The Sun.
London, England, 1856-12-12 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF .THE SUN.

klllt,—May I request the favour of your insertion
of tha accompanying letter which I have addressed
to the 'limes ?--Obediently yours,
F. HENRY F. BERKELEY.
Vieoria-square, Dec. 11, 1856.

TO THE EDITOR . OF THE TIMES.
Victoria-square, Dec. 10b 1856.
Sir,—Aithough I cannot admit the force of your reason-
ing, nor the fairness of your dealing with -the question of
the ballot, yet I admit your courtesy, and the spirit of fair
play which you have always manifested in affording inser.
tion to those letters which I have had the honour to ad.
dress to you on the subject. •I venture therefore to request
the insertion of a few remarks oa your leading article of
the Times of this day.
When I read your gloviiug eulogium on publicity and its
essentiality to freedom, I expected to see the writer's name
signed to the article, but in that I was disappointed.
• I will not iterate the reply which I gave a fow 61.ys since
to yqur assertion that the nature of the English people is
adverse to-Secret voting. • I proved to you that.in England
secret voting is the role, open voting the exception. L can-
not deal with the bald and bald assertion, " Let the Ballot
Society talk• as they please; the people will have 'none of it."
The Times, with its vast influence, may, and too often does,
rely On it; piestige, and asserts this or that, knowing that
its sic vole passes current with the generality of readers,
where argument Would be expected from an individual who
has not the advantage of thundering forth opinions in the
first person'plural from's() distinguished an editarial ballot-
box as that of the Times. r I give'tho Times all this advan-
tage with the unthinking portion of its numerous readers,
and shall 'Content bayselr with endeavouring to prove to
those who take the trouble to think that the article to
which I have referred is a string of weak fallacies. What
but a fallacy is your 'first assertion—" The ballot is one bf
those panaceas which has survived the evils it was meant
to cure ?" . Has the ballot, then, survived corruption,
intimidation, and the general malversation of the
elective franchise ? Are the sales of boroughs at an end,
and have the landowners ceased to compel,the votes of their
i.enants under, pain of ejection ? Are trAdesmen less under
the political dominion of the Court and aristocracy than
they have been proved to be ? To this there can be but one
answer. Everybe.ly has admitted the last general election
to have, if possible, exceeded in atrocity those that pre-
ceded it. Ido not know whether you keep a file of your
paper; if you do, you will find in your leaders of 1852 and
13,i4 proof sufficient that the evils which we say the ballot
can remedy flourish as the green bay tree. That is soy
reply.

