The Sun.
London, England, 1851-07-18 00:00:00

four other figures, representing Europe, Asia,
Africa, and America, and again above these a granite
semblance of the globe, with a Parian marble
statue of the PRINCa CONSORT upon it,
enshrined in a metal gilt temple, dedicated to
Fame ar d Prosperity, and surmounted with
the royal crown of England. Flanking the
whole structure it is intended that there shall be four
gigantic lions couchant and slumbering, as types of
the international tranquillity to which the enterprise
is attributable, and which it is in like manner emi-
nently calculated to promote, if not to perpetuate.
Altogether the design of this monument is singularly
beautiful in effect, and would, if adopted, be likely to
reflect credit upon the artistic skill as well as the
industrial capacities of our generation. Added to
which, it would in the most effectual manner call to
the remembrance of posterity the great event of 1861,
that of the present Exhibition.

The practical reformer must now look forward to
the legislation of future years for the realization
of his aspirations. There is but little prospect
of any new business being carried to a success-
ful termination during the present session. We
cannot even venture to hope that the annual
" massacre of the innocents" will be dispensed with,
or that the measures now under consideration will be
passed in their integrity without mutilation or cur-
tailment. The year of the Great Exhibition will
therefore be notorious as the year of legislative inac-
tion, and we can only hope, by increased activity
during the recess and in the next session, to make up
for the backslidiugs of that which is now rapidly ap-
proaching to its termination.
_ _

We have however s goodly programme for the next
sitting of Parliament. It is certain that measures of
Parliamentary, of fiscal, and of legal reform must he
brought forward by Ministers at the very commence-
ment of next year. Pledges have now been given that
must be amply redeemed. It is essential that these
should be of an extensive and comprehensive character,
if the Government desire to regain the confidence of
the country, and to occupy once more the position
which they held in the beginning of February last.
It is, perhaps, the last chance that way be afforded, and
lamentable indeed will be the result if those who were
once looked up to with pride should be found wanting,
or let the gulden opportunity slip witnout being
turned to good purpose.
A new Reform Bill will be introduced next year.
The twenty years that have elapsed since the modern
charter of the national liberties have clearly proved
that a further concession is required, that the doc-
trine of finality must be solemnly repudiated. The
ignominious defeats sustained on the motion of Mr.
Loots liieG and Mr. HENRY Br;RKELEY have opened
the eyes of Ministers to the state of public opinion
on the all-important questiens of extension of the
suffrage and protection to the voter in the exercise of
his highest privilege. Lord Jome Russeen has exhi-
bited a natural anxiety to obtain the credit of intro-
lucing the new Bill, and from recent indications we
are inclined to hope that it may prove worthy of his
quondam reputation. It will, indeed, be a glorious
privilege to be permitted in 1852 to introduce a
fitting successor to the Act of 1832, and to none can
it be more properly intrusted than to the author of the
former enactments. That it will consist of a large
extension of the suffrage none can doubt who have
considered the speeches of the Noble Lord during
the present year. And there are other matters that
will also unquestionably be included, such as the
total abolition of the property qualification, and we
venture to hope the tardy recognition of the principle
of the ballot.

Tte objections put forward by the PILEIIIER to the
Bill of the Honourable Gentleman the Member for
East Surrey, were not directed so strongly against
the principle of the measure, or the assimilation of
the franchise in counties and boroughs, as to the fact
that it would form but a portion of the boon which the
Government was prepared to bestow on the nation,
and which they were anxious to introduce in one
Bill, and to obtain the entire honour of conceding.
It would certainly have been received as an instal-
ment of justice; bur, although valuable so La as it
went, it would not satisfy the nation. If, then, Lord
.Tons be prepared to verify the sanguine anticipa-
tik,ns of true reformers—to act up to the con-
stitutional doctrine, that there shall be
" t.o taxation without representation," or, in other

wards, that every MALI who contributes in any degree
,o the liquidation of the national liabilities and the

