The Sun.
London, England, 1849-06-07 00:00:00

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JUNE 7, 1849.

HELL GWYNNE TAVERN and CHOP-
HOUSE, Bull Inn-court, Strand, for Luncheons, Dinners,
and Suppers, Three Doors East of the Adelphi Theatre, and opposite
Adam street.

Messrs. ARCHER, and HOLT most respectfully invite their
friends and the public to patronise the Nell Gwynne Coffee room,
which has been fitted up in the style of the period in which shelved.
Visitors to the Theatres, Citizens, and Gentlemen connected with
Somerset House, and the Banking Houses in the vicinity, will find
the Table d'Hote, which takes place at Half-past Five precisely, the
most comfortable and reasonable in the metropolls.—Fish and
Joints, 2s. per head. Hot Joints until Eight, and Suppers untf. One
o'clock. Private Dining-rooms, excellent Beds, superior Wines and
Spirits, fine Ales, and Barclay and Perkins's Stout.
N.B. An Entrance also from Maiden lane.

r IHE.ROYAL POLYTECHNIC
INSTITUTION, REGENT-STREET.
A Lecture on Floral Botany, by Thomas Graham, Esq., M.R.C.S.,
on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, at Half-past Three.—Lectures
by Dr. Bachhoffner on the various modes of producing Artificial
Light, in which the Bude Light, the Oxy-Hydrogen Light, and the
Electric Light, will be exhibited in juxta-position.—A Lecture on
Character, with Musical Illustrations, by J. Russell, Esq., every Eve-
ning at Eight o'clock,—Lectures on Experimental Philosophy.—The
Microscope.—The Dissolving Views include Scenes in Van Diemen's
Laud, from Original Drawings taken on the spot by J. Skinner Prout,
Esq.; also a new Series of Dioramic Effects, by Mr. Chilie.—New
Chromatrope.—Diver and Diving-bell.
Cpen daily from Eleven to Five • and in the Evenings (including
-aturday) from Seven till Half-paseTen.
Admission, IL—Schools, Half-price.—The New Catalogue, ls.

ESSR S. NICOLL'S Wholesale and Counting
I v_P House Departments for the London Branches in the Ship-
ping and Woollen Trades arc in CHANGE-ALLEY, CORNHILb,
and 120, REGENT-STREET.

THE NICOLL PALETOT WAREROOMS,
114, 116, 120, REGENT-STREET. and 22, CORNHILL.
Many have assumed the use of the word PALETOT, but Messrs.
NICOLL are the sole Patentees of the design and material.

EA and PERRINS' WORCESTERSHIRE
SAUCE is universally allowed to be the most Piquant add
the Richest in Flavour of any Sauce in use, and for Fish, Gravies
for Roast Meat, Steaks, Game, &c., or a zest for Curries, Soup, Cold
Meat, it is entirely unrivalled.
The unparelleled success of this Sauce having induced imitations,
purchasers are particularly requested to see that the name of LEA
and PERRINS are upon the Label and the Metallic Capsules, as also
to read the Testimonials (which are enclosed with every bottle)
from the residence of Royalty, the principal Club Houses and Ho-
tels in London, Edinburgh, &e. &c-, and from private Families in
the country.
Sold by the proprietors, Lea and Perrins, 6, Vere-street, Oxford-
street, London, and 68, Broad-street, Worcester; Messrs. Barclay
and Sons, Messrs. Crosse and Blackwell, and other Oilmen, London,
and generally by all dealers in sauces.

COMFORT in SHAVING depends on the proper
use of a good Razor, an efficient Strop, and a Paste to renovate
the surface of the Strop when it becomes black and choked with the
steel from the Razor ; to these must be added a Soap that will not
dry suddenly on the face, and a smooth taper-pointed elastic Shaving-
brush. Unless all these points are attended to, and the Razor
wiped and stropped after shaving, that operation must always be a
troublesome, even if not a painful one. Those gentlemen whose
shaving apparatus is defective, are invited to I. J. MECIIPS Esta-
blishment, No. 4, Leadenhall-street, London, where they will not
only obtain all they require for the toilet reasonable and efficient, but
may also procure gratis, his instructions for easy liavlng, stropping,
&c.—A large assortment of Papier-mache manufactures, dressing-
cases, work-boxes, and writing-desks, bagatelle-tables, &c.

