The Sun.
London, England, 1856-11-20 00:00:00

lord be tolerant of hisdoings, provided he do but
vote right, his occasicnal attendance at a public
meeting may be a pats of his life also. But his
vote is a part of his landlord's life, of his mort-
gagee's life, of his creditor's life, of his customers'

life, of his employer's life. Advocates of the
Ballot want the man's life and his vote to be con-
sistent.
The frequent glaring instances to the
contrary are what, more than any other reason,
will not suffer the question to sleep. We are
indignant at seeing the known Liberal compelled
to falsify the political witness of his life by
plumping for my Lard BROMPACRE'S eldest son,
when he would rather vote for plain Mr. JOHN
SMITH, who, as he thinks, would cut down taxa-
tion, and at least is a sensible Reformer.
Unhappily them are two classes whose votes
we can prognosticate with certainty. "Tell me
who your companions are, and I will tell you
what you are," is a law amongst the moralists,
and, tell me who your landlord is and I will tell
you what kind of hustings' politician you are,
will hold quite as true. Suppose an agent can-
vassing Berkshire for the registration or an elec-
tion, could not the editor of the Times tell him

how the tenants would vote to a man ? Would
the Editor trouble himself about each tenant ?
Would he not make out a list, or two or three
lists of the landlords, and say—There, Mr. Agent,
there you have them. Write to each of the
gentlemen in that list, then the stewards will be
directed to send you the number and names of
the electoral flock on each estate ; see that they
4re all on the register, or see that they are all at
the poll, as the case may be.
There is another well-known class, for which
we should refer the Times to Nottingham, whose
votes can as certainly be predicted ; the gentle-
men whose votes vary with the funds, the candi-
date's funds we mean. True, they are often in
doubt till the eleventh hour ; in that case there
is, perhaps, a seeming uncertainty. None, how-
ever, in reality. The highest bidder will be the
buyer. It may be difficult to say which of the
rivals will bleed best, but none at all as to the
vote going with the most sovereigns. Sometimes,
however, at the Nottinghams the Honourable
Nabob LONGPIRSE goes in to win. It is known
that he does 30. Some barebone of a Radical
(nay contest the borough on party principles, and
just to insure that the Honourable Mr. LONG-
PURSE shall " down with the dust, and no mis-
take," but the votes were sure enough from the
beginning. The buyer, and the follow-townsmen
of the voters, could have named them all.
These worthies the Times always takes under
its special charge. It tells us they are the
sellers of votes made for the buyers of votes—that
the want is reciprocal and urgent, who shall

hinder them from coming together ? What the
Times hath joined together, let no profane Ballot
put asunder. Now we (1) not at all question the
knowledge of the Times as to the perfect adapta-
tion of the buyer and seller of votes to each other.
Having had no dealings in the article, we must
defer to superior authority. We can only well
believe that, as in other contraband traffic, the
mutual understanding must be good, and the gain,
on the whole, large. Still—though as in the case
smuggling, we should speak with deference in
the presence of an old smuggler, so we feel some
touches of diffidence now—still we imagine the
perfect adaptation may be somewhat marred by
'he preventive service of the Ballot. It would
he rather inconvenient for the buyer not to know
for certain whether his money had brought him
money's worth, or whether the buyer had not sold
the same article to two parties, and furnished it
to neither, or, if to either, of necessity to an enemy
in one case. Consequences like these would some-
what interfere with the perfect adaptation, be-
cause it would just give play to those trivial
moral in/perfections which disqualify buyers of
stolen goods from dealing, under certain, eircum-
stanses, with sellers of the same.
But then America, the everlasting America, not
certainly the land which has most of our love

just now, in America every one's vote is known.
Is it ? Then why do those 'cute Yankees retain
the Ballot ? They are not the gentlemen to ad-
here to a practice from superstition or for form's
sake. They must have some reason. And it will

puzzle a wiser correspondent of the Times than
Mr. ARROWSMITH to find a better one, than that
Americans fiad it useful as far as they want it.

hundreds and thousands of Americans do
find it convenient not to reveal their votes
at all, or sooner than they like. The advan-
tage is, therefore, recognised by all. Even
the most independent man may have occa-
sional reasons for preferring a secret vote ;
'and most dependent persons in times of excite-
ment may prefer it greatly. Testimony to its
value as the means of independent voting, and of
preserving quiet at elections, is abundant enough
from America, from Belgium, from Geneva, from
every place in which it has been tried. Indeed
the Times' own American correspondent by the
Arabia dilates on the simplicity, ease, and quiet-
ness with which not a President only, but nine
State officers, were balloted for in one room, and at
the same time. Eas the Times forgotten its
correspondent's description of the room, with one
end railed off separate from the rest, with the ten
ballot-boxes for officers from the President down to
the inspector of schools, the concurrent supply of
tickets, and the order with which each voter falls
into his quens, answers to his name in the register,
and quietly declares his secret vote ? We beg to
refer the Times to the Times of the 17th, for the
hundredth answer to its misuse of American
practices. As to Mr. BERKELEY, he can take good
care of himself and of the Ballot too ; and, should
the Ballot be a little more the fashion, we can
assure him that we know beforehand the vote of
the Times.

The Grand-Duke of Saxe Coburg is engazed on
another new opera. It is entitled Diana von Soimages.
Mr. Layard has left London for Constantinople.
The works on the Salisbury and Yeovil Railway are
progressing satisfactorily.
The 103 d session of the Society of Arts commenoed
last night, Col. Sykes presided.
A letter carrier in the Wandsworth district was
yesterday fully committed for trial for letter stealing.
Letters from Paris this morning describe the discount
market as easier.
The officers of the Russian ships at Cherbourg have
been invited to visit Paris.
A meeting of Buenos Ayres bondholders has been fixed
for the 26th inst.
Thera is to be an exhibition of photographs:in Paris on
the 15th of December next.
At a meeting of the Rhymney Iron Company, held
yesterday, a dividend was declared of 11, on the 501., and
of 6s. on the 451. shares.
The Queen of Naples is so near her confinement that
prayers are being offered np in the churches of the
kingdom for her safe delivery.
The temporary
station of the West-end of London and
Crystal Palace Railway, at Wandsworth-common, will
open on the Ist of December.
Operations have commenced on the Exeter and Yeovil
Railway. The tunnel at Maiden Beenlitree, near Crew -
kerne, 13Pgun, and the ground in the neighbourho&d
of Westerton is staked out,
h is liable to refund to the true owner the
The Court of Cassatien, in Paris, has confirmed the
judgment of the Imperial Court which decided that a
money-changer
value of a stolen bank note if he should change one.
The ceremony of confirming the new Bishop of Lon-
don was performed this morning at Bow Church, Cheap-
side. The sacred edifice was crowded by persons anxious
to witness the ceremony. The new Bishop is to be
consecrated next Sunday. by the
The precise amount of the shipments of speeie
Peninsular and Oriental steamer Colombo is 599,6901.,
of which 26,975/. is gold for Alexandria, Ceylon, and
Madras, and 572;715/, silver for Bombay, Calcutta, and
Madras,