The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-31 00:00:00

THE BALLOT IN AUSTRALIA.

Mr. Wm. Cooper, of the National Bank of Aus-
tralia, Melbourne, has addressed to Mr. Cobden;
M.P., the following interesting letter on the
" working of the ballot" in the colony of Victoria :
Nov. -15, 1859.
. _
Dear Sir,—Among the .newspaperS which have
just arrived by the mail from England, I have read
with interest a report of your speech at the Roch-
dale banquet ; and though a personal stranger to
you, I feel inclined to address you these few lines
in corroboration of the sentiments you expressed in
favour of the ballot, especially as I did not observe
that you instanced this colony as a country in whieh
it had been thoroughly successful. I am aware
that the person who was chiefly instrumental in
introducing the system of secret voting here,
William' Nicholson, was under your notice
whilst on a visit to England some time ago,
yet as all the elections under_ our new Coo§:1-
: tution (inauguratedllirce years ago), hie taken
place since that time, I thought it might not. be un-
interesting to you-to know how the system hat,'
been found to work in actual practice.
With hardly a single exception, all the 'elections
(say over 100 in number at the least) have taken
place with an_ entire absence of disorder, drunken-
ness, intimidation, or known or even allefiedbribury,
though in a large number of cases party spirit ran
very high. In all the elections which have come
under my personal observation, such was the com-
plete contrast to the scenes enacted in England,
that a stranger coming into the town would never
have known that a hotly contested election was
going on, except perhaps by the posters on the dead
walls. Out of them all 1 can only recall one in-
stance in which intimidation was practised, and one
case of " treating" on a very small scale ; the latter
! offence sufficed to unseat the only member of the
Victorian Parliament who has yet been unseated.
So far from there being any disposition to return
to the old method of Open voting, almost all those
who opposed the introduction of the ballot, now
acknowledge its advantages, and amongst them is
the then Premier, whose Cabinet was beaten on the
question and who resigned in consequence.
No imputation of tampering with the voting
papers in any way has yet occurred, so that one of
the flimsy and plausible objections of Sydney Smith
is practically refuted. The returning officers are
chosen from men of the highest standing and honor,
and only in one instance has there ever been any
suspicion of partiality or unfairness on their part, -
and in that instance it was only a question of two
or three votes,:which in no way influencedthe elec-
tion.

As I think it is very probable that you may have
made yourself acquainted with the the precise way
in which the voting is here conducted. I will not
enter into details in the matter; I will merely con-
clude by saying that though always a believer in
the ballot I never saw, till I witnessed its opera-
tion here, how flimsy and groundless are all the
objections of its enemies. Asa point of Reform I
should be more glad to see it carried in Britain
than any other, but I know that it will be most
keenly contested by the " Upper ten thousand" and
therefore I wish that its advocates may be, in pos-
session of every argument which can be brought to
bear; and as one fact is worth six arguments, I
have taken the liberty to trouble you with a few—
hoping that if th'ey are at all fresh to you they may
prove of some little use,—l remain, your sincere
admirer, WM. COOPER.
Richard Cobden, Esq., M.P.

RESTORATION OF TILE SIIRUBBERLES
IN HYDE-PARE.

On Saturday last, at the weekly meeting of the
St. Marylebone Representative Council, held at the
Court-house—Mr. Churchwarden Poland in the
chair—the subject of the recent destruction of the
shrubberies in Hyde-park was again brought under
consideration by the reading of the following com-
munications from the members of the borough on
the subject :

"2, Dr. Johnson's Buildings, Temple, Jan. 23, 1860.
" Sir,—l acandirestad by Mr. Edwin James to communi-
cate to you, for the information, of the vestry, that he has
seen Lord Palmerston, and announced to hiui his intention
of putting a question in the hoUse at an early opportunity
upon the subject of the present state of. Hyde-park.—l am,
sir, your obedient servant, " CiiAuLEs BUTLER!'
Mr. GRE4NWELL read the notice of motion Mr.
James had given of his intention to put
.the ques-
tion, and stated that he had also just received the
following important communication from Lord
Fermoy

" Reform Club, Saturday Morning, Jan. 28, 1860.
" Dear sir —I have just seen Lord Palmerston about the
very unsightly position of the shrubberies of Hyde-park at
present.

