The Sun.
London, England, 1831-01-18 00:00:00

The Becks county meeting for Reform took
place yesterday at Reading, and was attended by
most of the influential and respectable people in
the neighbourhood. All the speakers agreed in
one point, namely, the necessity for a prompt
and extensive Reform, though differences of
course existed among them, as regarded the
minor details of the great question. Earl RAD-
NOR—one of the most patriotic, and decidedly
one of the most intelligent of our English noble-
men—expressed himself an advocate for Reform
in its most extended sense, and as respects the bal-
lot insisted on the necessity of its adoption in a
speech replete with spirit and sagacity. All the
speakers, we perceive, advocated Reform on the
principle that it was the only means left to pre-
serve the country from revolution. That this
is the general opinion, the details of every Reform
meeting throughout the kingdom abundantly
attest. The eyes of all parties are now open,
and they see no safety for the country, no pros-
pect of the continuance of her Constitution, save
in a speedy and extended Reform. Reform or Re-
volution : this is the HOBSON'S choice to
which the Boroughmongers have reduced
England. With reference to the ballot, a
letter appears on the subject in our Paper of to-
day—which we have inserted conformably to
our principle of giving fair play to all parties—
which argues - the point in a plausible but
wholly theoretical manner. One short answer
will suffice. Can any change—no matter
how extensive—by any possibility make
the House of Commons less corrupt than it is
at present ? We say no ; and would look
favourably on the ballot even on this score ; but
when it comes to us recommended by the ex-
ample of the United States, and sanctioned by
the express authority of some of the wisest and
best among our public men, we have no hesita-
tion in asserting unequivocally that Reform,
though in any shape acceptable, is incomplete
without it.

With respect to the question —" If the secret
ballot is established will the Members of the
House of Commons give their votes by ballot ?
They are surely as much exposed to temptation
as their constituents."—We answer no. The
Members may be as much exposed to
temptation as their constituents, it is true,
but then their number is limited—the Mem-
bers are the individual representatives of
immense numbers who choose one man
to represent the collective body in the Na-
tional Assembly—and each individual Mem-
ber has therefore a right to give a pub-
lic notice to his constituents how he
has voted. Else how could the collective or
general body ascertain his vote ? If he were
an honest man (and none but honourable men
are supposed to be returned), his word would
of course be believed ; but as honest men may
be tempted, it is better to avoid the imputation of
possible venality by putting it out ofall question.
Besides there is no analogy whatever between
the two cases of general ballot by the constituents
and their representatives. A man exacts obedience
from his servant, and a true account of his conduct
while in his service, but surely the master is
not responsible to the servant for the rule
of his behaviour, or the motives of his actions..
Precisely similar is it with the great constituent
body of electors and their representative. They
cannot all go to the House of Commons, but
as they sent him, they wish to know how he re-
presented their feelings and interests in that
assembly. He does not go to Parliament,
at least professedly, to serve himself (as
the boroughmongers have too long done)
but to represent his Constituents,—ought he
not, therefore, to be answerable for his public
conduct ?—.

We entertain great respect for our Corres-
pondent, but submit that his argument is not.
tenable. For an answer to the other parts of
his letter we refer him to the arguments on the
practical working of the ballot, advanced at the
Reading meeting.

We have accounts from Buenos Ayres to the
Ist November. War, it is said,
was likely to
take place between Peru and Bolivia, the former
republic having made demands upon the latter
which it had not thought fit to accede to. Ge-