The Sun.
London, England, 1849-11-29 00:00:00

the common fate of third and fourth generations in almost NAVAL IN
all property except land, but with this great advantege
to our posterity, that if there were no longer a Debt of Some iron barges are to be constructed at Wool-
wich from the plates of the condemned balers of the
800,000,0001., in which they had some share, there would
steam-fri
be no longer a Revenue of 28,000,0001. required to pay gate RE tribution.
its interest, from the burden of which they would be ac-
cordingly The Indefatigable, 50, Captain Smart, K. 11., has
relieved. If at the same time all the supplies entered her complement of 600 officers and men,
required for the use of the State were raised within the within 150.
year, and no further debts contracted, there would be a The Saturn, depot and guard-ship, at Pembroke,
degree of economy introduced into every branch of the Captain Superintendent Sir Thomas S. Pasley, has
administration, without impairing its efficiency, which been commissioned since the 11th October.
never did atel never can take place under the reckless The Hound, 8, Commander Patten, received her
and extravagant system of public loans, by which the full complement from the hulk, on Tuesday. She
income of the future is anticipated end spent, leaving went out of Hamoaze yesterday to have her compasses
those that come after to bear the chief weight of the adjusted by Mr. Walker, the Queen's harbour-
burdsn."
adoption of this plan would do more to secure master. She will be mustered and inspected hy Vice-
The Admiral Sir John Louis, Bart., on Friday, and will
the peace and the permanent prosperity of the country
sail on Saturday, after the arrival of the mail, for the
than al the eloquence of all the orators who ever Coast of Africa.
spouted fustian from a platform. Mr. Bucking-
The Dart, 3, brigantine, Lieutenant Commander
ham's suggestions on the subject of Emigration and Hill, will be paid off at Sheerness from the Coast of
Colonizstion are well worthy of consideration. In Africa.
his proposition for a new Reform Bill, Mr. Bucking- The Terrible, 21, steam-frigate, Captain James
ham thus sums up the evils of the present electoral Hope, has commenced entering men at Woolwich, 50
system : having been placed on her books on Tuesday and
"First: Enormous expense to individuals in every Wednesday. She is only ordered a complement of
case of a contested election, whether for counties or 300; when last in commission she had 321. Her
boroughs;—immense cost to the country, for the army
of revising barristers, and other machinery necessary for first lieutenant, Mr. Miller, took up his commission
effecting aid revising the registration; and ruinous ex yesterday.
pease to those petitioned against after their election has The Sidon steam-frigate will' not be complete in
been gained. Secondly: Bribery, corruption, and inti- the engineers' departfnent at Portsmouth, before the
midation, in many instances as great as, and in some in- end of next week.
stances even greater than, under the old system of things. The Niger screw-sloop, at Woolvvich, is ordered
And thirdly: The engendering of so much anger, ill- to be sent to Devonport, to be kept there as advanced
will, and disgust, as to induce those who take part in steamer.
I elections at all, to use any and every means, honourable
The
bArcher screw-sloop, atWoolwich,
or dishonourable, to crush their opponents; and to corn- is ordered
pal many, who cannot conscientiously stoop to this, to to prepared for commission.
withdraw from political agitation altogether." The Stromboli, 6, Commander Lord A. W. Beau-
As a first step in the path of improvement, Mr clerk, arrived at Devonport on Tuesday morning,
Buckingham proposes to establish for the voter an with supernumeraries for the Indefatigable. After
landing them, she sailed again directly for Queens-
intellectual instead of a property qualification. He
town, with newly-raised men for the Superb, and is
says— ordered to return to Devonport and wait orders.
The five requisites that should be demanded as the
The Shearwater 3, steam-vessel, Lieutenant-Com-
qualffication of a voter, would, therefore, according to
this proposition, be the following:— mender Tumour, 'has arrived at Galway for the pro-
" 1. -The attainment of full legal age. tection of the fisheries.
"2. The possession of a good. moral character for The Trident, 3, steam-vessel, Lieutenant-Com-
sobriety and integrity. mander Risk, has arrived at Queenstown with provi-
"3. The capacity to earn an independent subsistence. sions from Belfast, and with men for the Superb.
"4. The ability to read and'write English. The Flamer steam-packet, Lieutenant-Commander
"5. Permanent residence of one year in the town or Jones, is ordered to proceed to Portsmouth, from
county in which the vote is to be given. Holyhead, and to turn over her packet fittings to the
We would go further than Mr. Buckingham, and Fire Queen steam-vessel, to be fitted for the Holyhead
would strike out the second requisite as too open to service.
abuse. Every person who can read and write, and
who earns his own living, -and who has never been
convicted of crime,' is entitled to his vote, as a right,
without reference to'charecter. Once introduce the
character qualification and we should have some
teetotal assessor disfranchising every one in his
district who had even tasted beer, wine, or spirits,
while in another district even Mr. Buckingham him-
self might be disfranchised on the plea of character
by some wine-bibbing old East India director.
Therefore we are opposed to the second requisite, as
tempting to abuse. He proposes that the elector
should register himself with the registrar, and himself
sign his own registration. He proposes—
