The Sun.
London, England, 1836-01-16 00:00:00

THE BALLOT.

We have been favoured with the subjoined letter on the
practical benefit of the Ballot, from a most intelligent'gen-
tleman, who is well known in the literary world. As the
result of his own experience of the working of the Ballot,
in a large community, it is of more worth than any specu-
lative or abstract reasoning on the subject

TO THE EDITOR OF THE Linßrom, mEncunr.

. .
Si*,—The method usually adopted by the Tories in
order to oppose the progress of reform - is to get up some
cant phrase of an opprobrious character which, in place of
reason and argument, is echoed from journal to journal
from month to month, until it is (by them) received as an
axiom. The friends of reform seek to forward its progress
by the production of facts bearing upon any given point or
measure which they desire to carry, leaving the cool judg-
ment and good sense of their fellow-countrymen thence to
deduce their own conclusions. I wish to adopt this course
in reference to the question of voting by ballot, which has
been stigmatized as an " un-English practice," and " a mo-
dern and dangerous experiment." Those who so call it
know better—they know that voting by ballot is the rule
in our communities and societies both large and small, and
open voting the exception. No matter ;—the lie answers
their temporary purpose, and is, therefore, audaciously re-
peated.
I am an inhabitant of the parish of St. Pancras, London,
which contains above 130,000 inhabitants, and more than
10,000 rate-payers. For some years we were governed• by
a Select Vestry—a nice, snug, self-elected conclave.- From
this nuisance, about five years since, Sir John Hobhouse's
Bill delivered us, and the rate-payers now (as in most of the
other great metropolitan parishes), choose the persons who
are to levy and expend the money necessary for the main-
tenance of the poor and other parochial purposes. The
Act in question prescribes the mode of voting to be by
ballot. Now, how does this work—what is the gond or
evil result of the practice? Simply this. In the first
place, it puts an end to all canvassing ; no inconsiderable
blessing. The old select struggled hard to keep possession
of their seats, but the means of intimidation and compulsion
were taken from them ; every voter went to the poll in the
fearless and honest discharge of his • duty. We are
plagued by gangs of canvassers for PaFfanientary candi-
dues, but none have ever taken the field in our , Municipal
elections. All sides know it to be useless, and, there,
is
fore, the practice has ceasel. Notice, given of the
election day, and the PoThis taken in.the Ve§tv-room,
Gordon-square. The Churchwardens preside, and the
-collectors of the four districts into which the •-parish is
divided attend with their rate-books. . The voter announces
his name and residence ; the collectors and the vestry-clerk-
turn to their books, and finding all correct, mark off the
voter's name, who deposits his list in a large box with a slit
in the top, and goes about his bnsiness. There is no crowd,
much less any riot or confusion. It is a quiet matter of
business, which every man performs unmolested, and de-
pirts. And yet our contests are sctere, becauSe to the
parish they arc important ; every rate-payer knows that he
will feel in his purse the result of the election.
Such is the practical working of the vote by ballot in
this instance, which is not that of a small compact consti-
tuency, but one larger than that-of most towns or cities in
• the kingdom. Might we not thence take a hint of another
kind for our Parliamentary elections, by adopting the exist-
ing rate, which, though in a few instances faulty, must be in
the main correct ; and, by thus making occupancy confer
the right of 'voting, get rid of all the cumbrous, expensive,
• complicated machinery of the Registration Courts, ,whose
contradictory and clashing decisions only serve to show the
impossibility of connecting that right with property with-
out an endless repetition of such absurdities as were re-
cently perpetrated by the Learned Gentlemen who presided
at them. Yours, &c.
Jan. 2, 1836. X. Y.

. In Germany there are now to be found, in many
country houses, an amusing application of zoological know-
ledge for the purpose of prognosticating the weather. Two
frogs are kept in a glass jar about 18 inches in height, and 6
inches in diameter, with the depth of 3 or 4 inches of water
at the bottom, and a small ladder reaching to the top of the
jar. On the approach of dry weather the frogs mount the
ladder ; but, when wet weather is expected, they descend
into the water. These animals are of a bright green.
. .
A new literary institution was formally opened in
Manche4er on Monday evening last. It to be called
.• .
tie Atbcnumi, -