You say that constituencies from mare habit require a
pledge to support the ballot as a proof of liberal politics.
Does not this show that they still regard that support as
the test of liberal opinions ? Again, " Let the Ballot
Society talk as they please, the country wilt have none of
it ; the feelings as well as the reason of the nation are all
on the side of public voting." If this be so, how was it
that in the Greenwich meeting—a meeting publicly con-
vened, composed of all classes, and numbering between
1,000 and 1,100 persons, to which every man had a right
to go, and when there express his mind, and where the
ballot was opposed, its opponents were beaten by a ma-
jority of between 800 and 900? As to its being impossible,
as you say, "to get up any enthusiasm for the ballot," our
experience shows that the ballot is the one question which
is the most popular question in every constituency.
I next find the following assertion.- You say that you
" take the liberty of ranking the ballot with those contriv-
ances on which despotism mainly relies." You appear to
me to take a great liberty with your readers in supposing
them so devoid of sense as to swallow such a dose of " flap-
doodle;" why it is the very essence of the stuff on "which
they feed fools." The balloteid est protection to the elector
in giving his honest and unbiassed vote, his own opinion, at
the polling-booths, is thus twisted by you into the sup-
pression of the effects of public opinion, and into the
destruction of free dismission. Exactly the 'reverse. 'Of
what use is discussion or the effect of public opinion on the
minds of men incapacitated to carry out the fruits of argu-
ment at the hour of election? You may give your opinions,
you may lay clown the virtues of certain measures on the
platform, but all your eloquence, all your truthfulness, is
thrown away, since the elector cannot apply your facts and
arguments to his own conscience, but is compelled to take
his version of them from others. Ai, present open discussion
is rendered nugatory, and the effects of public opinion lost
upon a frightfully large proportion of the electoral body,
entirely through want of protection in giving their votes,
and by their being subjected to the ordeal of open voting.
Give these electors secrecy, you destroy that entirely English
invention, the election screw, and you give a fair chance to
the effects of argument. At present all those who dare
argue a political question dare vote for whom they please.
How would the ballot then repress discussion? On the
contrary, protection at the polling booths would encourage
men to endeavour, by reason, to make that impression on
the electors of this country, which if wade under the system
ofeopeu voting is made in vain. What effect could the
ablest article that ever appeared in the ri1468 make upon
the votes of the 500 tenants of my Lord So-and-So? It
would be waste paper ; the steward might put it into the
hands of each of the tenant electors, order them to vote in
its teeth, and be certain of obedience. What effect might
not such an article produce on the minds and votes of such
a tenantry simply by affording to the elector that same
principle of protection upon which the very existence of
the Times itself depends ?
In short, if you have not the mechanical agency to pro-
tect the elector, as things are in England, all your boasted
moral and intellectual agency becomes as great a farce as
that of telling the tenants of my Lord So-and-So, the
tradesmen of Sir Thomas T'othertbing, or the operatives in
her AiNesty's dockyards, that they are free and independent
electors. Your appeals hitherto to America for the failure
of the ballot have been very unfortunate; as little reliance
is to be placed on your anti-ballot correspondents as on the
celebrated letters on "Railways and Revolvers in Georgia."
At first, ready to seize upon anything and hurl it at
the ballot box without reflecting upon the chance of
its breaking your own windows, you told us that
it was a failure because it was evidently obnoxious
to the pro slavery party, and they had tampered with it
and attacked it by brute force. Now you talk of despots
being in favour of the ballot ; will yen enlighten us as to
whether it was the despots in America who attempted to
tphuatt
institution?the ballot
Thater wasin: theinquiry
is a
littlesp o despots whoawkward, d defended
that
have dropped that phase Of the subject. America, how-
ever, must be cptoted, so you refer to the last presidential
election. Because it was easy, from the results of state
elections, tojudee which way the contest for the president-
ship would go, you conclude that the ballot cannot, and
does not, conceal the votes of individual electors. Well,
then, if the btllot be not capable of secrecy, away goes
your argument vhich I have just answered; but the bal-
lot is capable of secrecy where secrecy is necessary. Inti-
midation does exist in America, and is a growing evil; and
although a vast proportion of the population have no need
to, and do not, conceal their votes, so that a calculation
can be easily made of the result of an election, yet the
power exists in New England States to maintain inviol-
able secrecy, aid no free institution is more cherished and
less likely to be parted with throughout all the states
peopled by our Anglo-Saxon cousins than the vote by
ballot.

In making ill a present of Belgium and Holland you
mako us a valued° gift. I gave you in a former letter the
evidence of a cistinguished Belgian. Allow me now to
give you that o' a resident in Holland The law of
secret voting ha 3 secured to every elector, however depen-
dent he may be,the means of rendering himself entirely
free froth the hfluence of any one in the exercise of his
right of voting." Signor Valerio, one of the most distin-
guished members of the Sardinian Chamber of Deputies,
says :—" The lays established (i. c., the ballot) have been
found to preserve the independence of the electoral body,
and it never ente's into the head of any one here to require
open voting. It is certain that if that system of open
voting was estabished the independent members would
be excluded fron our Parliament, and all the elections
would as certainty result in favour of the candidates put
forward by the Government, the bishops, and the clergy."
To borrow yourown words, " We are fortunate enough
to be thoroughly acquainted with au Anglo-Saxon com-
munity possessed o' the inviolable safeguard and protection
of the ballot." The first election of the Legislature of Vic-
toria has just takeoplace under the ballot. A correspondent
of the Manchester.Zxanzinersays
The ballot effectually
prevented bribery, corruption, intimidation, treating, and
all unnecessary exc tement and excess, and it saves a candi-
date from those ruhous expenses to which he is subjected
under the old systen." The .31e/bourne Herald says—" The
Government has received its death-blow, not by the iron
hand of a fierce denocracy, but by the secret vote of that
privileged class which was created for the avowed purpose
of serving as a barrier against popular extravagance."
The Melbourne A-gus says —" We point with a feeling
of pride and gratificstion to the quietand orderly circum-
stances under which, thanks to the ballot and good sense
of the community, the elections have been conducted.
While the admirable working of the ballot is an occasion
of pride and satisfacdon to ourselves, its successful opera-
tion in these colonies will be watched with interest by all
the friends of progrcus iu Great Britain ; and it i., not nn-
reasonable to supposs that the adoption of the principle of
cecret'voting (so perseveringly and strenuously contended
for by politicians of 'Ate most advanced views in the British
House of Commas) will be very materially accelerates by

the arguments which will be deduCed in its favour from
the unequivocal success of the experiment in Victoria."
In conclusion, I am not in despair that one fine morning
I shall read in your leading article "that .the Ballot Society
is a great fact," and that you will give your powerful aid
to the great cause of " free and protected voting."—l am,
sir, yours obediently, F. HENRY F. BERKELEY.

