The Sun.
London, England, 1838-01-31 00:00:00

the payment of any sum in house rent. The four re-
quisites for the qualification of a voter should be—

1. The attainment of full legal age.
2. The possession of a good moral cl aracter for sobriety
and integrity.
3. The capacity to earn an independent subsistence.
4. The ability to read and write English."

The first of these requisites would be supplied in
most cases by the countenance—where doubtful, by a
certificate of baptism, or the testimony of parents or
neighbours ; the second, by the certificate of em-
ployers, magistrates, or persons the neighbour-
hood of acknowledged good character ; the third, by
a reference to the Board of Guardians ; and the
fourth, by ocular demonstration. To read intelligibly
and write legibly would complete the proof of the eli-
gibility of the person claiming to vote, and his auto-
graph entered into a book, at the foot of the entry of
his qualification, would serve to identify- him at every
succeeding election. All persons living within five
statute miles of any City or Borough represented in
Parliament to vote for the Member or Members for such
places, and all beyond that distance for the county.
By this division of the electors, the clashing of com-
mercial and agricultural interests would be avoided.
The elections should be fixed at triennial periods,
determined by law, and not by the caprice of Monarch
or Minister. This would lead to the establishment of
a triennial instead of an annual revision" of the .
re-
gistry. By this regulation, an immense saving would
be effected to the country. We now come to the
mode of conducting the election itself, which we shall
give in the words of the author :
" The triennial period fixed by law for the renewal of the
electors being known to every body, all parties would be pre-
pared in good time for the coming event, and take their pre-
cautionary measures accordingly. In the first place, no can-
didate should be permitted to offer himself, or to " enter the
field," as it is called, whether invited or net, within a later
period than a clear week before the commencement of the bu-
siness of the election ; as every thing connected with the re-
presentation of the country ought to be gravely and solemnly
deliberated, and, as the " bringing in a new man," as it is
termed, is often resorted to as a trick, by those corrupt parties
who scruple at no intrigue to defeat their opponents. The
period having arrived, at which the declarations of the candi-
dates might be lawfully made, the following might be safely
allowed as the mode of doing this :—ln lieu of personal can-
vassing—which should be strictly prohibited, both in principal,
agents, and friends, and made penal in all—the candidates
should each be required to send to the registrar, the manu-
script of their addresses to the electors of the county or town
for which they offered themselves or were invited. These
addresses should be printed, collectively, in one pamphlet,
under the direction of the registrar, but at the joint expense
of the candidates in the proportion of the respective space oc-
cupied by each—to check unnecessary prolixity, and a suffi-
cient number of copies of such pamphlet should be struck off,
to ensure the delivery, free of cost, through the post-office as
the best legally organised method of perfect security, to every
elector whose name and residence was entered in the registrar's
books ; and this should be done, not by the candidates, but by
the registrar, to ensure to every elector the certainty of seeing
the address of each candidate at the same time, and forming
his own calm and unbiassed judgment of the whole. How
much fairer and impartial a method this would be, than the
present practice of each political party doing all it can to cir-
culate the address of one candidate, and to tear down from the
walls, and otherwise destroy and suppress the circulation of
every other, it is not necessary to say ; after the lapse of a
week, when every elector might be supposed to have had suffi-
cient time to give the due attention to the respective Claims
and professions of the several candidates, these gentlemen
might be permitted personally to address in succession the
whole body of electors—not iii the open air, and from hustings
as at present, with crowds of idle and disorderly persons for
the majority of their auditory, but within the walls of some
large room, appropriately seated, and with every security for
the utmost order and decorum, with none but registered elec
tors present (for no others can have a right to be), and then
these admitted only by some regulation that should ensure the
exclusion of all others.
PLAN OF VOTING BY BALLOT.