maintenance and support of the national establish-
:Dez►ts, shall have a voice i❑ the national councils by
himself or his representative, we shall willingly and
freely pardon the tardiness of the concession.
But it must, as we have stated, be a full measure
of reform ; henceforward the want of the franchise
must be the exception, and not the rule. Every man
Nho is respon4ble in any degree for the support of the
pauper popula':ien, who is directly assessed to the
poor. rat?, must have the right of bestowing his
iuffrage in some electoral district. Every person
.uhj..ct to direct taxation, by being liable for what
will, we trust, in 1852, be a property, and not an
income tax, should have a similar privilege
i.tA it would be exceedingly desirable if

s literary test were also established, so that every
person who bad received a certaia degree of educe-
: ion, and could stand a reasonable examination, should
Also receive the franchise. Then, indeed, there would
he a motive supplied for exertion that would spe,.dily
remove the brand of ignorance from the British
nation. Then, Indeed, the want of the suffrage would
reflect di.grace on the " political cypher," and
not on the Government or the Legislature of the
country.
The constituencies which are mere puppets in the
hands of some aristocratic patron, who can nominate
the representative or representatives at his mere will
and pleasure, must also be either disfranchised, or
the boundaries and number of electors so largely
increased, as to afford a reasonable prospect
of independent representation. The days of
rotten boroughs ought to have long since passed
away. It was one of the professed objects of the
Reform Bill to remove that anomaly, but, unfortu-
nately, it failed in its intended effect. It is but too
notorious that there are many boroughs where the
will of the patron is the supreme law, and the form
of an election is but " a mockery, a delusion, and a
*nitre." The pages of "Dodd" will afford ample
confirmation of this melancholy fact—the influences
paramount in each of the delinquent boroughs being
openly recorded in the p ages of that valuable compi-
lation. Can such a state of affgirs be permitted ?
No—most unquestionably, no. But the grievance
must be fairly met and boldly grappled with. No-
tnination boroughs must not be spared, because
they belong to Whig families, or because they can-
not be disfranchised without a similar rule being
applied to Whig boroughs. An equal measure of
justice must be meted out to all, and it must be made
manifest that no private interests shall be cuff-red to
prevail in a measure of such paramount public im-

portauce.
But, as we have already stated, the extension of the
suffrage and the enlargement of the smaller electoral
districts, will be of comparatively little advantage to
the community, unless the security of private voting
be accorded to each elector. Under other circum-
stances undue influences will still prevail, and bribery
and corruption, coercion and intimidation, will be
attempted in too many instances. The total silence
of the PREMIER and his colleagues on the discussion
that took place, on the motion of the Hon. Gentleman
she Member for Bristol for liberty to introduce a
Bill, was exceedingly significant; and it is by no
means improbable that " the ballot" may form a
eiig' ingui4l,inw fe,,ture of the now Parliamentary Re-
form Bill of 1852.

Tile Arbitration as to the remuneration for the con-
veyance of the mails to be paid to the Cheater and Holyhead
Railway Company during the period antecedent to the com-
pletion of the Bri annia-bridge, which has been some years
pending. has at length been brought 1.,,0 a close. The arbitra-
tor on the part of the Post-office was Captain Williams, R E ;
on the part of the Railway Company, Wyndham Harding,
Elq. The umpire selecied was J. Arthur Roebuck, Ebq.,
M.P. The award of Captain W ilhams was, for the services
rendered during the period before the completion of the
Menai. bridge, 11,600/ ; the award of the umpire, 28,0001.
TRLkGRAPHIC CoMMUNICATION IN NORTH WALES.
--The communication between Liverpool and Holyhead, by
means of the electric telegraph is now complete, and iu full
operation, rid Cheater There requires now but the laying
down of the long-projected submarine telegraph between the
island of Anglesey and the sister country, fully to complete
the chain of telegraphic communication between Dublin,
London, and the great towns of England. It is proposed, ou
the completion of the South Wales Railway, to adopt the
system on that line, and finally to extend it to the Pembroke-
shire coast. By these means both the north and south of the
principality would be brought into immediate intercourse
with Epiland.