" To let all persons living within five statute miles, by
the nearest line, of any represented town, vote for the
members of such town; and as this would be matter of
actual measurement, there could be little dispute about
the distance.—while all those living at a greater distance
than five such miles.from any represented town, might
vote for the members for the county."
Ur. Buckingham would have the elections take place
at fixed triennial periods, and proposes that the votes
should be taken in the following manner :
" The registrar having a card, containing the name of
the several candidates printed on it, in a clear and uni-
form manner, should then provide a sufficient number of
these to furnish one to every elector, which, for security,
should be forwarded to him through the post-office, en-
closed in a printed circular, directing him to draw his
pen through the names of the candidates for whom he
wished not to give his vote, then to put the card in a
blank envelope, seal it, and inscribe his name, with his
own hand, on the outside of such envelope, so that it
might give assurance of its coming from him as a regis-
tered elector; and than to put the whole in an ordinary
letter-cover, addressed to the registrar, at his office, and
send it, for security, through the post-office, on the fol-
lowing day; as the shorter the time between the issue of
the cards and their return, the less the chance of im-
proper influence.
"On the day appointed, the letters are delivered by
the post, at the office of the registrar himself—his two
assistants, and an agent of each candidate being present,
to see justice done to all. The outer seal is first broken,
and the first enclosures, with the voter's autograph sig-
nature on each cover, are arranged alphabetically, as
they come out, (the card containing his vote being kept
secret in the second enclosure, which is still sealed up).
When all are thus disposed of, the next process will be
the opening of the registration-book, the calling over
from it the names of tho voters, according to their alpha-
betical entry; the comparison of the autograph signature
of each person on the letter-cover with the autograph
signature of the same person in the book, to establish
their identity, rejecting for future inquiry any duplicates,
or forgeries, or doubtful names—it any of either, in-
deed, under such a system, should be likely to occur.
" The verification of the signatures being completed,
the next step would be, the opening of the inner sealed
covers, throwing the printed cards into one box, and the
written envelopes into another—which, for the perfect
security of secrecy. znight bo done by youths, under the
check of the parties already acting as registrar and as
sistants, or blindfolded, if that were deemed necessary,
as in the case of drawing tickets in a lottery, 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
assorted, according to the names of the candidates
through which the pen of the voter had not been drawn;
and those for whom the greatest number of cards ap-
peared, would of course possess the majority, and be
considered duly elected."
This plan is defective, inasmuch as it furnishes no
security against bribery or intimidation ; on the con-
trary, it enables the briber or the intimidator to make
assurance doubly sure by insisting on seeing the
elector draw his pen through the name of the candi-
date for whom he does not vote. Mr. Grote's ballot-
box is infinitely preferable to the card scheme. Mr.
Buckingham proposes that returns once made shall
not be set aside—a plan likely, we think, to be pro-
ductive of dangerous consequences ; and lays down
rules on the subject of the offering of candidates, one
of which consists of the abolition of personal canvass-
ing, and the other of the prohibition to every person
to enter the field as a candidate within a later period
than a clear week before the commencement of the
business of the election. We disapprove of this
latter prohibition as a needless interference with the
liberty of both electors and candidates. Mr. Buck-
ingham's plan for the regeneration of Ireland consists
of the introduction of teetotalism, the prohibition of
the export of food, and a loan of 20,000,0001. to the
landlords, the interest to be paid by an income-tax,
imposed for that especial purpose on the whole Irish
nation. Mr. Buckingham does not, however, inform
us how he proposes to enforce the collection of the
income-tax, nor how, in the face of the prohibition of
the export of the only articles which Ireland produces,
the landlords are to obtain money to repay the loan
within twenty-five years, at the rate of 4 per cent.
per annum, which he proposes they shall do. In
return for the loan, Mr. Buckingham says we shall
have a right to compel the owners of Irish estates to
disburse it in the employment of labour; but knowing
from experience that every attempt at legislative in-
terference between employer and employed has only
aggravated the evils it was intended to remedy, know-
ing that all advances of public money to bolster up
failing concerns, whether the advances have been
made to English merchants and manufactures or to
Irish landlords, have uniformly ended in the loss of
the money so advanced, and the involving of many
persons in the crash, when it eventually does come,
who would not have been included in it had it come
when in the natural course of events it ought to have
come, we cannot but look with feelings of suspicion
and fear on Mr. Buckingham's plan for the regenera-
tion of Ireland. His suggestions, however, on all
these subjects are well worthy of an attentive study,
and we cannot but consider his book as a most valuable
contribution to social and political science.