SPENCER'S CHINESE LIQUID HAIR DYE.
The thousands of individuals who for upwards of twenty
years have used this eelebrated liquid, pronounce it to be the only
article extant which effectually changes, in a few minutes, red or
grey hair, whiskers, moustaches, &c., to a dark brown or black,
without trouble (by simply combing it through the hair), and pro-
duces by one application a pleasing and permanent change.
While other dyes destroy the hair by their pernicious properties,
this liquid promotes its growth, nourishing the' roots to the latest
period of life. Persons who have been deceived by preparations
which have a horrible stench (dangerous to the head), troublesome
in their
.application, and unsatisfactory in their colour, will find
Spencer's Chinese Liquid Hair Dye a distinct article, agreeable in
every respect, and that " none but itself can be its parallel." Price
3s. 6d., 65., and 10s. per bottle:
"Vo be had of Spencer and Co., 29, Nottingham-place, Fieldgate-
street, Whiteehapel-read, London ; also of Mr. Johnstone, 68, Corn-
hill.; Butler, 4, Cheapside ; Front, 229, Strand ; Sanger, 150, Oxford-
street; Barclay, Farringden-Street ; Atkinson, 24, Old Bond-
street; Hooper, 43, King William-street, London bridge; Hannay,
63, oxford-street; Finnigin, Milsom-street, Bath; Elmore, Bull-
street, Birmingham ; Roberts, 23, Church-street, Liverpool ; and of
most Perfumers and Medicine Vendors in town and country.
Sent to any part of the kingdom 'by receiving a remittance, post-
paid.
Please to ask for " Spencer and Co.'s Chinese Liquid Hair Dye,"
Observe—Spencer's and Co.'s address is on the wrapper.

LOCOCK'S FEMALE PILLS, price is. lid.,
are prepared expressly for Ladies.
An eminent physician says—" Ladies who take No. 1 from fourteen
to twenty, and No. 2 from twenty to fifty years of age, pass through
life comparatively five from complaint, and never stiffer from the
painful diseases of advanced life." •
Sold by Barclay, Sutton, Sanger, Hannay, Prout, and all esta-
blished medicine venders. The words " Lecock's Female Pills" en-
graved on the Government stamp outside each box, will ensure pur-
chasers against all spurious Imitations of this universally esteemed
medicine.

A It 1 I A G E.
1..41 4 One half the world are desolately single, and the otker
apposing them married, questionably contented. Diffidence, or a
,ense of right determine the former, and miscalculated hopes em-

.attar the latter. The solitary one may shield himself under the plea
of caution and worldly prudence, and the indissoluble, regret un-
eomproAng• hurry ; but the truth lies deeper. Physical incapacity,
and broken health, are the great hindrances to domestic happiness
and social content. Tho dowry should not be the only marriage set-
lcment. Monet= and justice demand that health should form am item
In the compact; it alone dignifies the alliance. Blighted hopes or
neglect wound more sorely than poverty or misfortune. Reader, if
;hese surmises concern you, procure Dr. CULVERWELL'S little
idEMOIRS "On Single and Married Life, " pub. in 2 vols., Is.
each (by post, in stamps, Is. 6d. each). Let no imaginatively
maned, or prudish feeling deter you, by their titles, nor bo hindered
op misinterpretation of their supposed contents, from obtaining
:hem They are not intended certainly for mere idle cariosity, bat
Or the closet perusal of those mere deeply interested, to whom
:hey are offered as antagonistic to the empyrical trash put forth on
he above subjects, by unqualified authors, which alone or
together, are a disgrace to the age. Furthermore, two other
.ittle publications claim your attention (same price le. each,
by post la. 6d.) called " What to Eat, Drink, and
avoid," and " How to be Happy." They are not merely
pamphlets, but equal in quantity a library volume, nor are they the
mere ephemeral scribblings of the hour, but the study of the author's
life who owes his present existence, health, and position to this ob-
serval:lL:a of the maxims he would inculcate—to do unto others as he
would be done unto—to live atter nature's laws—and to keep always
,n the "sunny side of the way." The above works may be had of
Iherwood, 23, Paternoster-rew ; Carvalho, 147, Fleet-street • Mann,
19, cornhtll ; Nalson, 457, West Strand ; or direct (by post or ether-
'vise) from the anther (who may be conferred with personally,
42)rniags and evenings), 10. Argyll-plaee Regent-street; and all
vOr.ollars.

