The Sun.
London, England, 1870-05-11 00:00:00

THE SUN. LONDON, WEDNESDAY, MAY 11. 1870

place until three o'clock for some one to purchase
them. This, however, is not the only form which
bribery takes. It is possible to make a contract
which shall take effect contingently only ; a contract
to pay on the condition of success. This kind of
corrupt practice has been guarded against by a
Provision in Lord HARTINGTON'S bill to the effect
that any payment (however innocent) not included
in the audited election accounts shall be deemed a
corrupt payment, and shall invalidate the election.
This is a stringent provision, and will doubtless pro-
duce some result. At the same time we do not sup-
pose, of course, that even this will render bribery im-
possible. The person who receives the illegal payment
is not likely to announce it, considering that
if he did he would not only stop all future
supplies but render himself liable to criminal pro-
ceedings. At the same time M.P.'s will be cautious
how they put themselves in the power of a man who
will be able to do them irretrievable mischief. The
M.P. who has once bribed will feel that he is never
safe, and the thought of having to pay hush-money
in addition to the bribe may prevent the first payment.
Perhaps, however, the severe punishment inflicted
upon Mr. FENNELLY will have the desired effect. A
year's imprisonment and £l,OOO fine, look as if the
country were in earnest at last. A briber has now been
treated as a felon, a disgraceful punishment has been
attached to an offence hitherto considered venial,
and henceforth the offence itself will be considered
disgraceful.
Lord HARTINGTON'S bill is not intended merely for
the electors ; there is a provision in it especially for
the elected. The abolition of the public nomination
is a boon for which the latter should be grateful.
Even at a quiet election it is no slight trial.
to make a speech in pouring rain, bitter
cold, or burning heat. If to these desagremens
are added the hootings of a mob, together with
salutes of rotten eggs and stones that are only too
solid, the ordeal is so unpleasant that it is won-
derful that anyone should voluntarily undergo it,
still more pay for it out of his own pocket.
This most useless and disagreable performance will
now be abolished, to the delight of everybody except
the hired street roughs. Another excellent feature
of the bill is the prohibition of election com-
mittee rooms in public-houses. As the Ballot
will put an end to intimidation and will certainly
check bribery, and as the abolition of the hustings
will put down riot, so this last regulation will be an
important check to treating. Altogether this is not
a bad measure; and, although we can sympathise
with Professor Fawc ETT'S disappointment, and regret
with him that the expenses of elections arenot hence-
forth to be borne by the persons who ought to
bear them, there is no good ground for attacking
the Government for not having done everything. Mr.
FAWCETT should remember that even his own pecu-
liar crotchet will be greatly aided by the Ministerial
measures. The present heavy cost of elections
is made up chiefly by unnecessary and unlawful ex-
penditure. The unlawful bribing, treating, and
the like—will now become very perilous ;
the unnecessary hustings, wholesale hiring
of public-houses, and the like—►ill be
greatly diminished, and in some cases alto-
gether abolished. The member for Brighton will
not find many of the Liberal party to join-with him
in his complaining mood, which, we regret to say, has
now become chronic.

In the House of Commons last evening -Ow Under
Secretary for the Foreign Department, in reply to
Mr. Auberon Herbert, said that a telegraphic mes-
sage had been sent to Athens instructing the repre-
sentative of this country to procure the best legal
advice in relation to the late massacre of captives,
and at the same time t•o procure a postponement of
the execution of any brigands now under arrest
until a satisfactory investigation had taken place
into the melancholy occurrence. For nearly .four
hours the attention of the House was devoted to the
consideration of an important proposition male by
Sir Wilfred L twison, who asked the House to con-
demn the system of raising Indian revenue from
opium. The hon. baronet, although he evidently had
the sympathy of the majority, has met with consider-
able opposition from the Treastu y be n ches.,Mr. Grant-
Duff moved the previous question, and based his con-
tention for the continuance of the system on fiscal
considerations. He declared that the loss of so much
revenue as £6,000,000 would bring India to.the verge
of bankruptcy, and Mr. Gladstone darkly hinted that
to give practical effect to the motion would imperil
the peace and security of that country. A division
took place on the previous question, which was nega-
tived. The Select Committee on Conventual and
Monastic Institutions, as nominated by Mr. Glad-
stone, was agreed to. It was resolved, on the motion
of Mr. Eykyn, that Anglican or other so-called raj-
gious institutions of a monastic or conventual charac-
ter should be includel within the scope of the Coin-
mittee's investigations. Having disposed of the
orders of the day, the House adjourned at ten
minutes to ten.

