The Sun.
London, England, 1854-02-10 00:00:00

COLONIAL POSTAGE.

Mr. HANK EY wished to ask the Secretary of the
Treasury, whether any progress has been made in the
proposed measure for the reduction of the colonial post-
age to an uniform rate ; and if he can give any informa-
Von as to the time when such reduction will probably
come into operation ; also, whether he can give any in-
formation as to the more frequent postal communications
from this country to the Australian colonies.

Mr. WILSON said those two questions were of very
great importance. With regard to the first, he had to
inform the house that the Postmaster-General, at a very
early period of last year, took steps, with the sanction
of the Treasury, for the purpose of getting the concur,
rence of those colonies over the internal affairs of which
we had no control. The plan then proposed was to
charge 6d. for each letter to the colonies, ld. of which
was to be paid here, and ld. to the colony, the remaining
4d. to go for the ocean carriage. With regard to more
frequent communication with Australia, the Postmaster-
General was now endeavouring to effect measures which
would give us a monthly mail between Australia and this
country.

PARLIAMENTARY REFORM.

On the motion that the house at its rising do adjourn
until Monday next,
Lord JOCELYN took the opportunity of repeating a
question to the noble lord the member for thel city
of London, which he put on Monday last, viz.,
whether, in the undisturbed state of our foreign
relations, it is the intention of the Government
to recommend the house to proceed with the mea-
sure proposed to be introduced on Monday next,
for amending the representation of the people of this
country. On Monday the noble Ford answered him
in a manner which he would not characterise as discour-
teous, but which was certainly curt. (A. laugh.) He
thought, however, that the present aspect of oar
foreign affairs justified him in repeating the question,
and therefore he begged to do so, expressing a full hope
that the noble lord would give him an explicit and candid
answer. (Hear, hear.)
Lord J. RUSSELL said the question which was now
put to him was somewhat different to that which was
asked on Monday night. On Monday night he under-
stood the noble lord to ask him whether he in-
tended to propose to ask on Monday next for
leave to bring in a bill of Parliamentary reform, but
the noble lord had now put upon the paper a
very difficult question, viz, whether the Government
intended to proceed with the measure when it was
brought in. Well, his answer to that question was
this, on Monday he should ask for leave to bring in a
bill to amend and extend the representation of the
people in England and Wales, and if he was successful
in obtaining that leave, he should propose to
proceed with the second reading of the bill on
the 13th of March. This arrangement would in
no way interfere or interrupt the questions which
might arise with regard to the naval and military esti-
mates, which must shortly (come before the house—
(hear, hear)—while he certainly did not anticipate, that
when the 13th of March came, there would be any rea-
son for not proceeding with the measure. (Cheers.)
Mr. FIUME said, if ever there was a time when the
people should rally round the Crown, it was now, It
was an act not only of wisdom, but of policy, that the
Government should not shrink from bringing forward
their measure.
Mr. DISRAELI said he and those friends with whom
he acted, thought that this was not the time in which
domestic agitation should be encouraged, nor in which
the energies of the country should be diverted from the
perilous aspect of our external affairs. He could not
help thinking that the course which the ministry were
about to adopt, was a reckless course. (Opposition cheers.)
He (Mr. Disraeli) and his friends would not share that
course, nor divert the energies of the country from the
position of our foreign relations, and they did not there-
fore, intend on Monday next to offer any opposition to
the noble lord's motion. (Hear, hear.) Such opposi-
tion must naturally lead to protracted debates, when
the attention of the house should be given to the
means of carrying- on the war in which we were now
engaged. But if, on the Bth March, which was now
announced for the second reading of the noble lord's bill
—if, when that period had elapsed, the noble lord had
not seen occasion to come forward and confess the
error of his ways—(laughter)—if he then asked them
to consent to his bill, of course,' then, there
could be no further opposition on their (the
Opposition) party ; they must give the measure all the
attention it demanded, and the merits of the question,
and if the attention of the house and the country should
be diverted from more important questions, then upon
the noble lord must rest the responsibility of bringing
forward such a measure, and bringing forward such a
measure at such a time. (Cheers and counter cheers.)
Mr. BRIGHT said, until war had taken place or was
inevitable, it would be a bad precedent to give such an
excuse for putting off a reform bill. With respect to the
charge of the right hon. gentleman (Mr. Disraeli) that
the course proposed by the noble lord was a reckless
onelhe believedlif the right hon. gentleman and his friends
were now in power they would be doing the very same
things as the Government were now doing, namely,
doing their best to stave off a war. (Hear, hear.)
And though the right honourable gentleman deprecated
" agitating " the country on the subject, the press which
advocated the policy of the right hon. gentleman had
for months past, and until Parliament met been
"agitating" the country on a certain great delusion, far
more dangerous than any that could grow out of a re-
form bill.
Lord J. MANNERS denied that his right hon. friend
was actuated by any party motives in the notice which
he had given to-night. The people did not wish to see
the vigour of the coming war impeded by internal divisions
upon domestic questions, and perhaps that was the reason
why they heard so l►ttle out of doors upon the subject
of Parliamentary Reform. He therefore hoped the
Government would reconsider the determination with re-
gard to the new Reform 13111, and postpone its discussion
until a future session, when the aspect of our foreign
relations might be more cheering than it was at present.
The motion for the adjournment of the house was then
agreed to.

BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION.
Lord J. RUSSELL then move for leave to bring in
a bill to consolidate and amend the laws relating

to bribery treating and undue influence at election

of members of Parliament. He proposed to ,make
the receipt of a bribe still a misdemeanour,
but he should reduce the fine of 5001. The

bill would also define the offence of treating and undue
influence. The description of the latter offence
would take up one clause in the bill. Having thus

defined the three offences, the bill would proceed

to specify the mode by which the offences would
be checked, which would not be by the infliction o
heavy fines, but by providing that persons guilty of
bribery should never be eligible to a seat in Parliament,
while parties guilty of treating should be precluded
from sitting in Parliament during the then session of
Parliament. Voters guilty of bribing, or receiving a
bribe, should for ever be disqualified from voting, and a
list of their names should be posted with the annual
register of parties entitled to vote at the election of
members of Parliament. A second bill, which he
proposed to ask leave to bring in would be to amend
the law for the trial of election petitions, and
for inquiring into the existence of corrupt practices
at elections. Under the existing law the presentation
of an election petition was left entirely to private parties,
and with that law he intended to make no change ; but
he proposed that all petitions should in the first instance
be taken before a sort of grand jury committee,
consisting •f fifteen members, and if they deter-
mined that the petition was a right and valid
one, it should then be presented at the public
expense in the following manner. The petition would
go before a second committee, and if it succeeded the
costs would be defrayed by the public, but if it failed,
the petioners would be required to pay their own costs
as well as those of the defence. (Hear, hear.) An-
other provision of the bill would provide that where
the sitting member was proved guilty of bribery his
opponent, if he had polled two-thirds of the number
of electors of the unseated member should be entitled
to the seat. There were other provisions in the bill,
but these were the principal features of the measure,
though, perhaps, the house would forgive him if he
ventured to touch upon some of the minor details.
He also proposed to make an alteration as it at present
existed. Where the election committee reported that
bribery existed extensively in any borough, the Crown
should have power to issue a commission without appeal-
ing to either House of Parliament. He proposed also
to restrict the choice in England to nominate revising
tbarristers to the Crown. There were various provisions as
o the withdrawal of petitions. He thought there was some
reason to complain of a want of uniformity of the deci-
sions of select committees, and he proposed, upon the
dissolution of Parliament, there should be 10 barristers
of 10 years standing, to act as assessors to those corn-
mittees. (Hear, hear.) With respect to prosecutions
for bribery, he proposed, when any person who were re-
ported to the Speaker to be guilty of bribery, the Attor-
ney-(general should at once be instructed to prosecute
those parties. (Hear, hear.)
[LEFT SITTING.]

THE LONDON GAZETTE.

(THIS EVENING.)

FOREIGN-OFFICE, JAN. 14.

The Queen has been graciously pleased to appoint Au-
gustus Paget, Esq., now Secretary to her Majesty's Lega-