ALARMING STEAMBOAT EXPLOSlON.—Yesterday
forenoon, shortly after ten o'clock, the numerous persons
who were on board the Waterman steam-boat, No. la,
were alarmed by a body of steam and fire being seen to
issue from the engine room, and at the same time two
men, the engineer and stoker, made their appearance at
the top of the stairs, terribly scalded and calling for as-
sistance. The general opinion then was that the vessel
had taken fire, and every one on board began to cry out
for boats. The two men 'who had escaped from below,
on gaining the deck fell down, and it at once became
manifest that they were seriously if not fatally injured.
The captain who had charge of the vessel gave directions
to the man at the whed to " port his helm," which he
accordingly did, and the boat ran alongside some dumb-
lighters near Billingsgate; but there being no one in the
engine room to stop the machinery, it was found impos-
sible to make the steamer fast, andshe continued her
course down the river as far as the Custom-house quay,
where the captain ran her into the mud, where she at
length stopped. A great number of watermen put off
in their wherries, . and succeeded in taking the whole
of the passengers -Out of the vessel. Some were so
frightened that it was with difficulty they could be pre-
vented from jumping into the water. A Thames police
galley went off to the vessel and took the two men who
were scalded on boarJ, and, having rowed them to the
opposite shore, they were removed to St. Thomas's Hos-
pital, when it was ascertained that the heads, faces,
arms, and other portions of both men vier() dreadfully
ii.jurNi. They were immediately put to bed, when they
stated that the boat having taken in passengers at Dyer's-
hall- wharf. was preceding down the river for Woolwich,
when, as it was passing under London-bridge, a body
of fire and steam shot forth which knocked them down
and filled the engine-room with a sulphurous vapour.
They were positive that the steam was blowing off whilst
the boat was stopping at the pier. The examination
subsequently made, shows that one of the supply tubzs
had exploded, and the steam escaping therefrom had
entered the furnace and blown the hot cinders about.
The names of the two unfortunate men are Thomas
Boddington, tho engineer, and Thomas Robert, the
stoker. A similar explosion, by which two other men
were scalded, took place on board the same vessel a short
time since. During the after part of the day the vessel
thewaticttowuEeedTea.w_ayntEoATt i OFco wmTpaonysEA'swmorEs FROMkstobe repaired.AslATlc
CrtoLERA.--On Tuesday Mr. Baker holi inquests on the
bodies of two seamen,rhTohdeifiedreftroiem the
ge
twas
t effectshof Asiatic
eiie:ild on
n t
thethe
cholera on board ship.
King of Prussia, Cartwright-street, Smithfield,
body of William Tyler, aged 29 years. It appeared
that the deceased was cook on board the barque
Alterhop, on a voyage from this port to the
West Indies and back. The deceased frequently
complained of pain in his stomach, and was ill
nearly all the voyage. On the ship returning home, the
crew experienced very bad weather, and the men were
lashed to the pumps to prevent their being washed over-
board. The deceased was very ill at this time, and was
compelled to work at the pumps for upwards of 40 hours
at a time. The cargo was thrown overboard to save the
ship, and all the clothes belonging to the crew, were
washed into the sea. The ship after some difficulty ar-
rived in Cork,,a complete wreck, and the men were all
paid off. The deceased and several of the crew embarked
on board another vessel bound for London. On Thurs-
day last the deceased was attacked with all the symptoms
of cholera. lie became worse, and died on Saturday
night last, when the ship was near Gravesend. Mr.
Brown, a surgeon, said he had no doubt that the de-
ceaseddied from Asiatic cholera. Verdict in accordance
with this evidence. The second inquest was held at the
Jannon public-house, Cannon-street, St. George's-in-
the-East, on the body of Joseph Cresay, aged 52 years,
a seaman on board the ship Wigram, lying in the Lon-
don-docks. On Saturday morning last the deceased was
attacked with cramp all over his body, while engaged on
board the ship. He was removed to his berth, and when
Mr. Brown attended, he said it was a decided case of
Asiatic cholera. The usual remedies were applied, but
the deceased died shortly afterwards. Verdict--" Death
from Asiatic cholera.".

