supply of unpaid
agency. Yet, we learn from an abstract published in
the Cheltenham newspapers by the returning officer,
that more than £4,000 was expended there at the
last election, £1,969 ou behalf of Mr. Schreiber,
who was elected, and £2,286 on behalf of Colonel
Berkeley, who was defeated. Now, these figures
strike us as quite monstrous, and the details of the
two accounts do not remove that impression. They
are made out, as usual, with an entire disregard of
uniformity, but there are several items about which
there can be no mistake. No less than £763 was
paid by Mr. Schreiber for " canvassing agents and
assistant canvassers," and £702 by Colonel Berke-
ley for " canvassers and professional canvassers."
The rest of the £4,300 went chiefly in "printing and.
advertising," " messengers, clerks," of various de-
scriptions, and " conveyances." There is another
item in Mr. Schreiber's account which we should
very much like to see explained—£l2l for " night
and day watchers." Watchers are often employed
to protect game from poachers, and we have heard
of such persons being engaged to watch a favourite
for the Derby or the St. Leger, but we can hardly
conceive the necessity of a similar precaution at an
uncorrupt election. To protest. against the exorbi-
tant scale of election expenses may well seem to be
a bootless task. Where there is a large class of
persons ready to give anything for the attainment
of a certain object, and an infinitely larger class
able and willing to supply their demand for an ade-
quate consideration, are not all legislative restric-
tions on bribery almost like an interference with an
economical law ? How can a man who has no poli-
tical convictions in the world, and cares not one
straw for the difference between Whig and Tory, be
made to feel that he prostitutes his convictions when
he accepts a £5 note for his vote ; and how can he
possibly be detected if, instead of doing this, he
trusts to a tacit compact that he will hear of some-
thing to his advantage some months afterwards?
It must be confessed indeed, that the use of illicit
influences at elections is too subtle an evil to be put
down effectively by any law, however stringent and
however rigorously administered. Bribery is already
defined with an elaborate minuteness sufficient to
suggest new modes of committing it. Any gift,
loan, offer, or promise, direct or indirect, in person
or by agent, of money or money's worth, or of any
office, place, or employment, for the sake of a
vote, is bribery. It is bribery to hold out these
inducements to A in order to procure the vote of
B ; it is bribery to pay any money to any person
with intent that it may be used for any of these
purposes ; and it is equally bribery, under all these
heads, to be +the recipient of the bribe. Short of
treating bribery as an offence punishable with im-
prisonment, or of permanently disfranchising any
person guilty of it, we have done our best to prevent
it ; but, hitherto, in vain. Possibly the actual sale
of votes may be less common than before, but what
does it really signify whether a man get £5 down or
a fortnight's job in the nominal capacity of a mes-
senger or " watcher "—at least at Cheltenham--with
a fancy salary ? What is the real difference between
promising situations to the:sons of so many electors
who decline to pledge themselves till the last moment,
and making it known among the same same body of
electors that one has these situations at his disposal ?
How is it less venial in a candidate to gratify people
out Of his own purse then to promise them that, if
elected, he will urge Government to gratify them out
of the public purse ? It is even said that a certain
class of electioneering agents will undertake to in-
troduce any presentable candidate to a certain class
of boroughs, charging so much for the introduction,
so much for the show of hands, and so much for
ultimate success. Whether this be true or not, it is
possible, and not as improbable as we could wish.
The public conscience sadly needs enlightening, not
only as to the criminality, but as to the mischief of
bribery, in its most refined forms. Not the least of
its evil consequences is that by raising the general
standard of election expenses it virtually establishes
a property qualification of the very worst kind, and
excludes from competition many a man who might
otherwise become a valuable member of Parliament.
POST.—Within the last few days the Austrian
Government, we have reason to know, has addressed
a despatch to the Cabinets of the great Powers, which
is of some importance at the present moment. It
comes apparently as a sort of comment on the
somewhat obscure manifesto lately promul-
gated with the object of suspending the
Reichsrath without definitely replacing that re-
presentative body by any decided substitute.
Perhaps this might have been felt by the new
Austrian Liberal Cabinet, for as such the present
advisers of the Crown are regarded by some politi-
cians of the Austrian Empire. But whatever may
be the motive, certain it is that the Austrian Mini-
stry have addressed a despatch to most European
Governments, in which the Minister of Foreign
Affairs declares, in very emphatic language, that
the late manifesto or rescript doos not mean a poli-
tical retrograde movement. On the contrary, foreign 3
Cabinets are to understand that his Apostolic. ..aa-
jesty Francis Joseph has decided on mainthtaeinwinh,,ole
representative form of government
empire, after each of the States have foriade known
their wants through the medium of thenloite.ts, whichshall be worked by an Executive desiroust
promot-
ing liberal measures and of responding.
of the people. These declaration are so far im-
portant in that they remove all suspicion about Aus-
tria which the statesmen
having dipersed the Vienna Parliament to re-
turn to the old system of rule
of 1815 thought the only mode of governing this
polyglot empire with success. The despatch in ques-
tion may be intended to serve another purpose.
Many statesman having regarded the conduct of
cant
Austria towards Prussia, with regard to the disposal
Germanfiof an under-
standing Sovereigns,
ofthe D abneits‘hveDenutchheietsw,
two
great
sseiagnit
to the effect that the Austrian system of rule should
Prussia--a military mo-
become more like that of

