The Sun.
London, England, 1869-01-13 00:00:00

PRINCE OF WALES'S ROYAL THEATRE.
Under the Management of Miss Marie Wilton

THIS EVENING, SOCIETY: Messrs. Hare, H. J. Montague,
Blakeley, Montgomery, and Banrroft: Mrs. lincking'i m White,
Miss C. Addison, and Miss Marie Wilton. Preceded by A
WINNING HAZARD.

ROYAL AMPHITHEATRF. AND CIRCUS, HOLBORN.
THIS EVENING, The Great Carre Troupe and magnificent Stud
of 50 Horses: also Alfred Bradbury, Id. Clifton, and THE
M.AHVRI-S OF ELECTRICITY.

CHRISTY MINSTRELS. St. James's Hall, Every Night, at 8
Wednesdays and Saturdays, at 3 and 8 all the year round.

ROYAL ALHAMBRA PALACE. THREE BALLET?,
Promenade Concert. Band of 60. Begin at 8. is. Box-office
open from 11 to 4.

ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS, Regert's-pallc, OPEN daily (ex
cept Sundays). Admission, Is.; on Mcndays, 6d.; Children
under twelve, 6d.

Jl3
Trgg
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LONDON, TVEDNESDAY, JAN. 13, 1869

We are glad to find that the Ballot is not to be
omitted from the voluminous programme unfolding
before the new Parliament. Among the many still
unaccomplished reforms awaiting the labours of the
yet untried M.P.'s, we may surely place the Ballot in
the very first rank. Whether we regard its import-
ance as a matter of principle in securing the inde-
pendence of the voter, or its practical utility in
solving the problem with which no other method has
satisfactorily dealt, we must acknowledge that the
Ballot has very pressing claims on the attention of
all earnest and single-minded Liberals. We have
yet to see the effect produced by the transfer of
authority in disputed election cases from the Parlia-
mentary Committee to a more rigid tribunal, but
unfortunately there is not much room to doubt that
however the court of appeal may be constituted
its members will not be left idle. There is no chance
of a maiden session, so far as elections are concerned,
and the potent, grave, and reverend seigniors, whose
fiat is to open or close the doors of St. Stephen's to
adventurous ambition, will have to see many a Par-
liament begin and end before they are entitled to
white gloves. The experience of the last general
election has not been encouraging in this respect.
Making every allowance for the warmth of party
feeling, and for the excitement produced by closely
run numbers at the poll, there has been an ample list
of disputed elections. The increase in the constituen-
cies, however useful in other respects, has not
answered the purposes of checking bribery, preventing
intimidation, and removing corruption. We cannot
dispense with the Ballot. So long as there are
ambitious men, with more money than principle, on
the one hand, and unscrupulous men, with more greed
than integrity, on the other, so long, in short, as we
live in a motley community of men and women,and not
i❑ a Utopia of political abstractions, we need not
expect to find all corrupt influences eliminated from
Parliamentary elections. We may, indeed, hope to
see a great improvement in the moral tone of the
people, as we have seen marked progress in other re

spects, but the conscientious few can only raise the
careless and unreflecting many to their standard by
either removing temptation as far as possible from
them, or else by enforcing punishment with deter.
rent severity. The latter alternative in a case like
bribery or intimidation would be simply impossible.
Legislators who are implicated in the offence con-
demned would not sentence their fellows and asso-

ciates to criminal punishment for a fault they regard
as venial. Even supposing that they did so, we have
7n America a notable instance of the futility of such
There both briber and bribed are re-