" At the close of such a process as this—every elector having
had an opportunity of reading the written, and hearing the
spoken address of each candidate, and publicly asking what
questions he chose—he would be as fully prepared as he could
wish to decide on the application of his vote. The registrar
having a card, coataicing the name of the several candidates
printed on it, in a clear and uniform manner, should then pro-
vide a sufficient number of these to furnish one to every elector,
which, for security, should be forwarded to him through the
post-office, enclosed in a printed circular, directing him to draw
his pen through the names of the candidates for whom he
wished to give his vote, then to put the card in a blank enve-
lope, seal it, and inscribe his mime, with his own hand, on the
outside of such envelope, so. that it might give assurance of its
coming from hint as a registered elector, and then to put the
whole ;n an ordinary letter-cover, address it to the registrar,
at his office, and send it, for security, through the post-office,
on the following day ; as the shorter the time between the
i,sue of the cards and their return, the less the chance of im-
proper influence. On the day appointed the letters are deli-
vered by the post, at the office of the registrar himself, his two
assistants, and a representative of each candidate being pre-.
sent, to see justice done to all. The outer seal is first broken,
and the inner enclosures, with the voter's autograph signatures
on each cover are arranged in pigeon holes, alphabetically, as
they come out. When all were thus disposed of, the next
process would be the opening of the registration-book, the
calling over from it the names of the voters, according to their
alphabetical entry; the comparison of the autograph signature
of each person on the letter-cover with the autograph signa-
ture of the same person in the book, to establish identity. The
rejection for future inquiry of any duplicates, or forgeries, or
doubtful names, if any of either, indeed, under such a system
should he likely to occur. The verification of the signatures
being completed, the next step would be, the opening of the
inner sealed covers, and throwing the printed cards into one
box, and the written envelopes into another, which for the
perfect security of secrecy might be done by youths under the
check of tho parties already acting as registrar and assistants,
or blindfolded, if that were deemed necessary, to prevent any
one from seeing out of which particular envelope any particular
card was taken. The whole being opened, the cards would
have to be ass.)rted according to the names of the candidates
through which the pen of the voter had been drawn ; and those
for whom the greatest number of cards appeared, would of
course possess the majority, and be considered duly elected.
" Such a mode as this would secure, among other advan-
tag .s, the following very important ones:-1. It would cut
off at once all the falsehood, deception, undue influence, inti-
midation, and flattery, which are inseparable from the personal
canvass. 2. It would prevent all large and disorderly assem-
blages of the multitude, under party excitement, and the
drunkenness, dissipation, and riot, which generally ensue. 3.
It would give to neither party the advantage of knowing the
progress of the election, by the publication of the state of the
poll, which is at present a source of great corruption. 4. It
would make the expense insignificant to either candidates or
electors ; and :the chief part of the printing and postage
being paid out of the funds of the county or town for which
the election was held, would make the share of each inhabitant
of such district an almost invisible fraction._ 5. It would give
all the advantages of the Ballot, by a security against the par-
ticular vote of any man being known, unless made public by
the individual himself, against which, of course, no security
could be taken."

The Paris Journals of Monday have all been, re-
ceived. Their contents are of no political importance.
The Sub-Prefect at Bayonne communicated to the
Government the following telegraphic dispatch :--
" BAvoNNE, JAN. ?G.—Espartero was on the 19th at Lo-
grono. All the fords of the Ebro were occupied, and the ex-
pedition of Zavala stopped on the left bask."
A writer in the Constitutionnel confirms the report
of the receipt of a large subsidy froM Russia
(6,000,000 francs in gold) by Don CARLOS. The
same journal has the following paragraph relative to
the subsidy which M. TRIERS recommended should
be granted to the Queen of SPAIN, in the event of a
Ministerial refusal of an armed intcrvention

- -
The Cabinet of Madrid is to undergo another shock.
The subsidy proposed by Count Mole has been decidedly nega-
tived in the Council of Ministers—a triumph which is attri-
buted to the Austrian Ambassador, who, it is said, has pro-
tested against in the name of his Court. This was yesterday
a grand cause of joy in all the legitimist saloons."
The annexed extract includes all that is of any im-
portance in the Journals of Wednesday :
We spoke in our Number of the 23d of alarming news from
Algiers respecting the projects of Abdel Kader, to which the
Cliarte and the Moniteur replied. Now, the Revieu de Paris,
the weekly confidant of the Council, has an article which con-
tains the following passages It must be acknowledged that
the intentions of Abdel Kader are becoming at least problem-
atical, and the Treaty of Tafna will probably be only a resting
place for him as well as for us.'—Le Commerce, .
FRENCH FUNDS.—Paste, JAN. 20.
Five per Cents. 109 f. 55c.
Four and a Half per Cents. 105 f. 10c.
Four per Cents., 101 f. 60e.
three per Cents., 79f. 55c.
Bank Actions, 2615 f.
Rente de Naples, ft3f. 60.
Roman Five pe;Cents., 101%.
Spanish Actives, 12% .
Belgian Loan, 102%.
Dutch Two and a half per Cents., 53N.
Haytian Loan, Sea
EXCRANGIC ON LONDON.
One month, paper, --f. —c ; money, 25f. 47%c
Three months, paper, 2ilf. 32 ; money, 251. 32i,ir.
LAST PRICES.
Five per Cents. 10:9. 55c.
Three per Cents., 79f. 50c.
Bank Actions, 2,630 f.
Romans, 101 Y 4.
Rente de-Naples, 08f. 75c.
Spanish Actives, 20.
AUSTRIAN FUNDS.—VIENNa, JAN. 20
Five per Cents. 11Istalliquee
Four per Cents.
Three per Cents.
Bank Shares
—Attgemeine &thing, Jan. 25.

