The Sun.
London, England, 1869-01-26 00:00:00

ROT AL AMPHITHEATRE AND CIRCUS, nunoßN.

THIS EVENING, The Great Carre, Troupe and magnificent Stunt
of 50 Horses: alto Alfred Bradbury, H. Clifton, and THE
MARVELS OF ELECTRICITY.

CEIRISTY MINSTRELS. St. James's Hall, Every Night, at S
Wednesdays and :iaturdays, at 3 and 3 all tho year round.

ROYAL AL FIAMB RA PALACE. THR EE BALLET 49
Promenade Concert. Band of 60. Begin at S. ls. Box-office
open from 11 to 4.

ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS, Regent's-paik, OPEN daily (ex-
cept Sundays). Admission, Is.; on Mondays, 6d.; Children
under twelve, M.

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(11 vfilt

L0AD02,7, TUESDAY, JWV 26, 18G9.

The great experiment in Manchester is over, and
it may be said that the Ballot test has been success-
ful. As regards personal feeling and political senti-
ment, no doubt many are disappointed at the rejec-
tion of Mr. MILNER GIBSO/T, but the question of in-
terest to the public is the result of the working of the
Ballot itself. So far, then, its supporters may well
consider that their cause has had a decisive triumph,
and fully borne out their assertions in the midst of a
great constituency. It is true that the
affair was not attended with all the attri-
butes of a general election, but it is important
to notice the difference that existed between the order
which prevailed at Manchester on the oce.:sion re-
ferred to, and the riot and confusion which seem to
be the inseparable attendants of a regular election.
It is not necessary to cross the Irish Channel to find
misrule in the ascendant, and sober-minded people,
well nigh distracted with conflicting claims and
divided interests, many a quiet hamlet and many a
monotonous country town of England are transformed
on the eve of an election, and only recover when
the desperate game has been played out. Then the
chief actors in the scene have to fight the
battle over again in another place, and the pains and
penalties of petitions go far to take the zest out of
Parliamentary honours, and to compel the unfortu-
nate aspirant to Senatorial dignity to declare that it
is all vanity and vexation of spirit. If Manchester
has not pointed out a royal road to voting, it has at
least shown one of a most advantageous kind, and at
this especial juncture the lesson should not be lost.
We cannot any longer shut our eyes to the convic-
tion that bribery is most extensively practised, and that
few are so immaculate as they might be. The manner
in which elections are generally carried on affords so
much scope for party tactics to be displrtyed, and
offers so many temptations to the unwary, to say
nothing of the unscrupulous, that if a candidate is not
personally guilty of exercising undue influence it is
next to impossible that be is not compromised through
his agents. Zhe public at large are not likely to be
much edified by this knowledge, and it is indeed a
mortifying reflection that those who are to make cur
new laws and alter our existing statutes
agentssitatute to respectscannotcon-
con-
trive through themselves and their
them. There are, however, graver considerations
than these, for the dignity and decorum of
the national charac!er are compromised by
the scenes which take place at contested elections.
The after contest over the petitions that flock in so
numerously serves to add bitterness to the existing
prejudices, and from the first feeble efforts at can-
vassing to the wearisome close of the vexed affair of
the petition, anger, strife, and hatred arc the ruling
spirits of the controversy.
If we compare these stormy scenes with the calm
which reigned at Manchester during the two days
in which the Ballot experiment was tried, it may be