BURSTING OF A GRINDSTONE.—On Monday last,
as a man named Batchelor, a carpenter, residing in
Langley-row, Upper Stone-street, was grinding an axe,
the grindstone, which had a large fly-wheel attached to
it, and was turned by two winches, suddenly burst into
six or seven pieces, one of which struck Batchelor on
the head, causing s severe wound about 2i inches in
length. He was immediately attended by a medical
mei. who dressed the wound, and he is now_ in a fair
Way of recovery. There were four persons in the room
at the time of the accident, who fortunately escaped
without any
.injary.—Kentioh Gagne,

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
TIMES.—If Mr. Hume did not make a case for his
charter, the disability was rather in his cause
than himself.• He did little more than repeat the
generalities which may be advanced any year in favour
of any change in any system. ,He produced no reasons
specially applying to the present year, or the .pre-
sent state of things, and his attempts to do so were the
weak points of his argument. Such is the usual fate of
these annual demonstrations. They, degenerate into a
mere political observance, and are liable to be as unfor-
tunate in their circumstances as an annual fete, which
may or may not be accompanied with a deluge of rain.
Undoubtedly there is much use in keeping up a prescrip-
tion. Charity would very soon grow cold without anni-
versary dinners. But the advantage of periodical recur-
rences is purchased at the expense of occasional mishaps.
The mishap in the present instance is that events are just
now peculiarly decisive against all paper schemes of popu-
lar representation. This is a practical question. Mr. Hume
so regarded it when he appealed to what Parliament
might do, and what the present Parliament had not done
to his satisfaction; so • we may fairly infer that if the
Parliamentary history of the last seventeen years, and
particularly of the present session, can be defended, he
will surrender his case for reform. Mr. Hume made
economy his test. We will take him at his word. The
estimates of this year show a considerable reduction, in
spite of some extraordinary charges, and in spite of great
temptations, not to say valid reasons, for an increase of
expenditure. As Mr. Hume has appealed to other
countries, we will venture to ask whether any Govern-
ment of Europe has this year confined itself to its ordi-
nary expenditure. ' The British Government is the only
one, to the best 'of---ont—belief, that - has dared
to retrench, and that is actually reducing its naval
and military establishments below its usual standard.
Even the Budget of the Uuited States is excessive com-
pared with' the average of years. In the midst of
almost universal war, with armaments forming on every
side, with interventions and blockades springing up in
all quarters, we are reducing our regiments and putting
our ships out of commission. On this point, therefore,
the House of Commons can stand the test of economy.
As for our civil establishments and miscellaneous ex-
penses, though we shall always be glad to help Mr.
Hume in cutting down this branch of the estimates, we
are still aware that it is the least objectionable and the
least reducible part of our voluntary expenditure. A
single war steamer will cost from first to last more than
we could possibly hope to save in our civil establish-
ments for half a dozen years. From the estimates Mr.
Hume passes to the national debt. On this
point the reformed House of Commons has com-
mitted no greater delinquency than paying what
former Parliaments have promised to pay. It
is undoubtedly tree that the debt is a terrible
incubus on the industry of the nation, and that what
we pay to-the creditor would more than maintain all the
poor. But Mr. Hume cannot mean to condemn the
honesty with which wo fulfil a burdensome obligation.
If so, let him at once plainly say that a House of Com-
mons elected as he would wish it is likely to retrench the
dividends, and put the Consols on a more economical
footing. If from economy we pass to other tests of
legislative efficiency, the House of Commons this year at
all events may lay
claim to a popular character. Since
it met it has extinguished, for the public benefit, the
shipowners' monopoly; it has fixed on Irish property
the burden of the poor; it has done its best to divide
the Irish soil among new hands; and it has passed a
Bill for removing all remaining restrictions on the
choice of a representative. To be compelled by the self-
imposed formality of an annual motion to call for the
destruction of a House, and the substitution of a
more popular body, immediately in the face of such po-
pular measures, is at least a cruel mishap. The present
state of continental affairs is equally unfortunate for Mr.
Hume's purpose. The popular assemblies at Frankfort,
Berlin, Vienna, Rome, and Naples have only served to
show that Parliaments aro things which grow, and can-
not be made. The two'National Assemblies successively
assembled at Paris deserve more respect, and present
some favourable results. Elected on Mr. Feargus
O'Connor's principles, they have proved Conservative
bodies; they have balanced the social democracy of
Paris; and have restored the State, after terrible storms,
to something like stability and order. We speak of
what tho Constituent Assembly did, and of what
the new Assembly promises to do, as far as we can
judge from the proportion of its ingredients. But
the results are still so mixed, so precarious, and,
in some respects, so deplorable, that they can only
be commended with reference to the circumstances
of France. The purely and elaborately popular public
character of the National Assembly has not prevented a
frightful insurrection on the part of the very classes
which ..called it into existence; it has not prevented the
necessity of an enormous armament always ready for
action; it has riot yet been able to dispense with a vir-
tual state of siege, for such is, in fact, the condition of
Paris to this day; it has not obviated the need of an
expense far exceeding the sources of France, driving