To-day the Queen, accompanied by the chief
members of the Royal Family and the great officers of State,
will open the new buildings in Burlington-gardens devoted
to the University of London.

The Queen he'd a drawing room yesterday.
Among the presentations, which were very numerous, was
that of Miss Dickens, by the Countess hussell.

The Prince of Wales will hold a levee at St.
James's Palace on Monday, the 30th.

The Prince of Wales has offered a challenge cup
to be competed for by British and American yachts of 100
tons and upwards, and a meeting of the Royal Yacht
Squadron is to be held next Saturday to settle the con-
ditions of the match.

The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Edward of
Saxe-Weimar yesterday dined at the mess of the Gentle-
men-at-Arms in St. James's Palace.

The Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland and the Countess
Spencer are preparing for a tour in the north of Ireland.
The Earl and Countess Russell and family arrived
in Chesham-place yesterday from Pembroke Lodge, Rich-
mond-park.

The Earl and Countess of Shrewsbur3 have arrived
at Claridge's Hotel, from Alton Towers, Cheadle.

Mr. Childers, M.P., has recovered sufficiently to
transact business.
Miss Burdett Coutts bas left town for the re-
mainder of the present week.

Last night a dinner in aid of the funds of the
Belgian Benevolent Society was held at the City Terminus
Hotel, Cannon-street, the Lord Mayor presiding.

Messrs. Emanuel, of Burlington-gardens, yester-
day submitted to the Prince of Wales the Grand Inter.
national Pigeon Shooting Cup, for competition at Baden-
Baden.

Great efforts are being made to decide the ques-
tion of the candidature to the Spanish throne. General
Espartero has been chosen by the Progressist Club.
At a meeting of the committee appointed by the
Wesleyan Conferenca to watch the education question
held yesterday, it was resolved that the teaching of any
catechism, formulary, or dogma, would be opposed by the
Wesleyan body, and that it would equally insist upon the
reading of the Bible in schools, and a Bible lesson by the
teacher.

The International matches between the American
schooner yacht Sappho and the English schooner Cambria
commenced yesterday morning. The latest accounts report
that the Sappho maintains the lead.

In the Queen's Bench, Dublin, yesterday, counsel
applied to admit to bail Peter Barrett, charged with the
murder of Captain Lambert, pending his third trial. The
motion stands over until the Attorney General informs the
Court if Barrett is again to be tried. The Court refused
liberty to file criminal informations against Lord Greville
for misdemeanour in sending money to persons, not expense
agents, during the contest at Longford.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

THE PLEBISCITE.

THE NUMBERS.

Up to Monday evening the results of the voting, inclu-
ding those received from Algeria and a part of the army,
and only excepting five arrondissements of France,

gave :

7,138,000 Ayes.
1,518,000 Noes.

These figures must approximate to a perfectly accurate
return. The five circumscriptions, and the remainder of
the army will make some difference, but not of a kind to
affect the ratio denoted by those numbers. The propor-
tion of " Ouis" to " Nons" is as four and two thirds to
one—though of course the abstentionists must be
reckoned against the Emperor. Indeed many of his most
uncompromising opponents declared for abstention. Those
who did not vote at all must therefore be added to those
who voted " Non." The abstentionists and the negative
voters together would leave the Emperor's majority a
little over two to one. The returns from the following
towns are interesting. They shew that the town popula-
tion is almost uniformly against the Emperor. His great
strength lies in the country districts :

Ayes. Noes.
Aix
Agen
Angers 4,822 ... 5,135
Avignon
Angouleme 2,600 ... 1,205
Beaune
Bordeaux
Brest
Cherbourg
Creuzot 1,837 ... 3,723
Dijon 3,226 ... 5,339
Grenoble
Fontainebleau 1,514 ... 550
Havre
Marseilles 18,412 ... 34,829
Metz
Montpelier
Mulhouse 3,398 ... 3,074
Nantes
Nancy
Rouen
Rennes
Toulouse
Tours 4,261 ... 4,196
Valence 1)231 ... 2,634

