The Sun.
London, England, 1860-06-27 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY WEVENING, JUNE 27, 1860.

simple-minded English philosopher at once solved
by pointing to the falling of an apple. We thought
of all the wise acts of Parliament and decrees of
different sovereigns to cause trade to prosper by
all the ingenuities of protective bounties, prohibi-
tions, and tariffs, and of the simple principle de-
veloped here by ADAM SMITH, and popularised by
RICHARD COBDEN—that to raise trade and com-
merce to their highest pitch, you had but "to let
them alone." And we thought also of the
wise, after the event, discoverers of America, and
their vain attempts, in the presence of COLUMBUS,
to set the egg on end, and their emotions
when he gave the little end a slight tap, and
the thing was done. The ways of truth and
honesty are generally simple enough. And well
did our committee know that they were simple
enough in the matter before it. Well did they
know that all which is preventible both of the
odious county bribery of intimidation, and the
borough bribery of money, and all the drunkenness,
rows, treating, corrupt conveyance of voters, and
the like—well knew they that it might be all
banished for ever, or reduced at least to its mini-
mum by the simple device of letting every man do
his own voting, thus and preventing all the evils by
the penalty of uselessness. They knew that cor-
ruption would wither and die under the simple
provision that every man should be required so to
give his vote, that no one could tell how it was
given—in a word, to vote by a real ballot.

It is almost a work of supererogation to quote
testimonies now to the working of the Ballot ; we
cannot help, however, referring to that of a well-
known philanthropic lady, in her second letter to
Mr. BRIGHT, which we published on Monday.
Mrs. CHISHOLM is quite as good a judge of the
moral working of any plan beneath her own eyes
as the whole of the gentlemen comprising the Com-
mittee could be. The limes, she writes, says :
" Mr. BERKELEY assumes that all bribery and
intimidation, all seduction and oppression, all
treating, feasting, and drunkenness, all that now
disgraces a British election, would necessarily be
extinguished by the Ballot." " Now," she adds,
" a Times' Correspondent would, in Australia, see
none of these badges, orange, red, or green
ribbons, until, I believe, lately used in England
at elections, or any of those distinguishing flags
carried by the contending parties. He would be-
hold none of those violent mobs marshalled under
their respective bullying leaders, and meet perhaps
in the middle of a street in contentious strife, and
which, as the limes truly observes, ' now disgrace
a British election.' It was only last year when one
of your candidates, and an esteemed friend of mine,
the Right Hon. R.LOWE, nearly lost his life through
the outrageous violence of one of those mobs ; and
I observed by a late mail from England, that three
men were killed, and three more wounded, in the
streets of Limerick at one of the late elections,
Truly, such disgraceful scenes as these, such bare-
faced bribery, are an iniquitous scandal to a civilised
nation. The only remedy for it is the Ballot."
Some might even think the Ballot would make
us almost too good—for she tells us : " Every-
thing connected with an election is conducted
in such a quiet, orderly, and systematical way ;
some have even remarked that the proceedings
carried with them something of the solemnity of a
Court of Justice, so totally different from the
violent and uproarious scenes which they had been
accustomed to see on like occasions in England."
Perhaps Archbishop CULLEN and his friends would
have most to lose—Mrs. CEIISHOLM is known to be
a Catholic, but she writes, " Even the clergy
looked amazed at the sudden development of the
Irish mind ; men who had been so tenacious of
their influence, and had been accustomed to pro-
claim to their people from their altars what men
they should vote for, now hardly venture to
acknowledge they know the day of poll. The Ballot
has given the people the legitimate power to free
themselves from every power of political thraldom,
whether such were imposed upon them by the
landlord, the employer, or the clergy."

