The Sun.
London, England, 1853-11-22 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 22, 1853.

and a calmer sea. Is this the theory with regard to,popu-
ldr enlightenment ? Does it reach its zero at the ten-pound
householder, and increase gradually from that point in in-
verse proportion to property and outward respectability till
it culminates at the pauper? Some such theory as this is
necessary to explain the proposition for a lower franchise;
but such a theory must rest on facts, and facts, as far as
we have them, are all the other way. The records of
our Parliamentary committees show that the most venal
class in the country is that of freemen, and no proposition
would command a more immediate assent than the dis-
franchisement of this corruptible and corrupting body.
We know no reason why these men should be worse than
their neighbours, except that they are poorer, and there-
fore more accessible to bribes. Let any one inquire what
portion of a borough constituency is most open to corrup-
tion, and he will invariably find that, next to the freemen,
it is the poorest among the ten-pound householders—a fact
which affords little encouragement to a reduction of the
franchise. In the metropolitan districts, and in some of
our more flourishing manufacturing towns, the scale of
rent is so high that it includes the class which in other
places would be five-pound householders. We may there-
fore form some idea of the working of the five-pound suf-
frage from what we observe in these places. We are con-
tent to rest the question on this single issue—is it or is it
not desirable that all boroughs should be as the metropoli-
tan boroughs, and all members as the metropolitan mem-
bers ? Is it wished that it should henceforth be impossible
to approach a borough constituency with the slightest hope
of success without uttering the shibboleth of Triennial
Parliaments, universal suffrage, and vote by ballot ?" Is
it desirable that every member so elected shall be the mere
mouthpiece of notions the most crude, the most vulgar,
and most unpractical, the tool of his vestry, holding lan-
guage in his borough which he dares not hold in Parlia-
ment, and language in Parliament which he dares not hold
in his borough ? Such, as far as we can judge from noto-
rious facts, would be the effect of a five-pound franchise.
Look at the constituency of the metropolis and its districts.
It contains, probably, a far greater amount of wealth and
intelligence than any other constituent body in the king-
dom. But what avails that ? The election is the act of
the poorest class of householders ; it bears the stamp of
their feelings—the impress of their opinions and character.
For electioneering purposes the result would be much the
same if every occupant of a house rented above twenty
pounds a-year were struck off the register. Are those who
advocate the five-pound franchise prepared for such an ex-
tinction of intellectual influence, for a Parliament of dele-
gates and a constituency of proletaires ? But it is said the
five-pound householder will be incorruptible, not from his
individual probity, but because his numbers would exhaust
any means of corruption. It would be a melancholy,
thing to trust the destinies of the empire to a con-
stituency only pure for want of some one rich enough to
bribe them. But numbers are no guarantee of purity ; they
only diminish the price of a vote, they do not close the
market. They sell in large towns for five shillings that
which in small towns they sell for five pounds. The cor-
ruption is the same, and only differs in amount, or rather
the smallness of the price enables a man for an equal sum
to degrade more consciences. Liverpool and Hull may bear
witness how little large constituencies close the door
against corruption. For these reasons, believing that the
ten pound franchise, considered merely as a pecuniary
test of respectability, is considered low enough, and feeling
convinced that to descend lower would be fraught with
perils which no conciliatory effect of the measure can coun-
terbalance, we conclude that the new Reform Bill ought
not to contain any extension of the ten pound franchise.