- -
TILL SLAVE MADE IN NEW 'YORK.

(Front the Journal of Commerce.),
We learn upon inquiry of the United States' Deputy
Marshals that the fitting out of slavers from this port
continuer,. In fact, this business was never prosecuted
with greater energy than at
,present. The occasional
interposition of the legal authorities exercises no appa-
rent influence for its. suppression. It is seldomtlat one
or • enore vessels cannot be designated at the wharves,
respecting which there is evidence that she either is or
has been concerned in the traffie ; anti' within tha last
nine months there alleged slave eases, of the charagter
referred to have been before our courte, resulting, in one
instance, in confiscation. That such is the fact 'is not
surprising, when it is considered that a vessel must be
procured in the United 'States in order to secure the'
protection of the United 'States'-flag, which prohibits
the right of search, and that New -York, as affording
the best 'facilities for fitting out slave ships with ihe least
liability, of detection, 'necessarily becomeathe centre of
operations. Add to, this the strong appeal ,which this
traffic presents to man's cupidity and the ease with
which the law is evaded.
That a large illegitimate trade with the coast of Africa
is carried on from this port is very evident, for thUnuniber
of.vessels annually fitted out here is aitegether dispro-
portioned to the amount of- imports aid exports, aed
quite 'sufficient to do the whole butiaese44.the country
A] that Aloft:Oen.
The manner of eonducting this trade has undergone
some change within a few months, which it is well to
observe. Parties in Cuba, desirous of fitting out a slaver
have uo difficulty in proceringagents in this city, through
certain commercial housee, to negotiate for the charger
of such a craft as may be deemed suitable for an African
voyage. They come here with the requisite amount of
funds, and readily effect a charter, with a proviso
that the, vessel may be purchased, it de-ired, when
she arrives at her destination. Through the potent
influence of said funds, it becomes the interest of all con-
cerned—even to the sailaiaker, caulker, shipwright, and
joiner—to say no more about the matter than is neces-
sary, and as regards the cargo, Judge Bette has rued that
its character, as ordinarily made up, can afford no
evidence justifying the vessel's detention. The vessel
thereforedeparts with the United States' flag at her peak,
and a proper person on board provided with blank paper
the powers of attorney, &a, so that if an arrangement
can be effected for procuring a carp of negroes the vessel
is sold at a large profit, and her late owners in New York
are no longer responsible for her proceedings. Her flag
will protect her from interference by foreign cruisers, and
our own are not so numerous but that they can commonly
be avoided. The vessel is then run to Cuba, the cargo
discharged, and the vessel burnt. Humanity has been
outraged, but a princely fortune has been acquired.
The question is renewed with still more earnestness,
" Can the fitting out of slavers here be prevented ?"
There are officers in the employ of the Government
noted for their sagacity and long experience in connec•
tion with this subject, who answer that it can, by so
amendine the law relating to the shipment of crews
that vessels engaged in the African trade' shall take
none but Americans. Though such a law might seem
unjustly oppressive upon that branch of commerce
the exigency of the crier, may afford a suflicieet justi-
fication ; and in fitting out in the manner proposed the
' 25 or 30 small vessels legitimately employed in this
trade no insuperable difficulty can be. presented. It is
argued that African slave 'traders invariably take fo-
reign crews, mostly Portuguese—men who are not likely
to be troubled with conscientious scruples and whose
manner of life renders them difficult to find, whether
wanted as criminals to disclose their participation in any
of these transactions. Americans, and thole of other
nationalities, could not easily be induced to engage in
slave trading, except under false representations, and
their deceivers would be liable to suffer for their teme-
rity before a tribunal of justice. Crews for s avers are
not procured in the ordinary way, but picked up as
opportunity may offer. There is a man in the Fourth
Ward who is reported to be an extensive shipper of
crews for the American coast ' • and another, a shoe-
maker by trade, who does much of the same kind o

business. It is represented that no difficulty could
arise in determining either the nationality of a
man or the destination of a vessel ; that the plan now
proposed is eminently practicable ; and that its adop•
tion would necessarily be followed by a suppression of
the evils so rapidly increasing and so loudly demanding
a remedy.

