The Sun.
London, England, 1869-03-17 00:00:00

:0 JOURNALS, jIIIPERIAL FARMAN LNT

'IRIT OF

The Times is dissatisfied with the debate on the Ballot,
and, as usual, strenuously opposes its introduction. It
complains that with bribery diminishing, with the means
of repressing it further brouplt to light, with undue
influence renounced, we are asked to make a change now
which was not before thought necessary. If we free our-
selves from the disturbing influences of accidents, the
conclusion should apparently he to persevere, in the con-
fident hope of continued improvement, rather than to fall
back upon a system confessedly founded upon a lower
view of public life. The time has doubtless come wher
all attempts to play fast and loose with the exercise of
the franchise should be frankly abandoned. If we
maintain open voting as the proper form of dis-
charging a public function, we must be thorough in
our resolution to purge its exercise of all the blots
which can be removed from it by legislation. The
Election Petitions Act was an honest attempt last session;
and if the timidity of some judges has in any degree
diminished its efficiency, it has served to bring to light
many faults capable of amendment. Mr. Lcatham dweb
on Tuesday night upon the bribery between three and
four o'clock remarked upon by the judge at Norwich, and
both he and Mr. Hardcastle urged that the Ballot would
put a stop to this form of corruption. But it is as easy
to provide that the state of the poll should be kept secret
until its close without the Ballot as with it, if members
are really self-denying enough to acquiesce in ignorance of
the course of the election until all is over. The inquiries
again have proved how possible it is to corrupt a con-
stituency by the lavish waste of money on services all
but nominal ; but they have shewn, also, how easy it is to
cut off one by one these methods of indirect bribery. Once
more it has been demonstrated that nothing is more
powerful in stimulating passion and riot than the practice
of nomination ; but it has also been demonstrated that
nothing is more unnecessary than this unmeaning form.
If the House of Commons be sincerely resolved to purge
elections they can do so, and they will find that the
judges who have already threatened to be more strict
next time will be encouraged by their approval ; but the
danger is —and it is well it should be stated and faced—
that a short-sighted Opposition will refuse to approve any
of these obvious amendments in our election procedure,
and thus compel the adoption of that mode of secret
voting which we should view as a lapse and a declension.
The Daily News holds that there is- no doubt of the
success of the Ballot in the present Parliament. The
country will never go through another political Saturnalia
like that which disgraced the summer of last year. The
committee appointed on Tuesday night must, of course,
sit, inquire, and report ; but the Government will do well
to condone their mistake in referring the question, by
expediting its business, and seeing that no more delays
are interposed between the policy on which the country
has resolved, and its embodiment in legislation.
The argument on Tuesday night was all on one side.
If the House wanted " confirmation strong as Holy
Writ," both of the evil to be remedied and of
the certainty of the cure, both were before it. Mr. Tor-
rens's remarkable account of his personal experience in
two successive elections at Adelaide—the one before the
Ballot a scene of violence and bloodshed, the one after it
as quiet and orderly as a vote of the House itself—was a
real contribution to the discussion. It was impossible to
listen to that debate without feeling the certainty that the
battle of freedom and purity of election is virtually won.
Mr. Leatham said, amid loud manifestations of approval
from the Liberal benches, that the time had come when
no Liberal Government could keep their seats on the I
Treasury bench for two consecutive sessions which did not
make the Ballot a Government question. The statement
is entirely true, whether the present Government receive
it as information or hear it as a warnirg.

The Telegraph declares that Mr. Leatham took up too
much time in replying to the objections that have been
urged against the Ballot. State the facts brought out by
recent election inquiries, and all merely theoretical objec-
tions will seem trivial. In particular, Mr. Leatham erred
by giving a long and elaborate reply to the arguments of
Mr. Mill—who, on this point, as the public well knows,
differs from the advanced Liberals whom he leads. We
have the authority of the Liturgy for saying that "we are
miserable sinners ;" yet the philosopher insists that we
must give our votes at the dictate of the purest, the
loftiest, motives by which men were ever swayed. Voting
should be a religious ceremony. A man should " plump
for Smith " as solemnly as he should take deacon's
orders. He should disdain the power, the threats,
the bribes, the evictions of the rich ; he should bear
as meekly as a martyr the fisticuffs of the poor. That is
Mr. Mill's teaching ; and when the Millennium shall
come no doubt the great thinker's teaching will be realised.
But, alas ! we are meanwhile poor " miserable • sinners."
We must sell our tea and our joints ; we must earn our
weekly wage ; we cannot afford to pay more rent ; we are
loth to lose our farms ; we shrink from the displeasure of
our fellow-workers in the mill ; and to exercise the electoral
privilege of a Briton amid a shower of stones, is repugnant
to our feelings. Yes, being " miserable sinners," we must
have the Ballot; and, despite the fact that Mr. Leal
speech and motion were superfluous, cAn pudt nLm in
consideration of the point and force with which he stated a
great fact.