TUE WEST INDIA SQUADRON.

PORT ROYAL, OCT. 24.—1 n Harbour—The
Imatn,72, Commodore Bennett; the Persian, 16,
Commander Buisnan ; the Helena' 16, Commander
de Courcy ; and the Plumper, 10, Commander N ol-
loth.

The Wellesley, 72, Captain Goldsmith, bearing the
flag of Vice-Admiral the Earl of Dundonald, G.C.B ,
and the Vixen steam sloop, CommandQr Jenner, are
at Halifax, expected at Bermuda the beginning of
next month.

The Sappho, 16, Commander Michell, is daily
expected from the Havannah.
The Viper schooner is at La Guayra.
The Bermuda schooner, Lieutenant Commander
Jolly, is at the Gulf of Florida.
The Helena has had many severe eases of fever ;
the Sappho has also been sickly ; the Plumper, too,
has suffered similarly. The Helena is about to pro-
ceed to Turk's Island, to ascertain the proper site for
a lighthouse there.
The Persian was about to sail for Port-au-Prince
and St. Domingo.
The Admiral is expected here towards the end of
December.

The Plumper, juEt before leaving this part of the
station, had taken Fort Truxillo, and obtained part
of a debt owed by Honduras to the English Govern.
meat. Truxillo town has 2,000 or 3,000 inhabitants.
Commander Nolloth landed with nearly the whole
of his ship's company.
The heat has been very great here lately. The
inhabitants and the ship's crew generally are suffering
much with large and painful boils.
The Plumper has sent several cases of fever to the
Naval Hospital since her arrival at Port Royal. This
is not to be wondered at, considering that when her
steam is up the thermometer stands as high as 126
degrees on the lower deck, an amount of heat greater
than is shown when the instrument is exposed to the
direct rays of the sun.

The consecration of the Bishop of Norwich (Dr.
Hinds) will take place in the chapel of Lambeth
Palace on Sunday next, the 2d of December, being
Advent Sunday. The Bishops who will assist the
Archbishop in the ceremony are the Bishops of
London, Lincoln, Carlisle, and Hereford. The
Bishop of Lincoln attends from his long acquaintance
and, personal esteem for Dr. Bind:, who for some
years was an incumbent and rural dean in his Lord.
ship's diocese. It is understood that the Bishops
of Llandaff and Madras will be consecrated at the
same time.
GREAT COUNTY MEETING IN DEYONSIIIRE IN
FAVOUR OF PROTECTION.—We :alders:4nd that requi.
sitions to the High Sheriff are being numerously signed
in every part of the county, begging him to call a county
meeting to petition her Majesty for immediate steps fur
restoring legislative protection to agriculture. Jr is
understood that nothing but an immediate dis,olutfou
of
Parliament will satisfy the country—Herald.
SUDDEN DEATH OF MR. SERGEANT LAWES.—This
gentleman, who has for some time back filled the office
of principal registrar at the Court of Bankruptcy, di•d
very suddenly on Tuesday last, at his residence, in
Woburn-place, Russell-square, in the 68th year of his
age. lie was called to the bar by the Hon. Society of
the Inner Temple, in 1810. There are three important
offices connected with the Court of I.3.mkruptey at pre-
sent vacant.
DEATH OF BRIGADIER GENERAL PHILLIPS, C. 13.
—Lieutenant:Colonel Harry Shaksp(:re Phillip, C. 11.,
who so brilliairly distinguished himself in the battles
which took place iu India durirg the campaign iu
the Punjaub, died on the 21st inst., at Great Malden,
after a prolonged illness. The gallant officer entered the
service in 1824.

Mr. J 0. Cuffs, nephew of the Earl of Harho-
rough, has reduced the rents of his tenants on his Kil-
kenny estates from 25 to 30 per cent.
Lady Noel Byron (widow of the celebrated poet)
has arrived at Higlifield House, Hants, which mauson
her Ladyship htts taken for the winter months.