The Sun.
London, England, 1860-03-20 00:00:00

NICE.

Mr. KINGLAKE moved the adjournment of the
house, in order to enable him to ask the- noble lord some
questions in reference to an important subject which he had
formerly brought before the house. He never ion to ad-
dress the house with greater pleasure than ho did on the
present occasion, for he had just received from Nice intelli-
gence of a very gratifying character. That intelligence was
to the effect that the Aiunicipal Council of Nice had agreed
to an annexation to Sardinia, and repudiated any annexa-
tion tolTrance. (Hear.) In the declaration of that wish

they expressed a hope that if Nice could not be annexed to
Sardinia, they might be erected into an independent State.
A deputation had left Nice for Turin to carry to the
King of Sardinia the resolutions embodying these views of
the council. That council had also passed a vote of thanks
to two members of this house—namely, the member fen-
Horsham and the hon. bart. the member for Tamworth.
(Hear, and laughter.) He wished to know if her Majesty's
Government had received a note from the Government of
Switzerland expressing on behalf of, that State a desire to
appeal to the great Powers of Europe in reference to this
subject, and whether they would delay their final answer
to Thouvenel until that appeal had been received ?
Lord J. RUSSELL stated that the Government had not
received any such notice as that- alluded to. With regard
to the other question of the hon. member, he appealed to
the house for their forbearance. A despatch of great im-
portance had been received from M. Thouvenel, and he
trusted that her Majesty's Government would be permitted
to deliberate freely on the answer they would return to
that despatch. (Hear, hear.)

ADJOURNMENT OF THE HOUSE FOR EASTER,
In reply to Mr. SPOONER,

Lord PALMERSTON said that hon. members had been
called together earlier than usual this session, and no doubt
were anxious to adjourn for the holidays as soon as possible.
However, that adjournment must depend upon the business
of the house, and there were some bills of a very urgent
character to be disposed of. Under these circumstances,
he could not say on what day the house would adjourn for
the holidays.

REFORM DILL.

On the motion for the second reading of this bill,

Mr. DISRAELI—Mr. Speaker, I understand the pro-
moters of this bill claim for it the merit of simplicity. Sim-
plicity in the operations of nature is admirable, because
there we see adequate means adapted to the end proposed
But simplicity in matters of legislation is a quality of an
ambiguous character, because if we find that adequate
means are not adapted to the end proposed it is not true
simplicity we arrive at, but rather imperfection and incom-
petency. What is the end proposed by the bill ? The end
is the amendment cf tho representation of the people in
England and Wales. Are the means adequate to that end ?
My first impression when I take up this bill is, that it might
have been drawn up four or five centuries ago. Except tleit
land we tread and masses of bricks and mortar, I do not see
any other property referred to as a qualification for exercis-
ing a franchise, and that in a country where for more than
a century the people have been doing nothing but creating
and accumulating various properties to an incalculable
amount. The classes of intelligence, of acquirements and
education, are not noticed. The bill is indeed of a mediwval
character, but without any of the inspiration of the feudal
system or of the genius of the middle ages. It proposes to
itself three principles. It is to extend the suffrage in the
counties and boroughs, and is to effect some re-distribution
of parliamentary seats. These are certainly objects well
worthy the consideration of the house ; but there are objects
almost as important as conferring the franchise, which,
singular to say, are not even alluded to. It has been thought
that it was one of our first duties to consider whether by a
more perfect registration, and by greater facilities for polling,
the possession and exercise of the franchise could not be
rendered far more valuable to the community, and far
more advantageous to them. I may remind the house
that in the bill which I had the honour to introduce to
the notice of the late House of Commons, there was a
proposition, to be carried into effect by numerous clauses,
to establish a self-acting register, and there was a scheme
perfectly Carried cut which by multiplying polling places
greatly checked that corruption of which we all so
much complained, and to such a degree that the ministers
of that day felt really justified in asking the House of Com-
mons to declare that all travelling expenses at elections
should thereafter become illegal. But I do not see in this bill
for the reform of the representation of the people, so limited
in its conception, any allusion to those primary and absolute
necessary topics in a measure of this character. So far as
the general aspect of the bill is concerned I may say its
omissions are its principal feature. The materials, from
which it draws its franchise are of a limited character, and
some of the most important topics connected with the exer-
cise of the franchise are entirely omitted. Let us now con-
sider the bill more in detail. It has three principles. It
extends the franchise in the counties and boroughs, and it
effects a re-distribution of Parliamentary seats. I will first
touch upon the arrangements proposed by the promoters of
the bill with reference to the borough franchise, for this
reason, that in the statement with which the noble lord in-
troduced the measure, that was the only part of the bill on
which he laid down the principle upon which he was act-
ing. On another occasion I laid down on the part of ray
colleagues the principle on which we had acted in recon-
structing the constituencies of this country, and I ventured
to affirm that those persons to whom we thought that high
privilege might be safely entrusted, and who would exercise
it for the general welfare of the country, and therefore I
said that in snaking my propositions I had not considered
to what numerical degree they might arrive. The fitness
of the recipient was what we had before.us, and we there-
fore did not embarrass ourselves by any consideration of the
number of persons who might receive the suffrage. That
was nor the principle on which her Majesty's Ministers
had acted in this measure. On the contrary, the noble
lord, in laying down the principle on which he acted,
said that he had to consider what would be the num-
ber added generally to the boroughs by the different me-
thodsd proposed. The noble lord said that if he he
taken a rating of £9, for example, he would only have gott
so many—had it been £B, it would have been. more,p.
but
not enough ; and he had therefore fixed theratge
at a ar250,000
enough, and did
g
fielder figure in the boroughs, would
which
additional votes, and he thought that
was
that it was too
not think the house would be
ofopinion
the franchise on
much. I say that in proposing
shouldto confer
look to their fitness,
those who do not possess it, we
and should
numbe nort
ebfe:ezidering whether wo could obtain a
certain
and ask for the support of Parlia •
merit because the number was one which may not alarm us.
If instead of 257,000 men there had been 557,000 men, and
they were,
in tho opinion of the house, entitled to the fran-
chise, the franchise ought to be granted them. (Hear.) But
what is this addition which the noble lord is about to make
to the borough franchise ? The figures of the noble lord
are these :—the present constituency of the boroughs of
England in round numbers may be placed at 440,000, in-
cluding the freemen, and he makes a proposition by which
they OVIA kc jAcremo tQ 083000, jet us cousibr what is