THE DOUBLE MURDER IV THE WEST

!?IDING.

Although the police have been incessantly engagei
since Friday last in endeavouring to trace the person
or persons by whom the foul murder of Mr. and Mrs.
White, of Bolton-on-Dearne, was committed on the night
of the 4th inst., up to yesterday (Thursday) no clue to
the solution of the mystery in which the affair is in-
volved had been obtained. As the investigation pro-
ceeds, however, it becomes more doubtful whether the
deed was committed from motives of plunder. It has
not yet been ascertained that anything was taken from
the house. The desk on the open shop counter had
evidently not been searched, the lid being found propped
up, and a calomel powder upon it ; while the contents,
consisting of a cashbook, small tin box, canvas purse,
and other articles, were all laid neatly and straight.
The shop till was empty, but it is, known that the de
ceased had not kept any cash in it since it was robned,
about two winters ago, and the young man who o')-
tained change for a sovereign from Mr. White at eight
o'clock on the night of the murder saw him take the
silver from a purse in his trcusers' pocket, and saw
him put the sovereign into that purse. In the bed•
room over the shop was a chest of drawers, the bottom
one of which was open, and a few articles of wearing
apparel were placed on the top ; but on the day of
the murder Mrs. White had had a woman to wash,
and had therefore probably removed the things from the
drawer herself, for it is hardly likely that a thief in
search of money would have tried that drawer in pre-
ference to the others, none of which bad bean disturbed.
In the same room there is a cupboard, the door 'of
which was found ajar, and in it an empty portene nnaie,
but nothing was disarranged, and the purse was closed
and clasped as it might have been left by the deceased
himself. In the other two bedrooms nothing what-
everloerpart
t wasone
o af
the larg
shope
was found displaced cr disordered. There were
no footmarks on the stairs or in the bedrooms, al
thoughw thereof quantityoouo te r
so.m
f
White
ti de
about the murdered couple, and traces of gore on the
had in his trousers' pocket a purse containing 1/. 165.,
which the murderer did not take. The inference from
these facts is, either that the object of the assassin was
not plunder, or that he was prevented from
accomplish-
ing his purpose. The barking of the deceased's little dog
which some of the neighbours heard at about the time
the murders are believed to have been committed, might
have compelled the assassin to beat a hasty retreat be-
fore he could rdle the house, although a man who had
murdered two people for the sake of booty wou'd scarcely
be deterred by any trifling impediment from completing
his object. On the other hnd, the very extensive inju-
ries inflicted on the heads of both the deceased seem to
indicate that the person who caused those frightful
wounds intended to do something more than merely stun
the old people while he robbed them. If his intention
was to murder them outright, he could not have adopted
a more certain method of despatching them. Both Mr.
and Mrs. White were so generally respected in the village
and neighbourhood that nobody in the place would be
suspected of entertaining any malignant feelings towards
them, much less such a diabolical spirit of revenge as to
prompt their deliberate and cold-blooded murder. It is
much to be regretted that, owing to the ignorance of the
persons who took possession of the deceased's house on
the discovery of the murder, the officers of justice have
been baffled and impeded in their investigations into
this shocking tragedy. People were allowed to go in
and out of the house indiscriminately, trampling the
blood into the village in all directions. The bodies
were removed from the places where they were found,
and the blood washed out before either the coroner's
jury or the police had had an opportunity of in-
specting the place. At the inquest these proceedings
were severely censured by the coroner, who said all con-
stables ought to understand that it was their duty in
cases of this description to prevent the least disturbance
of the bodies of persons supposed to be murdered, ex-
cept when they were found out of doors, when they
must be taken to the nearest place where they could re-
main until after the inquest. In the present instance
he bad been quite shocked to hear that the house had
been made a sort of peepshow of. Mr. T. Badger, county
coroner, has communicated with Sir George Grey, the
Secretary of State, and received from him authority to
offer, on behalf of her Majesty's Government, a reward
of 1001. (in addition to any local reward) for such infor-
mation as shall lead to the conviction of the murderers.

