The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-18 00:00:00

the better, for Count CATOUR will be a thorn in
her side until she be driven beyond the Alps.
Therefore the sooner she makes a virtue of necessity
the better for all.

As Tuesday is the day fixed for the reassembling 1
of Parliament, and as according to annual custom
we are certain to have the Legislature again taking
the question of Parliamentary Reform into consi- I
deration, it is no matter of surprise to find an
Independent Liberal like Mr. CONINGHAM address-
ing his constituency down at Brighton, or to find
the Home Secretary waited upon (as he was yes•
terday) by an important deputation from Chelsea,
demanding for that vast suburb the boon of its
enfranchisement. Incidents like these are in a
manner mere matters of course, but for that reason
they are none the less worthy of observation. They
possess indeed a peculiar significance of their own,
especially demanding at the moment the scrutiny
of the journalist. The very circumstance,
for example, of so wealthy, and industrious, and
populous a community as that constituted by the
Chelsea population, remaining up to this moment
altogether unrepresented in the British House of
Commons, invests with a particular interest the ar-
guments now very opportunely addressed to Sir
GEORGE LEWIS by the principal spokesman of the
deputation in favour of Chelsea being empowered
henceforth by the new Reform Bill to return to
that House two representatives ! The circumstance,
on the other hand, that Mr. CONINGHAM is num-
bered amongst the little band of Liberal Indepen-
dents below the gangway renders it especially
a subject of curiosity to note the views expressedby
him politically, de omnibus rebus et cetera, when
running through the most prominent topics of the
' hour with his ultra-Liberal and Reforming con;
, stituency ! Having scanned with awakened
attention both the arguments advanced by the
Chelsea Deputation and the sentiment expressed
' by Mr. CONINGHAM, we are constrained to accord
• to the former our decided preference. There is a

precision about the opinions enunciated yesterday
by Mr. TORRENS APCULLAGH, and the other mem-
bers of the deputation, contrasting most favour-
ably with the indifferentism (for we can call it
nothing else) characterising the views of Mr. CON-
,INGHAM is his eminently responsible position as
one of the little intermediate band of the liberal
independents.
Upon the course pursued during, the ensuing
session by that numerically small but most ener-
getic and important phalanx almost everything, we
cannot but think, is just now in a very great
measure dependent. Apart from them—the two
great divisions in the House of Commons are as
nearly as possible equipoised. Such men as Mr.
BRIGHT, and Mr. ROEBUCK, and Mr. LINDSAY, and
Mr. WYLD, and their fellows, hold within their
grasp—if they be but conscientiously united in
action—the shape, tendency, and character of the
new Reform Bill. And they do so simply for this
reason, that they stand in a cluster midway upon
the balanced beam of parties, and accordingly as
they act together, according to the direction of the
.united attitude assumed by them at the next mo-
. mentous division, they may elevate or depress at
their own will and pleasure the good or evil for-
tunes of the Government or of the Opposition. Ap-
preciating to the full, therefore, the solemn responsi-
bility devolving, according to our view of things,
at this juncture upon the group of Liberal
Independents, we cannot but regret to find
one of their number expressing, as Mr. CON-
INGHAM has just expressed to his constituents
down at Brighton, such'exceeding indifferenae in
regard to a question of vital importance like the
Ballot—really and truly to our minds the " ques-
tion of questions," at this moment in reference to
the forthcoming scheme of reform in our system
of popular representation. Now, in regard to this,
as we have termed it, really vital question, all that
Mr. CONINGHAM can find it in his heart to say is
this—" There was one more point," he said, " in the
catalogue of Liberal policy to which he should re-
fer—that was the Ballot. The history of that ques-
tion was a very strange one. Sometimes the ques-
tion appeared to be gaining ground, then it receded,
then it recovered its position, and again died away
.as if there was a want of sincerity in the demand
for it. He was not aware that Government were
prepared to take action upon it, and he thought it
must remain an open question, for even the Liberal
party themselves were divided in opinion respecting
it." Now this is precisely the course in regard to
the Ballot, for the very reason here given by Mr.
CONINGHAM, that ought not to be adopted. Such
is our own often-expressed and unalterable opinion
—and it is an opinion coincided in, we are
satisfied, by the vast majority of the more
resolute and devoted champions of Reform
throughout the United Kingdom.
Without the Ballot, as a sine qua non, in
the new Reform Bill, we had far better for
three reasons have accepted the Reform Bill
laid upon the table of the House last year
by the DERBY Government. Firstly, because
we should have had Reform so far a year sooner;
we should have been spared the unnecessary waste
of another twelvemonth. Secondly, we should
have been able to get just as large a mea-
sure of Reform from the late Administration
by modifying and enlarging the original
draught of the enactment in its passage
through Committee, Thirdly, we should hare
been secure under that arrangement of what we
can by no means count upon under a Whig
regime as certain, namely the ready passing of the
measure through the ordeal of the House of Lords.
For these three very plain and simple reasons we
maintain that the Coalition ought to be compelled,
through the concession of the Ballot, to compensate
the country for the rejection in their favour of the
substantial measure actually placed within the grasp
of Parliament a year ago—(a plastic measure which
might have been moulded in that powerful grasp
into any shape)—by the Derby Government.

The report of the meeting held at the Mechanics'
Institute, at Pontefract, ou Monday night, is not
without interest and importance. It was wholly
disconnected with any political movement, being
merely the celebration of their annual festival, but
the speeches delivered on the occasion by Mr.
MONCKTON MILNES and Mr. CHILDERS are well
worthy of careful notice. The remarks of the hon.
member for Pontefract were especially forcible and
suggestive. After alluding to the stirring events
of the past year, he commented on the valuable
light thrown en the occurrences of the day by a
study of the chief branches of education. An ac-
quaintance with history, he observed, would be of
immense importance to them in judging of the
progress- of their own country and the state of
other nations. A knowledge of geography was
rendered necessary by the varied intelligence from
all parts of the world which was daily reaching
them. Mr. MILNES'S allusions to the recent achieve-
ments of British enterprise in two very different
but almost equally perilous localities, must have
impressed his hearers with the truth of
his remarks on this point. If previously fami-
liar. with the chief features of geography and
its branches, they would better appreciate the
labours of BURTON and LIVINGSTONE in Central