The Sun.
London, England, 1865-04-18 00:00:00

LONDON; TUESDAY, APRIL 18, 1865.

Amid the many trivial amusements and engage-
ments into which people enter at Easter time, there
is one thing Which assumes an aspect of consider-
able importance, and which possesses national char-
acteristics. The Volunteer
Review is now an
annual custom, and it is well that it Should be so
in every respect, for time and experience, those un-
erring tests, have shown how great and good are
the effects of this Institution, which at one time was
thought so very lightly of in certain quarters. It
is most gratifying to consider that the volunteer
establishment is now en fait accompli, and that
henceforth it will rank for all time among our
national undertakings, and those great works which
are landmarks of human progress, and epochs
by which to note the great strength of
our nation's intelligence. It is now an
admitted fact on all sides that the Volun-
teer movement has supplied a want long felt in this
country, and rectified an error into which, as a
people, we had fallen, of becoming too much im-
mersed in business and too much engrossed with
commercial pursuits to take heed to the importance
of outward affairs. Suddenly, ever and anon, a sort
of panic arose, and a most undignified demeanour
was exhibitel by the inhabitants of the greatest
country in the world, There were complaints of

this and repinings at that, and amid the din and
distraction of the hour, some wise individuals were
vehemently asserting that England stood less
chance in case of an invasion, and that our
fleets were unprepared, and our armies were
insufficient for our defence, and, above
all, that our population were unskilled in military
matters,- and could thus render no real or efficient
aid in times of peril. All this tirade of gloomy
prognostications and sinister reflection is now hap-
pily silenced, and the saturnine reflections of the
captious and the critical are brought to a conclusion
by the triumphant establishment of a Volunteer
Institution, and the energy and enthusiasm which
have fostered its growth and nurtured its power.
Without offending foreign nations we can now look
on with indifference at their coup d'etats and start-
ling panoramic changes, secure that, so far as we are
concerned, the shock will not affect us, nor the evil
influence be felt to any great degree. Notwith-

standing the acknowledged truth of this it is still
satisfactory to see that periodical celebrations
take place. The scene at Brighton yesterday was
of the most animated description, and all the ar-
rangements were admirably made, and there were

but few contretemps to mar the success or spoil the
pleasures of the day. It is a great satisfaction that
the Easter Monday Reviews should go on with such
regularity for so many years. It shows that the
feeling is a deep-rooted one which thus permits its
continuance, and that no mere suggestions of com-
fort and convenience are suffered to stand in the
way of the prosecution of the self-imposed task. It
was very sagaciously predicated by some persons
that it was only an evanescent excitement which
kept up the first-displays, and that as time went on
a marked decadence would be observable in the
alteration of these anniversary rejoicings, until
the whole affair quietly lapsed into oblivion.
A more stAiking contradiction to these seemingly
plausible prophecies could not have been given than
that which was furnished by the appearance of the
Downs at Brighton yesterday. The animated
assemblage and brilliant display fully justified the
statements of those who have declared that the
Volunteers are making progress in the right direc-
tion, and that of late they have increased in

efficiency. The eagerness displayed by the towns-
people to do honour to the affair was very signifi-
cant, and, from early in the morning, when they
assembled in hundreds to give the Volunteers a
welcome on their arrival, through the whole of the
brilliant and exciting day until its successful close,
their sympathy was apparent and their admiration
unbounded. Brighton may well regard it as an honour
to be chosen for the scene of so interesting an
exhibition ; but few places could be so appropriate,
and nowhere is there a better place presented as the
theatre of such a display than the glorious
South Downs. Twenty years ago it would never
have been believed that an English town would fur-
nish such a spectacle as that presented by Brighton
yesterday, but time works wonders, and this last
wonder of transforming a nation of shopkeepers
into martial defenders of their country may be
reckoned as one of the chief advantages that modern
days have witnessed. The twenty special trains
that took the Volunteers arrived at an early hour,
which gave the several corps time to rest before the
actual business of the day commenced. It cannot
be said that anything was left undone by those
who had charge of the arrangements, or by those
in command, that could at all conduce to the
comfort of the troops, and while perfect order and
regularity required rhroughout the proceedings the
convenience of those who had to undergo such great
exertions was duly studied and provided for. An
ample space of time was allowed for rest and re-
freshment between the period of arriving in Brighton
and that of assembling upon the field for operations.
This was a very good idea, and thereby much of
that over-haste and over-fatigue was prevented
which cause so much distress and disaster upon many
of these exciting occasions. We may fairly con-

gratulate those whose skill and foresight brought

the arrangements of yesterday to such perfection,
and they must have received their best reward in
the satisfactory issue of the affair. It is something
of which to be justly proud that such a display
should be made of the powers of our Volunteers. It
exhibits the undertaking in the most satisfactory
light to ourselves, and it speaks trumpet-tongued to
surrounding nations. " Defence, not defiance," is
their motto, but they hold themselves in readiness
against all attacks that may assail the rights of their
native land. To use the words of the poet, they
" stand a wall of fire arocnd their much-loved isle,"
and evenat this culminating epoch of their success we
may add that they deserve recognition and regard
more from their constancy under the difficulties of
their outset than for their assiduity in perfecting
themselves, and the skill they have displayed in
attaining to such perfection in their art.