narchy which looks with more confidence to armies
than to representative government. At all events,
the Austrian Government tells the Cabinets of
friendly powers how it is sincerely bent on govern-
ing with constitutional and representative forms.
The despatch which thus furnishes Austrian diplo-
matists abroad with the decisions of the. Emperor
does not say whether another manifesto is to come
outand tell the world more exactly whatprecise form
of government the people of the Austrian Empire
will live under. What are the powers of Hungarian,
Croatian, and other Diets, which will be called upon
to meet and talk politics ? The Imperial Na-
tional Finance Commission exists, but the
Reichsrath authority, as we understand it, is
gone. In this state of things, and when people
are waiting to hear more from the throne, the
Emperor Francis Joseph retires to Ischl, and
leaves the Archduke Louis to attend to State affairs.
This looks very strange ; but, in fact, Austrian
politics are nothing but mystery at the present
0
moment. We are quite sure liberal and progressive
Europe will be glad to learn that the Austrian Em-
pire is not again to be governed by priests and sol-
diers only ; and who does not applaud the liberal
promises which have just been made to foreign
Governments ? Those, however, who are familiar
with the past history of Austrian politics will have
more faith in deeds than words. It is not ungener-
ous, by only availing ourselves of the familiar ob-
servation, to note that Austria's liberality dawns
from the threatening clouds of a vast financial dis-
aster. No more loans can be raised, unless, as
bankers say, " the political situation of the empire
is more satisfactory." That late very liberal move,
the formation of a Parliament at Vienna, to which
only a portion of the States ever send deputies, ap-
pears to have been suggested only thatthe Assembly
might accept and confirm the national debt. What
reforms did the Reichsrath ever accomplish—what
was it ever asked to do but vote budgets ? When
has Austria shown her liberalism in acts and deeds ?
Has Austria acknowledged the Kingdom of Italy ?
Will Austria respond to the universal free trade
movement which she has been invited to entertain
on several occasions ? Has not Austria within a
few months betrayed Poland and Denmark ? Does
not Austria continue to keep up a ruinous army ?
We shall be glad to see that the Hapsburgs have
thrown away their old political schooling so sud-
denly, and decided on governing the wide empire of
Austria according to the pressing necessities of the
day in which we live. The old system was a political
blunder, since none of the " peoples" were politi-
cally content, whilst military rule has brought the
empire into a notoriously ruinous financial condition.
We cannot help thinking that we must thank the
latter unpleasant fact for the proposed new liberal
form of government, whatever that may be, rather
than from any more generous inspirations originat-
ing in the Crown and the Court circle at Vienna.
We do not the less congratulate Austria, even at
this late hour, on her endeavour to correct past
political errors and injustice ; and we trust that the
liberal pledges she has just given to foreign Govern-
ments regarding her own domestic rule will be car-
ried out with success for the good of the millions
over whom Francis Joseph rules.

COUNTRY MARKETS.

HULL.-TUESDAY.

Since our last a moderate amount of business has been
done in English wheat at slightly advanced prices. In
foreign very little has been done, recent imports being
taken to warehouse. At our market to-day there was a
small show of English wheat, which sold at an advance of
is per qr. In foreign little business done. Malting barley
not much inquired after, but grinding was scarce and fully
Gd per qr. dearer. In other articles no change. The mar-
ket for linseed firm at an advance of is per qr.
English old white wheat, 43s to 48s ; old red, 38s to 445.
Barley, chevalier, 28s to 325. Oats, Russia; 22s to 245.
Beans, new English, 42s to 435. Peas, English blue, 35s
to 36s 6d ; grinding, 35s to 35s 6d per 36 stone.