existing constituencies? The proposition to diminish the
numbers of the House of Commons met with little support
at the time of the first Reform Bill, and was speedily aban-
doned ; nor do we imagine that its resumption would now
be received with much favour. It would, besides, come in
a most objectionable shape, since, owing to the terms of
Acts of Union which unite us to Scotland and Ireland,
the number of members for those countries is fixed,
and the loss must, therefore, fall upon England, a
portion of the empire which, for obvious reasons, it
would be most unjust and most unwise to leave
under-represented in the Imperial Parliament. Dismiss-
ing, then, this plan, which has merely been mentioned
in order as far as possible to exhaust the subject, the next
suggestion which claims our attention is one which has
found much favour in many quarters, and with which
every person professing to deal with the question of Parlia-
mentary reform must be ready to grapple. It is broadly
asserted that the principle upon which our representative
system is founded is not the representation of individuals,
but of classes ; that if the House of Commons is a national
assembly, it is so only accidentally, because it represents
all the classes which, in their totality, make up the nation.
Formerly it used to be thought that every member of Par-
liament had two duties, and two only—the care of the in-
terests of his immediate constituents, and of the nation at
large. To these, according to the modern theory, a third
must be added—the guardianship of the interests of the
class to which the constituency belongs. This notion has
been promulgated as a substitute for the doctrine that Par-
liament should be so constructed as to give a preponderance
to the landed interest, and it is now very popular among
those who are unwilling to appear illiberal, and yet indis•
posed to admit the logical consequences of less refined
theories of popular right. It has found much favour with
the Edinburgh Review and its followers, and is, no doubt,
destined to play a conspicuous pact in coming discussions.
Carried to its fair results, the class theory would seem to
lead to the assemblage of as many Parliaments as there are
divisions and interests in the country—the clergy to vote
their supplies in convocation, the manufacturing interest
in one chamber, the commercial in another, and the agri-
cultural in a third. We have no space for antiquarian dis-
cussion, but we have always thought that one great cause
of the success of our institutions had been the avoiding
that subdivision which forms so prominent a feature in the
rude and half-developed politics of Northern Europe. As
class after class has struggled into political existence, it has
been the practice in other nations to brigade it separately,
while it has been Our sounder policy to blend them into
one harmonious whole. From this arises a truer apprecia
tion of the duties of citizenship, and a happier mean be-
tween centralisation and anarchy, than can elsewhere be
found. But, waving the historical question, is it wise to
encourage the development of the spirit which seizes upon
peculiarities and differences for the purpose of representa-
tion, and seeks to mark and perpetuate, rather to fuse and
obliterate invidious distinctions? Ought Parliament to
approach more nearly to the nature of a Diet, and represent
the specialities rather than the Commons of England ?
Shall we have one member to represent learning, another
science. or rather, as has been proposed, shall some-
thing like a sixth part of the House of Commons be
given up to represent exclusively the intellectual classes of
the country ? Where is the criterion by which the consti-
tuency can be limited, and how fallible any attempt to de-
fine this invidious privilege ! How often should we find
intelligence represented by stupidity, and learning by igno-
rance ! How little likely would it be that constituencies,
deprived of mutual consultation and common action, should
be able to act with harmony or good sense, and how little
would scientific or literary attainments insure those quali-
fications which make up the usefulness of a member of Par-
liament ! Intelligence is in these days monopolised by no
class and no profession, and to assume that it is so would
be to revive the mediaeval distinction between clerk and
layman, when the difference no longer exists. It is not
every element in the national character that deserves repre-
sentation. We can see no necessity for a representation of
ignorance, in order to counterbalance it by an infusion into
Parliament of pure learning and science. It is better to
exclude poison than to meet it by ever so successful an an-
tidote. In popular governments it is impossible to go far
beyond the plain good sense of men of ordinary understand-
ing and cultivation. It is the penalty governments pay
for their popularity. We have no objection to giving
learned and influential bodies an additional share of repre-
sentation in Parliament, but the attempt to form an intel-
lectual class and divide it into constituencies is too bold,
and too impolitic an innovation. English life is full of
inequalities enough without inventing machinery in order
to multiply them. The apprehension of too great uni-
formity appears to us rather fanciful than solid. The dif-
ference of education, of intelligence, of temperament, of
property, of pursuits, and of experience will always cause
a sufficient diversity to insure a full and fair discussion of
every subject ; and, while the press is free, the right of
meeting in public intact, and parliamentary discussion un-
fettered, it is a mere chimra to apprehend that the
national sentiment will sink down to that dead level of
uniformity which even absolute governments can but
faintly and partially produce.

a freehold estate of considerable value.
the present system, is not represented.
If I am legally considered as a fit and proper person to
have the control of this estate till my ward is of age, why
should I not be also able to exercise the franchise till that
period arrives?

This property, by

I am, Sir, yours very truly,
Brunswick•place, Brighton, Nov. 21. T. B,

LAW INTELLIGENCE.—Nov. 21.

COURT OP'COMMON PLEAS.
THE EARL OF MOUNTCASHELL V. BARBER.
This was an action of debt for money paid, to which
the defendant pleaded never indebted, payment, and
set-off. The action was tried before the Chief Justice
at the Guildhall, and a verdict found for the plaintiff,
damages 931. A question arose as to the admission of
evidence and as to the liability of the defendant, which
it was agreed should be submitted to the court as a
special case.