The Herald, in discussing the pawnbroking clauses, a_
that lending money on such moveables as find their we s'
to the pawnshop is not an occupation which everybody
would like, but still most people out of the Cabinet would
draw a broad distinction between it and " crib cracking,'
pocket-picking, and other pursuits of the same order. W.
are quite sure that any other set of shopkeepers would
resent such an indignity, and thatthe whole tribe of retail
tradesmen would be up in arms, if they found the re
Reformed Parliament speaking of them in the same Urea*
with the worst of City Arabs. But if Lord Kimberley'r
bill had passed without amendment, every pawnbroke
would have been a marked man. The abodes of receiver
of stolen goods are, or ought to be, as well known to the
police as any place devoted to more reputable purposes.
But these adepts in crime do not take things in pledge,
retaining them as pawnbrokers are bound to do, fox
twelve months at least. Neither do they give duplicates,
keep books, and make entries of names, dates, and othe-
particulars, only to be obtained by direct inquiry of the
customer. Both thief and receiver know their business a
great deal too well for this. Their maxim is, no entry
made, no receipt given, no questions asked, and no goods
returned. The produce of each day's crime is sold out
and out, for anything between one-fourth and one-tenth
of its value, and then the rogues part, the one to renew
his depredations, and the other to get rid of his pur-
chase in some speedy and secret fashion. These pests
of society the bill does not touch, unless, indeed, they
have been previously convicted and imprisoned
Careful calculations, based upon accurate returns.
shew that no fewer than 28,334,880 pledges ar
annually deposited with pawnbrokers in the metro
politan area, giving an annual average of 67,464. fox
every one of the 420 pawnbroking establishments, and
nearly nine per head for every man, woman, and child i•
apopulation'of over three millions. To justify the pro
visions of Lord Kimberley's bill there should have bee.
some large and manifest proportion between the above
enormous total of transactions, and crimes connected with
them. But such a justification is altogether wanting. Out
of the 23,331,000 pledges there were givea up under orders
from jtu'g or magistrates an average of lin 12,0'30
the whole of London, while one pawnbroker, with thre,,
large shops, reports that in seven y,,ars lie took
pledges, only 53 of which, va ue _ 818 ~ he had to give
up, thus she wing an average of 1 m in number, and
something under 15s. in value. Returns obtained from th
large towns and from the country g nerally do not greatly
differ from those relating to London.
The Star thinks that the return obtained by Mr.
Torrens, and issued on Saturday, shows that th ;re is still
tune to check the operation of Mr. Har.iy's bill if the
House of Commons are inclined to do so, and the que:Aior
ought not to be hung up a day longer than can be helped.
It appears, however, that the fist Thursday after 112:e
recess is the earliest ( pportuni' y Mr. Goschen can have of
unfolding his policy to the House. In the meantime the.
bill will be printed and circulated, and as it totally extir.-
guishes some nine boards of guardians. it is just possible
that it may meet with considerable opposition. Under the
present arrangement of London for the purposes of the
Act, the smaller parishes are as fully represented in the
Central Asylums Board as the larger, and the largeer
have no more representation than the smaller. This
is one anomaly which will be corrected by the bill which
Mr. Goschen will introduce. He adds another measure
of relief which will apply to the whole area of London.
lie fixes a certain sum in the pound, calculated on the
assessment of each parish, above which all expenses
incurred for buildings shall be borne by the common fund
levied on the whole metropolitan area. Those parishes
which have already spent a capital sum of 2s. 6d. in the
pound on the assessment will at once come upon the com-
mon fund, while others will do so as socu 'is their expen-
diture has reached that limit. Soell 'are, I've believe, the
main items of a scheme whieli will be warmly
bot which commends itself at the first
' as' '.reason: ably adapted to soften without reversing
Mr. .I.la;dv's
legislation.

The Heral(.l declares that the poliey of present
Government presents a forcible
.on ofn)Mr. Dis-
raeli's warning that " confiscation is c It is
impossible, on reflection, not to discern a inigarls.cVatior
between several measures, some introduced byra
t)crs of
the Mini,try, others by the more eminent
s sup
porters, all of which tend to an invas!on of tlg.l "
of property, and are eharaeb rised by a dangerousit:
laxity of principle in regird to corporate- rand
individnal interests hitherto hell sacred even
by Liberal legislators. No one can fail to discern
a close connection between the measure introduced by the
So:ieitor-General and the Church Spoliation Bill of the
Prime Minister; and a still more intimate connection
between the arguments by which they are defended. Take
the two measures together-7supply the omissions of the
one by the provisions, of the Other—combine the principles
of both, and the result is a clear and complete precedent
for the total confiscation of all property belonging to the
Established Church, whether intended for the maintenance
of her wkahip_gr_the education of her clew:

HOUSE OF LORDS-LAST EVENING.

The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the woolsack
at five o'clock.

Their lordships sat for a short time this eve Ling. The
Common Law Courts Bill passed through committee
after an amendment had been inserted, on the
motion of Lord Wesbury, to the effect that the patronage
should be left in the hands of the Judges of the Court, and
not in those of the Lords-Lieutenant.
Their lordships then adjourned.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.—LAST EVENING.
The SPEAKER took the chair at 4 o clock.

NEW MEMBERS.

Sir Harcourt Johnstone took the oath and his seat for
Scarborough, and Mr. Devereaux for Wexford.

PETITION FROM DUBLIN.

The Lord Mayor of Durum/ presented a petition from
the Corporation of Dublin, praying for perfect religious
equality with all her Majesty's subjects in Ireland, for an
amuest•; to political offenders in prison for political offences,
now suffering punishment for the consolidation of the
Irish railways and fur a reduction of the tariff for goods
and passengers.