A MIME TO GENIUS.—One of the Most popular
political writers twenty years ago, hating fallen upon
evil days, has been presented by a literary nobleman
gem is to be
and, in
with a magnificent Chatelaine, valued at 4001, and
manufacturedconverted tot
the
ey
bast Huntand
advantageß os kfoe lr the
l.The
acceptor,
order to achieve this object, the management has been
mue'and the article is exhibited by
High-street, Whitechapei.
givenb
y
r Syi ,
c kBel, 2
thisl‘ the week
by thou-
lwaepl.rikEnoTwunsseAxuhDib'istioEnXHhiaßsubieoerrn.—rDouvcrdinedg
sands of visitors, partly in consequence of the Annual
C,ttle Show, and the great popularity it has achieved
by the life-like appearance of the figures represented.
We understand many interesting subjects are in pro-
gress for the visitors during the approaching Christmas
holidarif

This gallan veteran, colonel of the 55th Foot, died in
Paris on Sunday. He was uncle of the Earl of Carrick,
but is better known as the father of three heroes who
fell in their country's service within a space of six
months. The Hon, Henry Butler entered the army as
ensign in the 27th, in 1800 ; be became a lieutenant in
the same year; captain, May, 1804; major, May, 1811;
lie.utenant-colonel, July, 1816 ; colonel and major-gese-
ref, •Jaeuery, 1837; lieut. Dent-general, June, 1854.
He was colonel of the 55th in 1855, being transferred to
it frqm the 94th. He served With the Portuguese army
in 1810:and 1811, was wounded at'Briseco, and received
the Peninsular
,with two clasps for Egypt:and Busaco.
.On, the 6th January, 1812, he married Jane, daughter
of Clot worthy Gowan, Esq., by, whom, who. died in
1836, he had issue four sons, one only pf.w.hom (Pierce,
in holy orders) survives 'him. His eldest son, Henry
Thomas, captain 55th Foot, barn in 1813, w, deputy-
assistant adjutant-general in the CFirneau expedition,
and was killed at 'bitumen, IsToveinber 5, 1854, aged
41. His second son, Charles George, captain' in the,
86th Poet, was born in 1823, and.died in, India, Decern-
btr, 1854, aged 31. His fourth son, James Armar,
captain m the Ceylon Rifles, was born iii 1827, was the'
hero of Silistria, but did not live to receive the honours.
which 'awaited his. colleague,. Lient: (now Major) Na.
myth in England, for the gallant and successful defence'
of that fortress. He died from fatigue:and sickness in
Jai v, 1854, aged 27.

.., -
Gen. Butler married again in 1840, and leaves one son,
aged 14,:and a daughter-to mourn his loss. - •

REPRESENYATION OF GREENSYR:III

_ .
ADJOURNED MEETING OF THE ELECTORS.
, Last sivening, an ealjournel meeting of ',the Liberat
elector:4 of this borough was held at the Mitre Tavern,
Greenwich, for the purpose of adopting measures to se.
cure the return of a Liberal candidate: At the time ap-
pointed (seven o'clock) only four electors were present,
but ultimately these were increased to 24, the number
who constituted the meeting. The chair was occupied
by A. R. Bristow, Esq., who commenced the proceed-
ings by reading a letter which he had forwarded in reply
to the communication of Admiral Sir J. W. D. Dundas,
decliring to become a candidate. In reply to questions,
the chairman then observed that no candidate was at
present in the field, which might be attributed to the
tact, that some time must necessarily elapse before an
election could take place. He should be happy to hear
any opinion or suggestion, but his oe-n idea was, that it
would be better to adjourn the meeting until after
Christmas, as the paucity of attendance proved that at
present there was not much excitement on the subject.
Mr. LEWIS DAVIS, of Woolwich, said the electors of
that town were perfectly quiet, and did not know where
to look for a candidate. (Laughter.)
Dr. MOORE, sof Blackheath, observed he was certainly
surprised the electors had not looked 'out a candidate.
There were plenty of gentlemen who would come for-
ward, if solicited. He knew that Colonel Sleigh, an
officer of reputation, and every way fitted to represent
the borough, would, if invited, declare himself a candi-
date. (Cries of "He won't do.")
Mr. LAING, in reference to the ballot-meeting held on
the previous Monday evening, said he thought that the
gentlemen who attended from London hit the Greenwich
constituency rather too hard. They were bad enough,
but not quite so ,bad as they were painted at that
meeting.

It was ultimately resolved to adjourn the meeting until
the first Tuesday evening in the ensuing year; and,
after a vote of thanks to the chairman, the meeting
separated.