The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-28 00:00:00

THE REGISTRATION UNDER THE BILL.

Mr. E. JAMES, in putting the question which stood in
his name on the paper, wished to observe that, as regarded
the returns, a great deal of assertion had been made on one
side and the other ; but he would repeat what he stated on
a former occasion, that no one could impugn the intentions
of the Government in having them made out—(hear)—or
their accuracy, so far as they purported to go. He believed,
however, that the noble lord the Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs was incorrect when he stated the addition
to the number of electors under this bill as amounting to
150,000.
Lord J. RUSSELL-190,000.
Mr. E. JAMES—WeII, 190,000. That question, how-
ever, must soon be decided one way or another, for it was
impossible that such discrepancies could exist as those stated
by the two members for Liverpool, one of whom said the
constituency of that town would be increased under the bill
by 20,000, and another by 30,000. The question which he
wished to asked of the noble lord the Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs, or more properly perhaps the right hon.
gentleman the Secretary of State for Home Affairs, was
whether it was the intention of her Majesty's Government
to introduce any measure to provide for the registration for
this year of persons who may become entitled to vote in the
event of the Representation of the People Bill being passed
into law during the present session of Parliament ?
Sir G. C. LEWIS in reply, stated that when the house
should be pleased to go into committee on the bill, all
these questions must be answered. The present was not
a proper time to do so, but in answer to his hon. and learned

friend the member for Marylebone, he should say that the
clauses he referred to wore net the result of oversight, but
according to the deliberate intentions of the Government,
provided the bill should pass this year. His hon. and learned
friend referred to the bill brought in last year by the right
hon. gentleman opposite, as containing a machinery for the
registration of new voters.--" But that was necessary, because
the measure introduced new and peculiar franchises which
could not be dealt with under the existing law. But this
bill proposed no such changes. All it did propose to do was
to extend the present franchise, and the existing system of
registration would therefore be applicable. If it should
happen that when the bill passed it would be too late for
the new constituencies to register, they would then consider
the best course to pursue. As to the question of the hon.
member as to unreported criminal cases, the change was
thought necessary, in order to diminish unnecessary ex-
penses. With respect to the statement made by the right
hon. gentleman the member for Droitwich with respect to
the persons appointed to collect returns in the electoral dis-
tricts, he was very glad to find that both sides of the house
agreed that her Majesty's Government had acted with sin-
cerity. The inquiries began last autumn, and a barrister
was employed to make inquiries in a certain number of
boroughs, in the hope that they would form precedents for
the whole country. Mr. Vernon W. Harcourt, who under-
took the task, reported that such a course would be ex-
tremely difficult, and that a partial inquiry into a limited
number of boroughs would not be satisfactory. That plan
was, therefore, discarded, anctinstructions sent by the Poor-
law Board to make out these returns in all parts of the
kingdom.

i Mr. S. HERBERT, in reply to several questions, said it
was perfectly true that the order had been given for the
wives. and children of the soldiers of the 67th regiment to
be sent back from India, but it was given under these
circumstances. At the time the women and children
went out to India to join their friends they were not
aware that the 67th was going to China, and consequently
there was no reason why they should not go out. As soon
as they were informed, however, that the 67th was going
to China, they ordered the women and children to be sent
back. Since then, however, it had been determined that
the 67th should not proceed to China, and immediately
upon that being settled he had telegraphed again to India,
countermanding the order originally sent out. Ife could
only say he hoped that telegram would arrive in sufficient
time to prevent the embarkation of those families on their re-
turn voyaze, after the fatigues they had sustained. With
regard to the question of the hon. and gallant officer (Col.
Lindsay) he could only say that he had stated the circum-
stances very clearly, but he must remind him that the Royal
Commissions were called upon to decide the question sub-
mitted to them quite generally, and without reference to particular cases. The officers to whom he alluded were most
meritorious, and he should be extremely glad to bo able to
carry out their wish of being placed in the numerical posi-
tion which they held on their first attaining the rank of
colonel, but to do that would require the antedating of two
commissions, a proceeding -which would be attended with
extreme military inconvenience. He admitted and regretted
the hardship, and would assure the hon. and gallant officer
that if he could devise any plan for remedying it, he would
submit it to the Commander-in-Chief. With respect to the
question put by another hon. And gallant gentleman oppo-
site (Col. Dickson) relative to the organisation of the militia,
ho had to state that circulars had been issued with a view
to prevent any man being taken whose residence and cha-
racter were unknown. He did not deny that a great hard-
ship existed, to which the hon. and gallant gentleman had
called attention, with reffence to militia officers serving in
Ireland.' The recommendation of the militia commission
was calculated to remedy the grievance, and he admitted
that the case was of a nature to deserve its applica-
tion. The recommendation was that in cases where
soldiers were billeted the officers should receive lodging-
money if the colonel reported the quarters to be incon-
venient. His only reason for not acting upon the recom-
mendation was, that the military expenditure of the country
was so great that he was prevented from carrying out, that
and other arrangements which he would gladly make for the
benefit and convenience of the service. (Hear, hear.)
Sir C. WOOD, with reference to the question put to him
earlier in the evening by the hon. member for Hereford-
shire, as to the alleged misconduct of certain Indian cadets
on their way through Egypt, said that there was unfortu-
nately too much foundation for the report, which was upon
the whole correct, as appeared from an official report which
had been received from the consul-general. The facts which
had come to his knowledge, and which coincided in ell es-
sential particulars with the facts already published, ap •
peered to be these :—A party of 25 or 30 cadets, after hav-
ing dined, went to the citadel, and behaved so viblently that
they intruded themselves into the mosque during the .per •
formance of worship, and placed themselves in that portion
of the edifice which was set apart for the use of the Viceroy
and his family, when they began to mimicand ridicule the
religious ceremonies which were going on. This conduct
naturally roused the indignation of the devotees; but, never-
theless, the Viceroy showed the greatest kindness in his
efforts to screen them from the just indignation of the people
of Cairo, (Hear.) The consul, who acted most properly
throughout all this affair, immediately waited upon the,Vice:-
roy to apologise for what had taken place, and his 'apology
was at once and most kindly received. With respect to the
passengers nothing particular had been asceetainelti in Con:.