her still deeper into the pit of insolvency; it has not re -
stored public confidence either in the preservation of
order or in the stability of the present Constitution.
While then, we acknowledge a remedial and reaction-
ary character in the French National Assemblies, of
great value in their own fearful crisis, we ask what
proofs have they given of that solid capacity for re-
gular government which we look for in a British
House of Commons? But there is another consider-
ation, which wholly destroys the parallel, and for-
bids us to copy so inapplicable a model. To supply a
sufficient equipoise against a purely representative and
democratic Senate, it has been found necessary to elect
a President equally representative and democratic; and
it yet remains to be seen whether the one representa-
tive or the 750 will prevail over the other. In the Bri-
tish Constitution there is an hereditary Sovereign and
an hereditary House of Lords; and whatever the present
or the future results of the experiment now working
in France, they can never apply to the case of a Con•
stitution so utterly different. The division last night
proved the danger felt by most sensible persons in a the-
oretical reconstruction of the Legislature. It did not
commit the majority against practical and gradual re-
form; and, if we read aright the Ministerial . speeches,
such a reform is in contemplation. Of its nature we are
ignorant, but as hints of this sort have the invariable
effect of stimulating agitation and weakening resist-
ance, we presume that no such hint would have been
given but for some corresponding design. It is very
certain that the last Reform Bill would never have been
introduced into the House, much less `passed into a law,
but fiii• the obstinate resistance made to reform for so
many years, and by so many great men. It took a long
time to fill up the measure of public indignation; and it
did not overflow till it was full. The fatal obstinacy of
Canning, of Peel, and of Wellington accumulated those
arrears, which it took a " revolution" to discharge.
Without going to the projects of Mr. Hume, Mr. O'Con-
nor, or Mr. Bright, it is easy to point out various emen-
dations and enlargements of the -constituency, purifica-
tions in tlio electoral system, and substitutions of the
most populous for the most reduced boroughs, which
would reform the House part passel with the changing
circumstances of the times. Unless some such gradual
reform is early initiated by the Government, it may pos-
sibly find itself deserted by moderate men, and left to
fight its own battles with extreme and revolutionary
reformers.
ADVERTISER.—Mr. Hume's re-appearance in the
House of Commons after the illness which confined him
for some time to his room, has caused universal gratifica-
tion. The Member for Montrose is a great favourite with
men of all parties, Ho has not, we believe, a personal
enemy in the House, or out of it. But the Honourable
Gentleman possesses other qualities than those of good-
naturo. and urbanity. He is 'one of the most useful
Members that ever sat in any modern House of Commons.
He is the most useful Member in the present House. He
is unceasing in his efforts to bring about such reforms as
shall be of real benefit to the people. No sooner has he,
in this instance, recovered from his indisposition, than
he brings forward the motion of which ho had given
notice some time ago, for those three great reforms in
our Parliamentary representation, which have been so
long advocated in this journal. In one motion be com-
prehends the three great principles of Household
Suffrage, Vote by Ballot, and Triennial Parlia-
ment. The debate to which Mr. Hume's motion led
was much more animated and interesting than the
public were prepared to expect. The truth is, that
after the reception which Mr. Tennyson D'Eyncourt's
motion for shorter Parliaments, and that of Mr. Berke-
ley for the vote by ballot, met with, the country did not
look forward with much interest to the motion of Mr.
Hume, embracing, as it did, the principles embodied in
the motions of the two Members whose names we have
mentioned. Tho interest which attached to the discus-
sion on Mr. Hume's motion, was in a great measure
'owing to the manner in which he treated the subject.
He made some happy allusions, which, it was to be ex-
pected, would call up Lord John Russell and some of the
other leading men in the House. Mr. Hume's speech
was not altogether in accordance with the character of
his motion. On the subject of the suffrage, his motion
contemplated nothing more than the household quali-
fication; but a great part of his speech went to prove
that the franchise ought to be universal. Here sir.
Hume displayed a great want of tact. If ho be in
favour of universal suffrage, he should have maintained
an unbroken silence on the subject, because the avowal
of his attachment to that principle was sure to be turned
to an improper account by those trimning, truckling
Whigs, who are always glad of an excuse for voting with
Ministers. He might, with a much less amount of
shrewdness than he possesses, have foreseen that these
"expediency" gentlemen would not fail to nay, that the
household qualification was only intended as a stepping-
stone to universal suffrage, and that if the former were
conceded, Mr. Hume would never rest until he had ex-
torted the latter also. Mr. Hume's advocacy of universal
suffrage was exceedingly ill-timed. He could not have
chosen a more unfortunate moment. It was just what
Lord John Russell wanted. Hence the heartiness with
which he ironically cheered the Member for Montrose,
when ho was expatiating on the beauties of a universal
franchise. France and Prussia have lately presented us
with some ugly illustrations of the effects of universal suf-
frage as exercised in those countries. And yet Mr. Hums,
.had _
sby some unaccountable blunder,. was induced •to speak
of universal suffrage as if it worked in the happiest
manner, since its adoption,, on: th 6. continent. There
was agreat
judgment here. Stern facts, known
toall, refut wedatnht f
this part
efthe
Geutleims speech.