CHANCERY COURT.-(THIS DAY.)

CROSBY V. THE DERBY GAS-LIGHT AND COKE COMPANY.
The arguments in this case had not been concluded at the time our
Reporter left the Court.

VICE-CHANCERY.-THIS DAY.

TAYLOR V. SALMON.
The Bill in this case was filed by the plaintiffs against Lord Dunally,
for the specific performance of an agreement entered into by him to
grant a lease of certain mines in the county of Tipperary, to the Tippe-
rary Mining Company, of which Mr. Salmon was stated to be the agent
at the time the agreement was made. Lord Dunally did not object to
grant the Lease, but was prevented doing so in consequence of a claim
having been set upon his own part by Mr. Salmon.
His HONOUR, in giving judgment, expressed his belief that the answer
of Mr. Salmon was of a false nature, and, therefore, he must decree the
specific performance as asked, granting a perpetual injunction against
Mr. Salmon in the prayer of the Bill. Lord Dunally to have his costs
from the plaintiffs, who were to be repaid by Mr. Salmon, and also re-
ceive from him their own costs.

ROLLS' COURT.-(THIS DAY.)

This being the last day of Term, the COURT took motions.
THORNE V. FRANCIS.

Mr. KINDERSLEY Moved in this case that the next friend of the plain-
tiff might be restrained from prosecuting the suit. There was no one
fact, in point of public interest, in th• ease.

QUEEN'S BENCH-(THIS DAY.)

CRIMINAL INFORMATION.-THE QUEEN V. W►IT.

Mr. Buries appeared to show cause against a rule obtained by the
ATTORNMY-GENERAL, calling upon the defendant, a young gentleman of
Sheffield, to phew cause why a criminal inform'ation should not be filed
against him for a libellous publication reflecting upon the character of
Thomas James Parker, a solicitor of Sheffield. It appeared from the
statement of Counsel that the father of the defendant had married the
sister of the prosecutor ; that Mr. Wait the elder and the prosecutor had
formerly been in partnership, but had dissolved it ; and that some differ-
ence took place which put an end to all intercourse between the parties.
On the death of the prosecutor's father, a friend of Mr. Wait's ap-
plied to Mr. Parker relative to some claim which the former fa-
mily had upon the property of the deceased, and a correspondence
took place, in the course of which the prosecutor declined to enter into
some arrangement proposed by Mr. Wait's family, on the ground that
lie had experienced " insult, injustice, and the most cruel treatment at
the hands of Mr. and Mrs. Wait." Immediately after that letter had
been shown to the defendant, who was not quite twenty years of age, he
addressed a letter to the prosecutor, in which he denounced him as " a
liar and a blackguard, and that if he were not his mother's brother he
(the writer) would horsewhip him in the public streets." A copy of
that letter was posted up by the defendant i❑ the public news-room and
at the post-office of Sheffield.
Lord DENMAN regretted that the matter had not been referred to
some gentleman, who would point out some mod, of coming to an ami-
cable arrangement.
Mr. BAINES regretted also that such was not the case, and proceeded
to read the affidavits which had been filed, and submitted that taking
into consideration the provocation that had been received, and the ex-
treme youth of the party, the rule ought to be discharged.
The Couar did not think that anything like adequate provocation
had been given for the extreme violence of the language that had been
used, and without at all entering into the merits of the case, they were
of opinion that the rule for the criminal information should be made
absolute.

CRIMINAL COURT-(THIS DAY).

OLD COURT.