In the following towns the abstentions were as under :
Avignon, 8,648 ; Bordeaux, 15,040 ' • Colmar, 10,173 ;
Chateaubriand, 4,732 ; Douai, 5,791; Havre, 12,847 ;
Lille, 12,153 ; Marseilles, 22,617; Nantes, 20,508 ; Rennes,
4,454; St. Die, 8,460; Toulouse, 9,151 ; Tours, 3,686 ;
Valenciennes, 8,954.
The Libel*, in 'chronicling the votes of the army,
so far as they are yet known, reminds its readers
that in 1851 the votes of the army exceeded 30,000 non.
A protest from some of the leading Republicans has
appeared in the Rappel directed against the
manner in which the votes of the army were taken
on the Bth. It complains that electors were not allowed
to enter the polling booths established in the barracks,
and declares that the vote was taken in defiance of all the
conditions prescribed by the common electoral rights.
The Marqnis d' Andelarre has written to the papers,
explaining a phrase in his recent brochure, which has been
misconstrued. So far from approving unconditionally, of
Plebiscites, he thinks they should be strictly reserved
for extreme cases, and objects to anything like a regular
system.
The blank votes, which were numerous in Paris, never-
theless fell short of the hopes of the Republicans.
According to the election tables of 1869, the Government
candidates only obtained 67,000 in the department of the
Seine while the ouis on Sunday in the ballot-boxes of
Paris de Sceaux and Saint Denis amounted to 139,538
or nearly double. The Opposition, which a year ago
mustered 240,000 votes, has now only been able to put
forward 184,246 nails. Thanks to the Liberal
reforms of the Government, and to the excesses of the
Radicals, they have lost more than 50,000 votes in a
twelvemonth. The abstention, so strongly advised by
the Marseillaise and other malcontents, seems to have
been too tame a course of action for Frenchmen, who prefer
to share in the excitement of voting, even if they put in a
blank paper. It is worthy of notice that the Government
had a majority in the circumscription of Paris which is
represented by M. Thiers, whereas the old circumscrip-
tion, which was represented by M. 011ivier, the com-
mercial centre shewed an uncompromising hostility by
21,673 " Non" against 14,114 " Oui," and 6,316 absten-
tions. One or two incidents are spoken of as occurring on
the day of the vote. M. Leclauche, a well known Demo-
crat, insisted upon taking up his. position at the ballot-
box in the Rue Fontaine Saint George. On an inspection
of the box, votes of " Oui" were found made up in packets
of 300, shewing that official impartiality was not alto-
gether reliable. At the Ninth Arrondissement M.
Peyrouton wished to enter the voting hall, but
was steadily refused by the President of the
bureau. In the evening a party pf some fifty persons
assembled on the Quay Jemmapes, and shouted, " Vive
Rochefort 1" but soon dispersed. Later on, a few of
them re-assembled outside Prince Eugene's Barracks, and
sung the Marseillaise. These worthies subsequently
marched through Saint-Martin, Saint-Denis, and other
parts of Paris, but did no damage.
The Central Committees of the Plebiscite have kept
anxious watch over the voters, and their messengers
were in every district. Every quarter of an hour
the returns of the votes were sent to the Emperor.
An amusing anecdote is told of M. Mocqueris the son-in-
law of M. Pelletan, the well-known Liberal deputy who
presented himself at the Mairie of the 14th arrondissement
on the day of the Plebiscite, together with his father-in-
law, to register his child. He wished to give it the name
of " Non." The employe objected that the name was
inadmissible. " What do you say, then ? " asked M.
IVlocqueris, "May I call it Oui ? ' The official again
refused, and the eccentric father accordingly took refuge
in the Calendar of Saints.

-------
It appears that in the inroad at the office of the Rappel
it was not the ordinary forms that were broken up, but
the stereotype plates, so that the journal could not be
printed again. The Government, it is said, determined
to act with vigour, whatever the result of the Plebiscite.
In case of success they would have the prestige of triumph
—in case of defeat they were prepared to act in the inte-
rest of the Empire.