The Sun.
London, England, 1838-01-13 00:00:00

THE BALLOT.

MEETING AT GREENWICH.
A public meeting of the electors of Greenwich was held at
the Mitre Tavern, on Thursday night, for the purpose of
agreeing to resolutions, and a petition to the Legislature,
praying " that at all future elections Members returned to
Parliament be elected by Ballot,"
E. G. BARNARD, Esq., M.P. in the Chair, who rose and
said, that this was not a hole and corner meeting, but one called
for the purpose of giving the electors of the borough an oppor-
tunity of expressing their sentiments freely upon the great and
momentous question they had met to consider. Resolutions
had been formed, upon which a petition had been founded,
which would be submitted for their approval for the adoption
of Vote.by Ballot. Indeed, the Ballot appeared to him un-
objectionable ; Lord J. Russell, it was true, had refused to
make it a Cabinet question ; but it might, nevertheless, and
no doubt would, become an open question among the
Ministers.--( Hear, hear.) The present system laid the
election open to that grinding and crushing, which could
'no longer be borne.—(Continued cheers.) He wished the
elective franchise to be so open, and conducted in such a
spirit of independence, that the elector when asked for
whom he would vote, could answer " What is that to you ?
I have my own conscience to consult, and shall act accord-
ingly." He did not wish to see the poorer man kick down
his wealthier neighbour, still he wished him to be so far inde-
pendent as to show a bold front to him.—( Hear.) The Bal-
lot had been said to be Un-English in consequence of its being
secret, but he contended that it was the abuse of the open sys-
tem which had made it necessary. If an elector were pressed
to tell for whom he intruded to vote, he would have a right to
say I will not tell you, or if I do I will not tell you true.
Suppose he was in an enemy's country, and his wife and fa-
mily secreted in a cave, would not he be justified, upon being
asked where they were by his enemy, in pointing to one place
while he knew they were in another. He wished every man
to go to the poll completely independent of his neighbour.
They (the people) had their own rights and privileges to pro-
tect and support, and it was their own fault if they did not
exercise that right. The parties opposed to them wished to
reduce the liberties they had already got, and fritter away the
most important portions of the Reform Bill ; but if they would
support him he would stand forward in support of the Ballot
and shorter duration of Parliaments, which would bo their
only safeguard.—(Loud cheers.)
T. LEWIN, Esq., A. M., then came forward, to move that
the petition be agreed to, to be presented to the House of
Commons. Previously to entering generally into the merit
of the question before the meeting, he produced a model of
Mr. Grote's Ballot-box, which, although not perfect in
every particular, seemed to be as nearly so as can be ex-
pected under the circumstances, and appeared to give ge-
neral satisfaction.

In answer to a question put by an elector, as to how a per-
son should act who could not read the names on the card
which is shown him ?

Mr. LEWIN admitted that the system proposed could not
answer all purposes, but that the principle and general-work-
ing of it would be found to be advantageous. He would ask
if the people had the rights which they ought to have ?
( Cries of " No.") It appeared to him that the more up-
rightly a person acted, and on principle, the more he was sub-
jected, under the present system to be injured.—(Cries of
" It's too true.") He contended that the Ballot was a re-
medy for those evils, and that it would give great benefit
to the country.—( Cheers.) An objection had been made
to the Ballot, on the ground that the Government would
he thrown into the hands of the electors.—(Hear, hear.)
Every elector who voted against his conscience had
an object or motive for 30 doing, and if the object
for doing wrong were removed, the elector, in all proba-
bility, would act rightly, inasmuch as there is greater satisfac-
tion in acting so than otherwise, and which he would do un-
less swayed by unworthy motives.—( Hear, hear.) Another
objection was, that the ballot would create a system of lying,
and it was of all things desirable that the moral of the elector
should be preserved. If he thought it would have the effect
of corrupting a voter's morality, it would be a matter for se-
rious consideration. But he (Mr. Lewin) contended that
the voter who was coerced into making a promise against his
conscientious opinion by his landlord, or some one who had
influence over him, there was no impropriety in his not per-
forming that promise, but rather that he should act in accord-
ance with the dictates of his conscience, and do his duty to his
country and his God.—( Cheers.) There could be no moral
impropriety in a man returning to his duty when he had, after
improper influences had been pressed upon him, been induced
to make a promise in violation of his conscience and his duty.
It had also been urged that the ballot had not answered in
Amer' a, in France, and in Norway ; and credit had been
given to a party who had so represented the case to be the
fact, in the United States, but who had only been a short time
and who consequently could know little about the matter. In-
deed, how little did many gentlemen know of the workings of
the executive in this country ; were they to examine the facts,
what a lamentable deficiency in their knowledge would they dis-
cover ' • and yet we are called upon to give credence to a person
as to the acting of the ballot in America who had only been a
few months there. In opposition to those opinions he would
remind the meeting that in the United States those who en-
joyed the vote by ballot in_ the first instance retained it, and
the other States had subsequently followed their example,
which was tolerably conclusive that the system worked well,
and General Jackson their late President, bad expressed an
opinion that vote by ballot h£d conferred upon them that
power and freedom which they now exercised.—( Hear, hear.)
In France the freedom of the people had been preserved by
the fraction of the representative of the country who were
elected by Ballot. But there was no occasion to travel out
or this country to prove that the Ballot would be beneficial to
the people. The upper classes had their elections by Ballot
in the various club-houses, and it was fitting they should, be-
cause they could not trust each other. If there was open
voting there would be plenty of pulling of noses among those
who„under the Ballot system, remained good friends.—( Hear,
hear.) Again, trial by jury is a secret suffrage acted upon
in this country; a juryman keeps his own council and that of
his fellows, and this was done because he should not be re-
strained in the vote he should think proper to give in respect
to the criminality of a prisoner at the bar. He, therefore,
considered that the secret system might be productive
of much good, and could not taking all circumstances into
consideration, be looked upon as un-English.—( Hear,
hear, hear, and cheers.) The worthy Gentleman con-
cluded a very argumentative speech by proposing the resolu-
tion for the adoption of a petition to the House of Commons
amidst general cheering.
Mr. POWLE seconded the motion.