The fruits of universal suffrage on the continent have
been such as few would like to witness in this country.
Mr. Hume also committed - a great error in travelog his
motion in the way.-he did. Ho coneraitted a similar
error last year, which we pointed.out at the time. We
are much surprised that ho should have repeated the
blunder. His main object was to obtain the consent of
tile House to the principle of household suffrage. Why,
then, not have confined his motion to that one point?
Why have mixed up with the extension of the franchise
vote by ballot and triennial Parliaments? The latter
two questions had been already discussed this ses-
sion in the House of Commons—discussed within
a period of three or four weeks. It wee, therefore,
a great error of judgment to associate these- two
questions with the extension of the franchise: It was
just the thing which the expediency men wished. It
afforded them a convenient pretext for voting with
the Government, against the motion of Mr. Hume. It
will enable them to hold to their constituents language
which is contrary to the truth. They will assure their
constituents that they were in favour of household suf-
frage, and that they reluctantly voted against the motion
of the Hon. Member for Montrose, because it included
the other two questions of Note- by. ballot and triennial
Parliaments—to which they are opposed. Lcrd John
Russell's speech in answer to Mr. Hunie was one of the
cleverest which the Noble Lord has made during the
session. He did not fail to make a good use of the state
of affairs on the continent. The Noble Lord talked in
general terms about constitutional progress, but there
was not a single sentence in his long and elaborate speech
from which the advocates of further reforms can extract
one atom of comfort. It was a repetition of the old
finality speech: The Preenber dwelt 'on thn'tranquillity
which prevails in this country, and on the ab-
sence of any revolutionary. feeling, It is true,
that amid all the convulsions which, in the course of
the last eighteen months, have shaken the continent
to its centre, there has prevailed the most profound
tranquillity in England. But he must be a very super-
ficial and short-sighted man, whe would infer from this,
that the tranquillity which has hitherto existed will al-
ways last. Until the spring of 1848, comparative quiet
prevailed in France, while, until April or May of the
same year, no one ever dreamt of disturbances in Prussia
or Austria. These were looked on as among the most
tranquil countries in Europe. So little, indeed, was any
revolutionary outbreak apprehended in either of them,
especially in Austria, that when the insurrection took
place in Vienna,, it was scarcely credited in this coun-
try. Nothing, therefore, could be more unwarranted
than to infer from the existing tranquillity in this
country, the perpetuity of the prevailing calm.
Englishmen are remarkable for their moderation and
patience. They endure long, but there are limits to their
forbearance. And in this case there will be bounds to
their patience. 'The day is not distant when they will
demand their rights. It is notorious to all that the House
of Commons, as at present constituted, does not represent
the popular sentiment or the popular feeling. That
House must be brought into harmony with public opi-
nion. The people of England do not ask fir universal
suffrage; but they do insist, on a household franchise.
That would be a safe measure to grant. It will hot be
safe to go on year after year refusing it. If this course
of resistance to what is moderate and reasonable be per-
sisted in, the banner of univeraal suffrage will be un-
furled, and then, should household qualification be
offered, the people will say, as the French did in Fe-
bruary, 1848, when in the midst of the revolution an Or-
leanist regency was offered to them—" It is too late."
TIMES.—The debate on Parliamentary Reform de-
serves, perhaps, more notice than is usually given to a
discussion terminated in one sitting by a decisive majo-
rity and at a reasonable hour. On the one hand there
was an overpowering preponderance of argument against
Mr. Hume's motion; for we cannot consider that any-
thing said by Mr. Hume, Mr. Bright, or Mr. Wood, in-
teresting and diversified as their speeches confessedly
are, wilt stand for a moment against the masterly sur-
vey, the calm common sense, and the lucid exposition
of Lord John Russell and Sir George Grey. The debate,
too, was directed with singular force and precision to
the question at issue. Oa the other hand there is the
fact—we cannot call it the disagreeable fact—that the
majority against Mr. Hume's motion is considerably less
than it was last year. At that time, after two nights'
debate, the Honourable Member for Montrose mus-
at enrde d
wasB4 ovrout
sena
df orby a no extensive
majority oorfg a3nsi ref o,
irnms
t,
him. On the renewal of the discussion he
has found his own friends very constant, so at least we
infer from their still numbering 82. Bat the majority
has fallen to 268, from which we must conclude that, for
one reason or another, there are 83 Members not so
anxious to record their opinions against a sweeping
alteration as they were a tvielvemontb since. It is ob-
vious to ask whence this decline of constitutional zeal
proceeds. It is probable that, as in most human affairs,
the smaller class of reasons, some of them very small in-
deed, have something to do with it. Tuesday, fur ex-
ample, was a great day at Ascot. The night was rather