- Mr. Lush now appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr.
Bramwell, Q.C., and Mr. Barstow for the defendant.
The action was brought to recover contribution to-
wards a judgment the plaintiff had been compelled to
pay, as a member of the committee of the Colonial
Club, from the defendant, another member of the com-
mittee of the same club. There were a great number
of members paying annual subscriptions, 26 of whom
were on the committee of management. In 1842
the club was upwards of 3,0001. in debt, and in March
there was a meeting of the committee, of which
the defendant was chairman, when the financial con-
dition of the club was considered, and it was then re-
solved to propose to a general meeting that 3,0001. be
borrowed on the personal security of the committee, the
members of the society to take up debentures to that
amount. The recommendation was approved, but the
debentures were never taken up by the members. Sub-
sequently, in June, it was resolved that a loan of 4,000/
was necessary to place the society in a suitable position
in their new house, and that the committee be authorised
to raise that sum on the eredit of the society. The de-
fendant was present at this meeting, and at the second
annual meeting, at which this proposal was agreed to.
Afterwards, 4,0001. at 5 per cent. were borrowed from
the Commercial Bank, and the defendant saw the pass
book with that credit in it, and drew and signed many
checks upon that credit as a member of the managing
committee of the club, until the whole 4,0001. were
exhausted. The club got into difficulties, and subse-
quently the Commercial Bank brought an action against
the plaintiff, and recovered judgment against him for the
debt of the club, towards which he had paid in part dis-
charge of that 2,500/., his estates in Ireland having been
mortgaged and sold to raise the money. Each of the
committeemen had besides this sum paid a sum of 1001.,
including the plaintiff and the defendant. Tho ques-
tions submitted to their Lordships were, whether the
proof of the defendant's acting on the committee was
receivable in evidence against him in this action ; and
secondly, whether he was liable to pay to the plaintiff
any and what sum as a co-contributor.
The Court were of opinion that the admissability of
the evidence and the liability of the defendant were one
question. The defendant was liable to the bank ; and
the Court thought that there was evidence, before the
loan, of sufficient authority from the defendant to con-
tract it, and abundant evidence that he hail ratified the
contract for the loan afterwards. The verdict must
therefore stand.
Judgment for the plaintiff.