The resolution was carried unanimously.
GEO. BORRETT, Esq., in proposing the next resolution, ob-
served that they all felt and knew the necessity of the Ballot.
If he had to pin his political faith to the sleeve of any indivi-
dual it would be to that of Thomas Law Hodges, Esq., M. P.,
whose honesty and independence were plain to every observer.
He could also add that he felt the same high respect for the
upright and independent conduct of their worthy Chrirman ;
but he felt a delicacy in stating the extent of his feelings in
the presence of the individual. Those Gentlemen were inde-
pendent in principle, rich in pocket, who aspired to nothing
more than the good wishes of their neighbours, and the welfare
and prosperity of their country. The Ballot he considered
essentially necessary, inasmuch as he had witnessed circum-
stances under the present system which showed that the elec-
tive franchise could not be exercised independently without
placing the party in jeopardy from his richer neighbour, or
those who had official influence over him.—( Hear, hear.) He
had witnessed a system of coercion at Cambridge, during the
late election, the seat of learning and religion, even there,
where it ought to be expected liberality should reign, the
most heartless cruelty had taken place : and lie would add,
too, by the head of a college.—(" Shame.") A man, who
had a wife and six children, had, after holding a situation for
twenty-five years, been deprived of it because he had ven-
tured to act independently. In such cases as these the fran-
chise is a curse rather than a blessing, if the poor and de-
pendent voter was not protected in the exercise of it. —( Hear. )
He believed that all Governments disliked the Ballot. Lord
John Russell disliked it —( Hear and laughter.) They had
all reason to be thankful for the course of events ; for in-
stance Mr. Angerstein was opposed to the ballot, and no
doubt would have been so still, had he been returned for
East Surrey ; but he was now a convert to the Ballot, which
he would not have been, in all probability, if he had been
returned for that district, and it was more than likely Lord
J. Russell would have seen the necessity of it had he been
thrown out at Stroud.—( Hear.) Under the Ballot candidates
would come forward, lay their claims and sentiments before the
electors, and, as independent men, would say, " Here I am, I
have laid before you my political sentiments, but I will not run
the risk of ruing my wife and family in attempting to obtain
your suffrages at the cost the old system would entail upon
ine."—( Hear, hear.) And no man would be such an egregi-
ous fool as to expend 15,0001. or 20,0001, in an attempt to
bribe those on whom he could not depend. If the Ballot
were once adopted there might be one canvass after it, but he
felt assured that would be the last.—(Cheers.) A vote of
thanks was then given to the Chairman, who, in returning
thanks for the honour conferred, stated that he would have
great pleasure in doing every thing in his power to forward
the measure they had in view. He hoped that they would
not be disenheartened if they did not attain their object
year; and he would advise them to continue to peti-
tion the House year after year, until they had attained the
constitutional measure they sought for. Their opponents
were attempting to fritter away the Reform Bill, and unless
they were protected by the Ballot, the Reform Bill would ulti-
mately be a nullity.
It having been unanimously agreed that the resolutions and
petition should be advertised in the Greenwich Patriot news-
paper, the efficient organ of the Reform interest of West
Kent; and after sundry neat and appropriate speeches the
large assemblage separated.

• —7
,
JANUARY.--Most persons imagine that January
presents but little, if anything, to please and instruct them ;
but were they close and attentive observers of ali that is now
to be seen and heard in the woods and fields, they would soon
find that, even in this month, they may—
" With some delight the days outwear,
Although the coldest of the year."
A large stack of warehouses are now building on the
piece of ground called Montague-close, on the north side of
the ancient collegiate church of St. Saviour's, Southwark.
The new warehouses are the property of Alderman Hum-
phery, M. P., and extended the whole length of the venerable
church, the pride and the shame of St. Saviour's parish. On
the plot of land on which the extet:sive premises are now
erecting for commereial'purposes once stood a monastery.
The ruins of the nave of the old church will present a woful
contrast with the lofty pile of warehouses when they are com-
pleted.