too close for comfortable legislation. Perhaps many
expected an adjourned debate. Perhaps the Conserva-
tive furor excited by the continental revolution and our
own Tenth of April, has rather abated. Perhaps those
friends of good order who do not swear by Lord John
are rather more disposed to let him fight his own battles
and will not encounter the gratuitous troubles of a gra-
tuitous aid. Some of. them possibly would have no
great objection to see his Lordship turn out for a
field-day with the Chartists. But with so great and
so palpable a fact as a decline of 63 votes staring us
in the face against a reduction of only two votes in
the opposite camp, prudence suggests that we should
not rest too confidently on the smaller class of reasons.
It is prudent to suspect a common and a powerful in-
ducement; or, if not to suspect it,
at least, to think it
possible. It is possible, then, that a certain class—a
growing class of members—may be of opinion that when
Lord John Russell drops vague admissions in favour of
gradual reform, and betrays
a lurking dissatisfaction
with the present state of things, yet gives no pledge of
actual legislation, he has forfeited his claim to their votes
against sweeping projects. It may be felt that much
reform is better than no reform, and that in the absence
of any moderate measures to interpret and justify a vote
against Mr. Hume's proposition, it will be set down by.
the public to mere Conservative bigotry. The day will'
come when every Member—at least, every representative
of a numerous or a popular constituency—will be called
to account for his votes. " Why did you vote against Mr.
Hume's motion for. Parliamentary Reform?" is a question
which will be asked under very trying circumstances,
and, may be, at a crisis severer than any we have known.
The answer will be that Mr. Hume's "reform" would
have been a revolution. Should the candidate then be
brought by a cross-examination to confess that there are
some defects in the representative system, his foes will
fasten on him the imputation that in his general and un-
qualified opposition to the only reform actually sug-
gested, he did, in fact, declare against reform altogether.
Nor is this controversial danger the only one incident to
a purely negative course. A negative course has gene-
rally a positive development of its own. The party
which, from Pitt unto Peel, for forty years resisted the
Reformers of those days because they were extravagant
and dangerous, acquired a positive antipathy and anta-
gonism to reform. They became slavish and supersti-
tious anti-Reformers. They would not even touch the
unclean thing. Their Conservatism ripened into a
monomania against all improvements of whatever kind
or degree. The party at last pushed on its chiefs with
such an impetus that they were . obliged to "go
a-head", at :the risk of being trodden down by their
followers. Then ensiled the Duke's famous declaration,
the catastrophe of the Reform Bill, and the long pros-
nt ruattai or
ani ot
hf
athnethCautnsmerevinatbievrespaarhtyou.
ldiVehnat to,r
tta eon ,ai sti mmoo
irye
dread of another such suicidal career? and when, year
after year, they are asked to vote against a motion for
Parliamentary Reform, without being allowed the oppor-
tunity of expressing themselves on more moderate pro-
positions, should look before them a little, to see whether
it be not a cut de sac into which their leader, or their
party, or their own zeal, is betraying them? Lord John
Russell not only admitted the demand for gradual im-
provementreferredt,howevtoor,a
plriekteenaddinmgistsbniotn
heo nhhadisdpoanret
last year,
w,
anything in the interval to follow up his mental misgiv-
ings. Thus he said—
ibthutou
said—
" There is another very difficult question with which
we are not called upon to deal to-night,' but to which I
may in passing allude. Imean the question whether, in
conformity with the general principle of the Reform Act,
which
g h
suffrage;
not be
at present; whether, in fact, the working classes should
not be admitted more generally
number
persona a just pri n
possessingcitpol e,
h thereotldhe
them i
suffrage than
a grea greater r believe
and whether in the great towns, in the counties, and in
the boroughs, there should not be another kind of fran-
chise introduced, to enable them to vote for the repre-
Hear.) I stated last year
seetatives of such places.--(
my opinion in favour of such an extension. I stated
various modes in whichit might be done; but the Hon.
Gentleman who makes the present proposition, and his
friends, have always protested against any extension of
that kind. Ever since I started the proposition I have
seen it treated with ridicule by those who hold the
opinions of the Honourable Gentleman as a change
which would not be at all satisfactory—e,
k Hear, hear'
from Mr. Bright)—and which ought to be derided, and
not adopted.'
And further on--
" Therefore, I can only say again upon this subject,
not considering this as the topic of to-night, and there-
fore not wishing to dwell further upon it, that there is
nothing in the Reform Act, and. nothing in any opinion
I have ever held, or in any opinion I hold now, which
would debar me from seeing with satisfaction any plan
by which the admission of the working classes could be
still further extended, and the basis widened upon which
the representation rests.—(Hear.)"
Returning to the same opinion once more towards the
close of his speech, he qualified it only by his ob-
jection to so extreme a measure as that before the

