The Sun.
London, England, 1854-02-20 00:00:00

THE WEATHEIL-Sux OPFICH, FEB 19.

THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
44 —highest since noon yesterday.
34—lowest this morning and during the night.
42—this day at noon.
BAROMETER, 30'01—a rise of nearly half an inch since
yesterday morning.
WIND, N. to N.N.W.—Fresh breeze, with bitter cold,
but fine, sunshiny weather.
FEBRUARY 20.
43 highest since noon yesterday.
37—lowest this morning and during the night.
49—this day, at noon.

BAROMETER, 30.
Wren, S.W. to W.S.W.—Light breeze, with cloudy
weather, and slight mild rain.

a ::

LONDON, ?tIO.N DA V. VEIll: [TA 20, IS.;t.

War is no longer inevitable—it iney be said to
have already- commenced. England and France
are, however, respectively prepared for the strug-
gle—the enormous power of each being at this
juncture almost incalculably enhanced by the
cordial alliance of their Governments. That al-
liauce is, happily, complete. Notes pledging the
two countries to co-operate in the defence of Tur-
key have been already exchanged between them,
according to the announcement made to the Home
of Commons on Friday evening by Lord JOHN
RiessErre Those Notes will doubtless before long
be followed up by a solemn Treaty engaging
France and England yet more formally to aid
each other, not only in maintaining the in-
dependence of the Ottoman Empire, and in re-
pelling the aggressions of the Russian AUTOCRAT,
but in establishing upon a firmer basis the peace
of Christendom, and in furthering yet more the
threatened, and to a certain extent also, at this
moment, the retarded, interests of civilisation.
The importance of this memorable alliance of
France and England need not assuredly be indi-
cated. It is obvious on the instant to the
glance of the most superficial. It constitutes the
most solid of all guarantees to the Sublime Porte
that the lawless assailant of its dominions will be
repulsed in the end effectually. It does more.
It intimates to the rest of Europe that its tran-
quillity—at the close of the contest now begin-
ning—shall no more be endangered by the pride
of that one arrogant and ambitious potentate who
has come to regard himself at last as the un-
doubted arbiter of the destinies of the whole
world, of both the eastern and the western
hemisphere. Already, we cannot help thinking,
the dim shadow of the phantom of a doubt must
have fallen across the golden faith of the CZAR ill
his own supremacy. Already his Imperial Majesty
must have begun to question the reasonableness
of this belief in the predominance of his authority
now that ho has listened to the candid and chival-
rous words of his " good friend " the Emperor
NAPOLEON lll.—those words which, through
all their studied courtesy and ingenious
compliment, breathe the tones of defiance to the
destroyer of the peace of Christendom. However
this may be, the Russian AUTOCRAT is now known
to have answered theautograph letter by a negative,
conveyed, We _
may presume, through the medium
of the French Ambassador, now on his way back
to Paris from his vacated position at the Court of
St. Petersburgh.
The Moniteur of Saturday
announced the fact of this refusal by the Em-
peror NICHOLAS of the last pacific proposals con-
veyed to him through the temperate but resolute
and dignified eerninuMeation penned by the hand
of the Enfperjr N-4P°1-:E°l4- Therefore, the last
straw for the grasp of the drown'tn
g 'tope of the
Cabinet has floated away et length, even
we may
now to Lord ABERDEEN' presume ABERDEEN 'g unwilling
acknowledgment. ' There is at last, actually,
an end of negotiation. The necessity of the oc-
casion is at last looked fairly in the face by the
Coalition. Tim absurdity of further delay is at,
length perceived by the most cautious and dilatory
—but when driven, as now, 7, letusl to an extremity
lieve alsoa resolute and energetic—Administration.
Werminy, if not actually on the side of Turkey, is,
~
at any rate, neutral. France is with us—thanks to
the Wisdom--4nd the magnanimity of the Emperor
Itimro'LL'ore M. and his Government. Our own
GOvernmemt,' as we have been, is now formally

pledged to the adoption of active measures against
the aggressor—and the Cabinet thus pledged to
a course worthy of the Crown, and of the glory of
the Empire, has received assurance of the unani-
mous support of the whole body of the national
representative a.