The mysterious Norwich abduction case is for
the present at an end. The Jesuit priest, in
long coarse cloak and small Italian hat, has
turned out to be " fiction founded on fact." The
fact unfortunately was enough to give an air of
probability to young VANSITTART'S story—the
fiction enough to compel us to wonder how a
lad of Sixteen could have uttered it on his oath.
Other person had seen the unusually dressed
person near Rackheath at the time mentioned ;
but instead of the swearing on the relics, the
affectionate appeals, and the parting kiss, Master
VANSITTART now coolly says that it was all
false—that the stranger only said to him, " Good

morning !"
Afer hearing the fresh statements of the lad, the
Magistrates could not well do otherwise than dis-
miss the case. No part of the youth's evidence
could possibly be relied on, except so far as corro-
borated by independent testimony; and as the
Assizes are at hand, Mr. VANSITTART, the father,
will be able to proceed easily, if so advised, by in-
dictment against any of the parties implicated.
That must, of course, be a matter for his discretion ;
but it is due to the Catholic priests concerned to
state that as the evidence now stands, there is no
trustworthy proof whatever of any conspiracy
amongst them to take the youth from his parent,
or from the guardian to whom he had intrusted him.
It must not, however, be thought that we con-
sider •Father CLERY at Brighton to have been
entirely free from blame, much less Canon
DALToN at Norwich, for the parts they respec-

tively took in the transaction. Their own ac-
count of their own conduct condemns them. We
must hold it to be the duty of any gentleman, any
neighbour, much more of any Christian, and much
more still of any Christian minister, not to pre-
sume for a moment to stand between a child and
its parent, Even if ill-usage were suspected, the
least any one ought to do would be to seek an
immediate interview with the parent; and if
satisfied that there was no case for legal
protection of the child against its parent
at once to restore it. Canon DALTON
did the reverse of this. He did what he could to
facilitate the youth's leaving the school, instead of
advising him to return immediately—lent him
money, aided him in the sale of his watch, or rather
his companion's watch, and his pencil case, and
even gave him letters to a friend in London. The
impression inevitable from his own Explanations is,
that he became alarmed when he found Mr.
HODGSON seeking the lad, though at first he had
intended to aid his escape. We give him, there-
fore, the benefit of his aftei thought, and only regret
that it was not his first thought.

Advices from Buenos Ayres, via New York,
mention that General Mitre at the election on the Ist of
May bad been nominated Governor. This selection is
considered favourable to peace. In the new Cabinet Senor
Riestra may probably return to the post of Finance Minis-
ter, which he lately filled with credit to the Slate.
The value of the steamer Malabar, lost at Cey-
lon, Is not £70,000 as stated yesterday, but about half that
amount. Her measurement by Customs' register wes )16
tons.

ORPHEONIST FESTIVAL AT THE CRYSTAL PA-
LAM—The attendance at the second concert of the Or-
pheonists, which took place yesterday, was nearly twice as
large as that of the first day, a fact which may probably be
accounted for by
the improvement in the weather, com-
bined with the favourable-impression made by the inaugu-
rative performance of the French vocalists,

LATEST .NEW.

Thm following telegrams have been received at
Mr. Reuter's office :

NAPLES, JUNE 26.

By a sovereign act, under date of 25th of June,
constitutional and representative institutions, on
national and Italian principles, are granted to the
Kingdom of Naples.
A general amnesty is accorded to all political
offenders.

Spinelli to form a Government and the statute
directly.

An agreement to be made with the King of
Sardinia for the adoption of the tricoloured flag.
Analogous institutions for Sicily, with a Royal

INDIA.

By the arrival of the overland mail we have
advices from Calcutta to May 19, and Madras May
24. The Governor-General was expected to arrive
at Calcutta in a day or two. The Income Tax and
License Bills were to be read a third time on the
26th ult. The delay was said to be occasioned by
great changes in the machinery of the bills which
were taking place during their passage through
committee. The _Englishman says :—" Probably
the principal modification will be the relinquish-
ment of the 1 per cent. on the income tax intended
to be reserved for municipal and public works pur-
poses, and, we should hope, the remission of the
double tax upon officers of the European army
ordered to India, and the abolition of the detestable
half-batta regulation in connexion therewith."
The Wuzeerees had been defeated, and their chief
men had come out to negotiate with General Cham-
berlain to sue for terms for Kaneegorum, their chief
town. In forcing the pass Lieut. Ayton, doing
duty with the sth Punjaub Infantry, was killed.
The indigo districts had been for the most part
tranquillised, and the commission of inquiry had
just commenced sitting at Calcutta.