house :
" The Honourable Member asks me if I do not believe
in their virtue and integri.ty. I entirely give credit to
the great body of the working classes of this country for
their virtue and integrity. I believe from time to time
you may enlarge the suffrage,. that they will become
more and more worthy of the franchise ; but, as far as
I can see and observe, I say that if you were at the
pre sent time to divide-the whole country into districts,
and give every man a vote, as the 115mourable Gentle-
, man promo, the people would be liable to be ;aided

by artful. and, designing demagogues—(Cheers)—and
, that the representation of this House, so formed, would
not conduce to the welfare and good government of the
people.—(Loud cheers.)"
Such confessions and such pledges unredeemed cannot
but embarrass the position of those Members who have
to defend the present state of the representation against
the
,reforming instincts of popular constituencies. They
are embarrassing because they are founded in justice
and truth. It is true that in these expressions Lord
John does not commit himself to any of those wild and
unreal principles on which the various "charters" of
the day are actually founded. He does not admit the
right of every " adult male" to a vote, or call every man
not possessed of this right a slave, or an alien from the
pale of the constitution. There is no principle of na-
ture, of constitutional law, or cf historical fact, on which
such a claim can be advanced. His_Lordship only expres-
ses that wish every good citizen must feel, to see all the
privileges of citizenship extended_to every person really
competent to discharge them. His wish is suggested by
the fact that many of such persons are excluded. It is,
however, an admission in favour of Parliamentary re•
form, and as such is a weapon in the hand of any party
which is allowed a practical monopoly of the question.