(From the Times of Saturday.)
The next question which would naturally engage the
attention of the framers of our new Reform Bill would be
the county franchise. The inquiries of Parliamentary
committees and :commissions have diverted so much pub-
lic attention to borough elections, that the state of the
county franchise has not received the attention which it
undoubtedly deserves. The abuses of boroughs, taking, as
they generally do, the form of individual bribery and cor-
ruption, are so much more tangible and obvious, admit of
so much easier proof by witnesses, and attract so much
more attention than the nomination system which regu-
lates our counties, that the one has been unduly dispa
raged, and the other as unduly exonerated from blame-
The excesses of our borough elections, lamentable and
disgraceful as they are, prove, at any rate, the posses-
sion of great individual liberty. No one bribes, no
one intimidates, no one cajoles, no one intoxicates
a man who has nothing to give. The very abuse
and degradation of the franchise proves that it is really,
not nominally, possessed. The country election is, in
general, accompanied by none of those disgraceful and de-
moraling influences. It is a matter of quiet, decorous,
business-like-arrangement between a select knot of large
proprietors, who decide without beer, without bellowing,
without tumult, but with equal authority and efficacy,
who it is who shall represent them. Thera is no occasion
to bribe, to intoxicate, to intimidate, to cajole, for the
mass of the electors have really not much to do with the
matter. It is a question not of popular opinion, but of
territorial jurisdiction. Our county members represent
great estates rather than great principles, and families
rather than communities. While people are doubting
whether they shall not extend the franchise in boroughs to
five-pound householders, we exclude from the country
franchise householders under fifty pounds a year. It
is in this simple fact that the whole theory of
county representation is contained. Counties are dis-
posed of by a few great proprietors because the
majority of the inhabitants are denied any share
in the representation. Were the same franchise to be
extended to boroughs, they would immediately become
narrow obligarchies, and the popular voice would be ex-
tinguished throughout England. It is a wonderful in-
stance of the patient and non-inquiring disposition of the
English people, ever ready to content itself with things as
they are, that the class of residents in counties possessed
of houses of from ten to fifty pounds a-year should have so
tamely submitted to be deprived, for no conceivable rea-
son, of that franchise which they are at least as capable of
exercising for the good of the public as any other class of
her Majesty's subjects. A ten-pound house in a village is
an extremely different affair from a ten-pound house in a
town, and implies a totally different social position; and
a house in the country rented at forty-five pounds a-year
will contain all the conveniences and most of the luxuries
of life. If property is to be the standard, what conceiv-
able reason can there be for excluding such persons from a
voice in the affairs of the country ? Is it that their pur-
suits, habits, and education are such as to render them un-
fit depositaries of such a trust? The contrary, is notori-
ously the fact. The persons inhabiting houses of this value
constitute one of the soundest, the most independent, the
most conservative, and, at the same time, the most intelli-
gent classes that we possess. Successful tradesmen who
have retired from business on a small fortune, professional
men of all descriptions, and officers of the army and navy
who have missed the prizes of life, but who are possessed
of a moderate competence, of regular education, and of
leisure, and the leading inhabitants of small towns, form
the great bulk of the excluded class. Free from any per-
sonal interest or ambition, removed from the corrupting
influences of great towns, passing their lives in quiet and
in ease, without anything to warp the judgment or inflame
the passions, these men are peculiarly competent to form
and express sound opinions ou public affairs. If they lived
within the limits of Parliamentary boroughs, they would
not only have votes themselves, but be the leaders of par-
ties, and the directors of others. But, because their house
stands on one side of an imaginary line instead of another,
they are denuded of the rights of citizenship, and deprived
of any voice in the government of a free country of which
they constitute a most important portion. How absurd
that a small tradesman, keeping a shop within a small
Parliamentary borough, rented at fifteen pounds a year,
should enjoy the elective franchise, but that when he has
saved a competence, and retired into the country to enjoy
the well-earned fruit of his labour, he should by this act
blot himself out of the list of persons competent to exer-
cise the first right of a citizen !
The only excuse—defence there can be none—for this
state of things, is the fashionable theory of representation
by classes, which naturally is averse to moderate and safe
constituent bodies, and tends always to vicious extremes.
Thus, that the lower classes may be represented, we are
encouraged to fling the boroughs into the hands of a poor,
ignorant, and venal proletariat, while that agricultural and
rank may bear due sway, we are to emasculate the county
constituencies, and hand over what is left to be disposed of
at the will of a few large proprietors.eiThe country is to
be split up into guilds. Scientific men must elect scienti-
fic members, and lawyers, soldiers, sailors, and doctors
each come as the representative of their own profession.
Uniformity is to be avoided by any means and any injus-
tice, and whole classes of our most valuable citizens to be
disfranchised, in order that others may exercise an unjust
and overbearing influence. We enter our protest against
three new-fangled doctrines, which never were, and, we
trust, never will be, any part: of the British constitution.
A county, after all, is only a kind of electoral district, and
the man who represents a county ought not only to repre-
sent its superficial area, but the wealth, the intelligence,
and, as far as considerations of public safety will admit,
the numbers which that area contains. The right to exer-
cise the franchise once obtained by the possession of the re-
quisite amount of property ought not to vary according to
the electoral district in which it is exercised. The pos-
session of the house or the property is the rough test of
fitness ; the man is the same, wherever that property be
situate.
But, besides considerations of justice, it seems quite
clear that the assimilation of the county and borough fran-
chise would be productive of the best practical results. It
would break the fall of these boroughs which must inevit.
ably, if we are to have any reform at all, be disfranchised,
or rather, instead of being disfranchised, they would be-
come part, instead of the whole of the electral district. It
would give to county constituencies a weight and influence
which they do not now possess, and fairly entitle them, in
consideration of their increased numbers and improved
constitution, to a larger share in the representation of the
country. By associating the agricultural and commercial
classes together in the exercise of these duties, it would
il3nd to diminish the feeling of antagonism which years of
agitation have raised between them. Such a constituency
would be essentially English, and, while feelingly alive to
any inroad on our liberties, would be far less likely than
the population of a town to be worked upon by dema-
gogues and agitators. Justice and expediency plead alike
for its creation, and no reform bill will satisfy the reason-
able expectations of the country which does not do justice
otetohlfaasseelsa so Ipng and so unfairly excluded. Before we talk
constituencies
belownogvern m e the
reposes
ten-poundpdoes
all
lloanb above
thev fes aigtno. co hd
rsseee,
sense
ert
eoufssa
safe
eeisii thats
m long
middle
dozs
but no experiment can be more futile, or more dan-
fegtr,eaccrtoiu:,ontshoainigatrochy ifornceouirntcoouenxitsietes,nce an unbridled demo-
y in our towns, in order to curb it by an artificial and

COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH.
IN THE MATTER OF EGGINGTON.