" The result of my interview -is that the shrubs will be
replaced-,(loath cries of "Herr, hear,")--and the ground
at present .diseidelted Will bn immediatel:4„i laid-'out with
flowering shrubs .imd.-ftnwers; iffhit.lll, thinki-irill be satis-
fixaory to .the-public..
aenka; ap.eeial 14ea§enger thiailetter• is= pu may
Matterl—aithfitily:
•- n $4 0 Y
"P. S.---Tither.nly.vollleairna or,mgat;if wi 1 ask-a ques
talon early,next,7ixicin tho houtio, and so got tho rnattor on
reeord.—V.".. ~.• • - ••- • • • •

Mr.. lioDGE's moved that the communications
which I.lil been' rekd be.,entercd upon-.the, minutes;
and that the thanks of that. board be presented to
Lord Fer:MoT and Mr. Edisiin James for the steps
they had taken in bringing this important subject
to a successful issue.

The motion was seconded, and carried unani
mously.

2'HE LATE FATAL :poLLrsoN AT SEA

• I PLYMOUTH, JAN. ,30.
The Danish\scheoner,' Yoaimil,,Andrews master,
of and (or Copenhagen,. with fruit from Messina,
put in here to-day and landed James P. Call, the
master, and ten of the crew of the barque Stalk, of
359 tons, which was laden with barley from the
Black Sea, and went down 100 miles west of Lisbon,
having on Saturday, January 21, been in collision
with the barque *William_ Marslatid, of 350 tons,
from Swansea for Chili, said to be laderr with iron
and coke.

The accident occurred in lat. 38.50 N., long. Xl2
W., at 2 a.m.; wind N.W. by W., strong, with a
heavy sea. he Stalk was on the port tack, under
single-reeled topsails and maintopgallant sails,
sailing by the wind, and making about five knots.
Without any warning she was struck on th 2 star-
boat 'bow and cut down to the water's edge by the
Marsland, chich then turned round and with her
stern struck her again in the, same place. Her
crew 'had only time,to get the jollyboat :out of the
longboat and shove off, when she went down, her
night lights showing to the last moment, and was
shortly afterwards followed by the other barque.
Ralph Johnson, 22; is supposed to have been
drowned in his bhnli 'in the Stalk's forecastle.
Robert Johnson, 18, was astern in the quarter-
boat, and was engulphed with the ship.
Andrew Roland, 16, is missing, and is said to
have gone on board the Marsland. One of her
passengers, Wm. Mill, miner, of Redrut h, Corn-
wall, dropped down over her stern, and joining the
Stalk got into the jollyboat, which then pulled
away before wind and sea for the coast of Portugal,
and at five o'clock in the afternoon fell in Provi-
dentially with the schooner, on board which they
were well treated. Mill states that the Marsland
had two other passengers (miners) and a crew of 20
persons. The chief officer was called Clark. She
was on the starboard tack, going seven knots. The
master had unfortunately ordered the discon-
tinuance of night lights three days before the acci-
dent.

CAPTURE OF A SHIP WITH 888 SLAVE,!
BY H.M.S. PLUTO.

We have received the following letter from the
relatives of the writer. It is addressed to his
mother, and will be read with great interest :
" _H.M.S. Pluto, at Sea, Nov. 30, 1859.
" We left Mazemba on Friday last, and stood out
for a cruise. We are now about 200 miles off the
land, and yesterday and the day before we chased
a Yankee brigantine--but this morning—what do
you think ?--we have actually taken the notable.
Orion, with 888 slaves on board. Only fancy, after
the Yankees have sent her to New York, and she
has been let go, and now the Yankees have taken
her into the Conga and detained her, and the Triton
had her in tow, that we should take her with very
little trouble ! It was a glorious sight. I shall
never forget it. We saw her at daylight, about
eight or ten miles off, and steamed after her, coming
up to her in about an hour. Well, we did not hoist
our colours till we were close to her, and then she
sent up the stars and stripesthcn we steam, d
round ~her, and our captain hailed to knew what
ship it was—the fellow sung out .‘ Orion,' and that
he-was going to New York ;so our captain.said he
would board her, and as he was stepping out of the
boat to go on board they hauled down their colours,
tore them in half, and hove them overboard. Our
men then gave three cheers, which was answered
by the liberated slaves in a manner that we shall
all remember as long as we live. She is a splendid
prize. This is a great loss to the slave-dealers, as
they feel the loss of slaves more than ships, and this
makes 2,080 taken in less than two months."
From previous letters it appears that this no-
torious Orion was captured in April last by H.M.S.
Triton. She then nailed the American flag to het
mast, and refused to surrender; but was afterwards
taken possesssion of by the American cruisers and
conveyed to New York.

---7"
Major-Genefal den, Commanding the Cork
District, will resign his coramancl on the let of April next.
awl Navy Gazette.