A very vigorous onslaught has just been made on
old prejudices and selfish interests on behalf of a
substantial and much-needed reform. It may indeed
appear at the present crisis to be a very forlornhope,
but we know that the most difficult positions have
been carried by the force of daring and determina-
tion. The leader of this " Column of Attack" *
certainly does not want for courage or resolution.
His views are most decided; his charge upon the
enemy shows undaunted spirit, and he takes care to
support his cause by vigorous and practical logic.
The subject of the little pamphlet before us is the old
and well-worn question of the Ballot, with which the
writer shows himself to be well acquainted. His
valour is indeed sometimes greater than his dis-
cretion in the manner of his attack. He is inclined
to rely too much on emphasis and style instead of
depending on the plain common sense of the matter,
but notwithstanding any such deficiencies, which
are not perhaps to be wondered at in a soldier who
belongs rather to the volunteers than to the regular
ranks, there are a good many home truths in his
statement which our Reformers would do well to
listen to. Our venerable Premier he regards as
the worst foe of the Ballot, and he takes some
trouble to confute his argument about the vote
being a trust which should be openly fulfilled.
Our advocate says very justly that the Con-
stitution requires in fulfilment of this trust
that the vote before everything should
be given honestly. Roguery, he declares, may
be openly bold as well as secretly skilful, and
a vote is far more likely "to be honest in secret
than to be honest openly, where it can be got for a
consideration." The trust reposed by the Consti-
tution in the electors is the honesty and not the
boldness of the vote, and this trust the Ballot will
enable them to fulfil, shich, in a great preponder-
ance of cases, they cannot do at present, owing to
the pressure of the landlords, employers, or others
who have a direct or indirect influence over them.
As for the argument that the Ballot would enable a
man who owed everything to his landlord to vote
against him after he had obtained all the favours he
wanted, the writer observes, with reason, that such
favours should never have been granted with an eye
to the vote, and if a voter cannot do what he thinks
best both for the Constitution and forhis landlord, he
ought, as an honest elector, to give the public duty
the preference. As for the argument that the

* " A Colunm of Attack on behalf of the Ballot," by a
Soldier of the People. 1865.

Ballot would not put an end to bribery, he contends
that it would destroy its marketable value, since
few would care to give £lO or £2O for a vote, when
they could not be certain whether or no it was
given in the way they wanted. Besides the open
opposition of threatening landlords or employers,
there are a great many cases in which a man who
did not fear immediate expulsion or discharge
might be placed in a very awkward though less
serious difficulty. The members of a club are
not afraid of personal loss or of family
trouble if they give an open vote for or
against a new member, but they wish to avoid the
awkwardness, the bad grace, and all the inconve-
niences attending the public profession as to their
belief that so-and-so would not be an eligible mem-
ber. Nobody pretends that such a regard for the
little courtesies and amenities of social life is neces-
sarily "un-English" or " unmanly," yet our politi-
cians insist on exposing other men to the unpleasant
little test which they shrink from themselves.

The adversaries of the Ballot again urge that the
secresy would not be long kept, for that the vote
usually publishes itself. But, as our author very
happily reminds them, the telling must come from
the voter himself. The Americans, he says, con-
stantly declare how they have voted, and so do the
Parisians, who, indeed, canvass each other, but no one
has heard of money- passing between them in the
matter. The ballot, he urges, is in fact eminently
Conservative, " because secret voting enables every
one to vote contrary to any and all evil influences,
be they from money, aristocratic rank, or mob dic-
tation." It would be found, he adds, protective of
the rights of property ; and asks what is meant by
the argument, or rather assertion, that it would
sooner or later destroy them ? Cannot the consti-
tution, he asks, be used as contemplated by its
founders ? or, were the " rights of property to in-
fluence the votes of the constituencies" at first con-
sidered as a necessary and indispensable part of it ?
There is one verx convincing proof of the impor-
tance of some immediate change in the manner
of any elections, and that is the very great number
of qualified electors who never exercise their
privilege. Imperfect and unequal as the present
system of representation is it does not have a fair
trial, and while our Reformers are constantly urging
the injustice of excluding so many from the fran-
chise, a large proportion of those who might vote
will not. Men may shrink from voting directly
against their convictions while they cannot afford
to offend influential connection. They may scorn
to take bribes, but they dare not for the sake of
their families make an open profession of disregard-
ing their landlord's opinion. It is very often
those who are best qualified to use a vote,
those who have sufficient intelligence and political
knowledge to form a decided opinion on public
affairs, and sufficient conscientiousness to act up to
it, who are perforce absent fromothe hustings, and
whose votes are left ungiven. It is as necessary to set
this large and important class free to exercise their
privilege as it is to admit those now excluded from
its possession. Yet so long as the present system is
maintained we shall have the same mortifying re-
sult, and learn from a comparison of the electors
and the votes that a great number of our constitu-
encies are not even partially represented.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

ITALY.

TURIN, APRIL 18.

The Committee of the Senate on the bill for the
unification of the laws had rejected the proposal to
abolish capital punishment, but has amended the
penal code by reducing to nine thenumber of crimes
punishable by death.