In this case a rule had been grantod to show cause
why Eggington, a prisoner in Stafford Gaol, should not
be discharged from custody, upon the rule being made
absolute. The prisoner had been originally arrested
and committed to prison, at the instance of the Town
Council of Lichfield, for not delivering up the books,
&c., belonging to the corporation, as he had been re-
quired to do, upon his removal from the office of town-
clerk. The arrest had taken place on a Sunday, and
this Court, on the first day of term, had decided that an
arrest for such an offence upon a Sunday was illegal, as
being contrary to the sixth section of the Ist of Charles
11., chap. 1 (the Lord's Day Act). The prisoner was
accordingly ordered to be discharged from custody.
The decision of this Court was made known to the
gaoler on the day following, viz., on the 3d inst., but,
it appeared that the prisoner was then detained under
another warrant, also issued at the instance of the Town
Council, but acting in their capacity of Commissioners
of Paving under a local act. Upon the following day,
viz., the 4th, a ca. sa. at the suit of a private creditor,
was lodged with the Sheriff. Upon these grounds the
prisoner was still detained in custody.
Lord Campbell was of opinion that the rule ought to
be discharged.

(Prom the Times of yesterday.) .
bo-
roughs, the maintenance of decayed
The disfranchisement of
present amount, and the reduction
to an equality with that of thel
work of what appears to us to be 'B'
practical Reform Bill. There are many safe,i
which these propositions do not
awnhitchhethpeeyindtso
wniotht slovlhviee,hl:uint tthheey seem
and insignificant
moderate,tdifficu
orfough franchise at its
boruoonothe county franchise
' presentta lo
alsy
state of public
form the ground
embraee
at
difficulties
torch,
collateral questions.
feeling, it is necessary to deal, always excepting the ques-
tion - what is to be done with the members thus obtained?
What, then. following out our principles in the same siit
of moderation in which we have deduced and enunciated
them, should be the use to which the large number of Eng-
lish and Irish seats placed at the disposal of the Legislature
by the contemplated disfranchisement ought to be applied?
The number itself is variously estimated. The highest cal-
culation does not place it above ninety, nor the lowest
much under forty ; but we incline to the opinion that, if
the future Reform Bill be conceived in a spirit of purity
and impartiality, the number for England alone must ap-
proach much more nearly to the former than the latter
amount. Unless the bill be wholly free from the slightest
semblance of partiality, it will fail in its very inception,
and it is therefore not worth while to discuss its results on
any other suppositions than those which involve the condi-
tions of success. How, then, shall these seats be disposed
of ? Shall we retrench the numbers of the Imperial Par-
liament? Shall we create new electoral bodies for repre-
sentation, or shall we distribute our superfluity among

tinued to press her as to whether she was sure that was
the right way; and as they pushed against her her sus-
picions were aroused, and directly afterwards she saw
her purse fall from the prisoner's hand. She then ex-
claimed that her pocket had been picked, upon which
the other boy ran away, and the prisoner said " Oh, I'll
give it him for this," and was about to follow his com-
panion, but she stopped him, and gave him into custody,
The jury found him guilty.
Mr. Witham said the prisoner had been convicted of a
similar offence, and in this case the robbery was com-
mitted by the aid of a young boy, a circumstance of
very great aggravation. He sentenced the prisoner to
be kept in penal servitude for four years.
John .41‘Gavin, 13, was convicted of picking the
pocket of a lady while she was looking at a shop window
in Regent-street, on the 2nd inst.
It appeared that, though so young, the prisoner had
been repeatedly convicted, not only in Middlesex, but
in the city, and in Surrey.
Mr. Witham sentenced him to be kept in penal servi-
tude for four years.