CHILD MuliDEIL—At ten o'clock the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor,
with Mr. Justice Vaughan, and Mr. Baron Boltand, took their seats on
the Bench, and
Elizabeth Hodges was indicted for having feloniously killed her infant
child, Sarah Hodges, on the 31st of December. The prisoner was also
arraigned on the Coroner's Inquisition for a similar offence. To both she
pleaded Not Guilty. She appeared in a very weak state. She was sup-
ported by a female friend, and was accommodated with a chair during
the trial.
Mr. PAYNE prosecuted, and Mr. CLARKION defended.
Mr. Justice VAUGHAN asked if the necessary steps had been taken to
ascertain if the prisoner was in a fit state to take her trial.
Mr. CLARKsON replied that inquiries had been made with that object,
especially of the surgeon of the prison; and it appeared that she was
was now sufficiently possessed of her faculties to take her trial.
Mr. PAYNE, in stating the case for the prosecution, said the defence
which would be set up was that of insanity. The Learned Counsel then
called the following witnesses.
Mary Ann Hervey, of No. 11, Ireland place, Blackfriars, was a nurse,
and attended the prisoner during her confinement. On the 4th of De-
cember she was delivered of a female infant. She suffered much, and
was not doing well. On the 31st of December I went to her house in Ivy_
lane, and went to her bed-room, where I saw her standing, and her
husband walking about in a melancholy way. She said, "Oh God,
what shall Ido ?" I asked where the child was, but could get no
answer. I again asked what she had done with the child ? She replied
that it was dead. I asked where it was, and what she had done with it ?
She said it was in the copper. I went to the copper, and found in it the
child, covered with water. At that time, and some time previously,
she did not appear to be in her light mind. She repeatedly talked of
the devil having troubled her.
Examined by Mr. CLAItILSON.—When the prisoner left her bed after
her confinement, the milk suddenly left her. In my experience, it has
frequently happened that in such eases reason is affected.
Mr. Ewins, father of the prisoner, said that she was at his house,
with the child, on the Friday preceding the 31st December (Sunday),
and she then conducted herself in a very singular manner; she had
been, before her marriage, of a most kind and amiable temper; and she
was very much attached to her first child, now alive.
'Louisa Bill Ivac with the prisoner on the Sunday following the birth
of the child. I observed that she waited till the nurse had left the
room ; and then told me she had had frightful dreams, that the devil
had once appeared to her, and commanded her to kill her child. I had
1
”bserved a great change in her for some months before her last con-
finement. .

Mr. Hayes, surgeon, was sent for on the 31st of December to pri-
soner's house. I found the child wrapped up in flannel. The face
was dark and livid—from which I inferred that the child had been
smothered. On inquiry of the prisoner, she said she had smothered the
infant with a pillow, and then put it in the copper. Her answers were
not these of a rational woman. _ _

Examined by Mr. CLARKSON—About the time of confinement women
are often inflicted with a species of manner peculiar to them ; and the
sudden leaving of the milk after confinement frequently causes tem-
porary insanity.
Mr. CLARKSON briefly addressed the Jury, expressing his belief that
they would, under the direction of the Learned Judge, return a verdict
of Not Guilty, on the ground of temporary insanity at the time of
committing the act; the effect of which would be that the prisoner
would be confined during her Majesty's pleasure—probably for a short
period—which, tinder all the circumstances of the case, would quite
satisfy the demands of justice.
Mr. Justice VAUGHAN left it to the Jury to say if they considered the
prisoner was not in her right mind at the time she committed the act
for which she appeared at the bar. If so, they would return a verdict
of Not Guilty ; and under the 39th and 40th George 111. she would be
kept in safe custody until the Home Secretary was satisfied that
she had recovered her reason, so that it would :be quite prudent
to set her at liberty. The Learned Judge observed that the Coroner
had done perfectly right in directing a v.rdict of murder to be returned
on the inquest ; prima facia, all homicide was murder, till either ex..
tenuated or justified by the circumstances of the case. And had the
prisoner been liberated by the Coroner, however satisfied he might have
beets that she was insane, she would not have come under the protec-
tion of the Act in question, which required that she should be set upon
her trial, and that a jury of her countrymen should be satisfied of the
real state of her mind at the time she committed the act for which she
had been arraigned.
The Jury returned a verdict of Not Guilty, on the ground of tern.
porary insanity.