What can be said for the minority crotchet? That
it is but a miserable substitute for the ballot. With
an obvious deduction or two on either side, it is to
give forty-six counties a Liberal member a piece,
and nine boroughs a Conservative one. We have
not given in our adhesion to the representation of
minorities in stating this. It is, indeed, a plau-
sible allegation that minorities of thousands hardly
beaten by majorities of tens, or of a hundred
perhaps, have some claim to be heard ; but it
seems fairly balanced by the counter allegation
that the cause must be a bad one indeed, or one
on which public opinion is but imperfectly ma-
trued, if it cannot find a majority anywhere
among the varied constituencies of Great Britain.
We think it clear that Lord JOHN has adopted
this novelty because he felt the claims of the
counties to increased representation, whether
viewed numerically or in point of property, un-
answerable ; while he yet felt that it never would
be endured by the country that forty-six landlord
nominees should be added to the long and weary
list. We beg, however, to remind his Lordship
that minority representation is an infinitely greater
novelty than the ballot—infinitely more un-
English. If we remember right his Lordship has
been amongst the foremost to cast that epithet in
the teeth of the advocates of the ballot ; we may
now retort it with a witness ! If the members of
our Courts-martial, of our literary or other clubs,
or even of our universities, be Englishmen, it is
either falsity or folly to call the ballot un-English.
But where, we would ask, do Englishmen settle
their business by minorities ? It was tried on the
Church-rate question, but, though bolstered up
to the uttermost by legal ecclesiastical ingenuity,
it would not do. It was unanimously rejected
by the Law Lords as unconstitutional trash.
Lord JOHN, indeed, seems to hope to save the un-
English principle by help of vulgar fractions.
Two-fifths is to be the Golden Fraction ; or, as
we are soon to calculate only in decimals, 0.4 is,
we suppose, to be the Golden Decimal. Might he
not compromise the Jew Bill, too, by the help of
fractions. The Hebrews will be propitiated if
their sacred number be introduced ; and perhaps
the Lords would cease to vex them " on the true
faith of a Christian," if the Hebrew minority lad-
der to Parliament were made a little harder to
climb than that of Christians. Lord SHAFTESBURY
and the Bishops might think the equation a fair
one--a Christian + two-fifths of the poll -,--- a Jew
+ three-sevenths of the same. Seriously, how-
ever, we shall not allow Lord John to play fast
and loose with his " un-English" argument. We
shall hold that he has recanted that for ever.
There will have to be, we imagine, if Lord
JOHN carry this point, a new Parliamentary style
and title introduced. We shall hear of the mino-
rity members, or the two-fifth members, as a
class ; the Hon. Member for East Suffolk will
appeal to his honourable two-fifth colleague for
the same division, or to the Honourable Minority
Member for Manchester ; and in scrutinising the
Division Lists we shall be inquiring, amongst
other classes, how the minority members voted.
DOD, too, in future accounts of each member's
political fates will have to record, " sat, in such a
year, as minority member for ---;" perhaps,
as variety is pleasing, he may style them members
third on the poll. Brevity, however, except in
Germany, is the soul of nomenclature, and we
think " minority members" will have it. At the
hustings we have little doubt the designation will
be back-door members. But, supposing, as we
hope the measure as a whole will be proceeded
with, can Lord JOHN get the Sir ROBERTS and
Sir HARRYS to brook these minority colleagues ?
There is one argument which he will probably
whisper to them, through Mr. HAYTER or some
other functionary, for it must not be " said in
his place in the House of Commons," that it may
stave off the awful ballot for years to come, and, per-
haps, by the grace of accidents, for this genera-
tion. It will run thus. The ten-pound county
franchise, 'tis at your peril to refuse. Well, if
you accept it, be assured, all the new voters
will not stand being swamped for ever by your
tenantsat will; surrender one member out of three,
and you will save the other two. Moroover, no
Rad'cal will ever get in for an ordinary county
while the poll-book is published ; and we Whigs are,
as you have seen, as good aristocrats at the bat-
torn as any of you. Now, there is much to be
hoped fur from this hob-nobbing in the lobby, and
it may be successful.

We should much like to have the issue fairly
tried by the country which it held to be
most un-English, minority representation or the
Ballot. We believe the universal verdict would
be that the former was utterly so ; and, we be-
lieve, that far more than " two-fifths"—full
four-fifths at least, would pronounce the Ballo t
the most gentlemanly, the most fair, the most
straightforward, and, therefore, the most English
thing in the world. If the .question were, Which
will you have, minority representation or the bal-,
lot ? Lord JOHN knows that not a single public
meeting could be called in which his crochet
would not be repudiated, and the ballot de-
manded. He will do well to cast his eyes on the
county election just come off, the election of a
Lord, too. The questions and answers read thus—
Mr. WRIGHT.—WiII you vote for the five-pound
franchise or the ballot ?
Lord INGESTRE. —Certainly not. (Hisses and
uproar.)
Mr. WlLLialts.—/s Lord PAGET in, favour of
vote by ballot.
Lord PAGET.—I am. (Cheers.)
Mr. WILLIAUS.—Are you in favour of the
five-pound franchise in boroughs ?
Lord PAGET.—If any proposition to that effect
is brought forward by her MAJESTY'S Ministers,
shall give it my support.
At the poll, the verdict was, Lord PAGET,
4,328 ; Lord INGESTRE, 2, '169. It was a few
days too soon to ask will you vote for minority
representation, or the ballot ? The answer
essential to success cannot, however, be doubted.
It must be owned that Lord JOHN is rather a man
of make-shifts ; he tried hard at one time to en-
dow the Catholic priests in order to save the Irish
Church, but the bait, to the honour of the priests,
did not take. He tried an eight shilling duty on
corn to dam out Free Trade for a time, but that
too was a dead failure ; and now lie would con-
tent the county Liberals by a minority member.
Will that fare any better ? We should be inclined
as Liberal county voters to. reply, We are not
really a minority ; let us vote as we please, and
we will soon prove that we are the majority. We
do not want our representatives to slink into Par-
liament at the back of those whom they ought to
precede. Our soreness is not so much that we
are unrepresented, as that we are forced to mis-
represent ourselves as a minority when we are not
so. Leave our landlords all the fair influence
you like, but leave us our own votes ; give us
none of your back-door members, but—THE
BALLOT.

Most heartily and sincerely do we congratulate
the country on the promised abatement of an in-
tolerable nuisance. The Lord Chancellor has-
pursued a straightforward and judicious course
with respect to the Ecclesiastical Courts. He does
not prescribe petty remedies for au incurable
disease. He does not attempt to restore the limb
in which mortification has set in, but boldly
strikes at the root of the evil by the excision of
the decayed member. Yes ; the Ecclesiastical
Courts are to be abolished root and branch. The 1:
monstrous excrescence that had its origin in the
dark ages, and grew during successive generations
to its present monstrous proportions, is to be era-
dicated ,:from the body politic. Henceforward,
the leviathan sinecures, the shame of the
_British
nation, will be abolished. The 386 distinct tri-
bunals, the Archiepiscopal, Episcopal, Manorial,
Peculiar, Diocesan, Diaconal, and a host
of other Courts of unintelligible denominations,
and even the Prerogative Court itself, will be
past, or will
numbered with the
only be remem-