The Sun.
London, England, 1867-06-13 00:00:00

A BUFFALO HUNT.

The scene of my adventure is on the broad plains
in the Red River settlement. We are waiting for
the mist to rise, which it will do when the sun
comes fairly above the horizon. Ah ! there it goes,
the fog lifting like a veil. It does not evaporate, so
to speak, and disperse, but rises en masse like a
balloon, and at once becomes invisible ; and now we
can make out the buffalos scattered over the plain ;
some are busily cropping their dewy breakfast,
others are still lying down in little groups—but all
are in happy ignorance of the dire enemies lurking
behind the knoll watching their every movement.
Craftily, and with extreme caution, we walk our
horses to the windward of the herd, and as we
emerge from the cover of the ridge, the trumpet-
like notes of the older bulls tells us that we are dis-
covered. Concealment is now of no further use,
the beasts are crowding
wildly Indians
after
together like sheep when
scared by a dog. Th
piercing
rapidl
whoop, and we dash
the now a
now y
retreating herd, their tails upheaved, and their
horns rattling noisily against one another. The 1
very plain seems to shake, I dc ou sof blinding dust,
raised by thousands of hoofs,
0 nearly h. ide the hunters
from each other, whilst
a rumbling noise, like
subdued thunder, seems to absorb and swallow up
all other sounds. I soon overtake the rearmost
animals, and singling
outa young cow drop her
in her track •s , recharge my gun, and single out
this time a fine old
bull. He seems to roll
rather than gallop along, his nose nearly touch-
ing the grass, and his b
shaggy brown mane tossing
wildly in the breeze. - y 111 horse, though thoroughly
up to his work, appears to know by past ex-
perience that it is no mean foe he has to deal with ;
laying back his ears, and pushing out his nose, as if
to make the most of every breath of air, the gallant
mustang thunders on at such a pace that I find my-
self side by side with the shaggy bull before I have
time to think of my position in reference to the other
stragglers of the herd. Now or never I must fire,
or lose my chance. Lowering my gun I pull the
trigger. It appeared to me that the cap had hardly
exploded ere my mustang wheeled short about with
such startling velocity, that it was with the utmost
difficulty I contrived to retain my seat ; but, as if
the fates were against me, two other buffalos were
directly in the way, and for a few seconds prevented
the horse from galloping away from the bull, which,
turning nearly as rapidly as the horse, charged, and
striking the horse on the point of the shoulder sent
us both rolling on the plain. I was terribly
frightened and shaken, but adapting Falstaff's
maxim, " that the better part of valour is discre-
tion," I lay still to await the issue of events. The
mustang had by this time regained his legs, and
was, with evident difficulty, limping away as
fast as his damaged shoulder permitted. That
the bull was badly wounded I could see by
his rolling gait, heavy breathing, and the bloody
froth besmearing his nostrils and lips. Ido not
think he saw me, for his glaring eyes were directed
towards the horse, which he made a vigorous at-
tempt to follow ; but it proved a signal failure. The
wounded beast seemed to be perfectly aware that if
once he fell to the ground all hope for him was at
an end, so bracing his muscles firmly, and placing
his massive legs wide apart, the powerful animal
seemed determined to stand up to the last. Hurt
and frightened as I was, I felt sorry for him ; the
eyes lost all their fire, and a saddened expression
took its place. lie tried to get glimpses of his com-
rades, by this time nearly lost in the distance ; and
I know that dying buffalo was quite aware that he
should never see them again. His great chest was
heaving convulsively, and low plaintive sounds, more
resembling sobs than anything else I know of, told
in language plain as printed words how terrible
were his sufferings. The head dropped, until the
nose was nearly touching the grass, the ponderous
body rocked like a storm-tossed ship from side to
side, a gurgling sound replaced the stertorous breath-
ing; then suddenly the muscles seemed to lose all
further power, and with a he ivy crash the king of
the plain fell dead amidst the grass and wild flowers.
The Indians soon recovered my lost steed, for his
shoulder was so much injured that he could only
contrive to limp slowly away.---A Home in the Wil-
derness.

Electioneering at Weymouth.

--~---

At the general election of 1865 four candidates
made their appearance for
side,he borough of Wey-
mouth _nthe two sitting
members, Mr. Brooks, a merchant and shipowner,
o thecoConservative
and Lord Grey de Wilton ; from the Liberal camp
Capt. Gridley, an unsuccessful candidate at Bever-
ley in 1860, and Mr. H. Edwards, politically candi-
dus. Mr. Brooks was popular in Weymouth ; Lord
Grey de Wilton was not, having treated his consti-
tuents with considerable indifference. The return of
the poll was—Brooks, 381
; Gridley, 378 ; Grey de
Wilton, 28 ; Edwards, 14. The history of the trans-
action is as follows : Weymouth for many years
has been anything but pure. Its iniquity was, how-
ever, organised ; gangs of voters served under the
orders of ringleaders, men of acknowledged worth and
strict probity, who fairly distributed amongst their
followers the prize money obtained from the Banda
and Kirwee of contested elections. On this occa-
sion, however, the System of limited liability was set
aside, and, in
consequence of the strike, the free
land independent asserted their freedom and inde-
pendence, irrespective of party considerations.
There were, however, formulas of procedure. Ac-
cording to the rites of one denomination, the elector
lon being asked for his vote, replied by biding his
face from the candidate with the crown of his hat,
saying with maiden coyness, Oh, sir, I can't look
at you." Inside his hat, in large letters, was writ ten
what the French call his chiffre." Another would
at once state his price, placing it high, say at three
or four hundred pounds. On a remonstrance from
the agent, in the tone of familiar cajolery employed
at elections—such as, " Come, William, you are
opening your mouth too wide; what will the old
woman say to-night at your family prayers ?"—the
answer was, " Well, sir, you'll be glad to give me
double at half-past three on Wednesday." A third
would boldly refuse to give any answer at all, merely
volunteering a
winking counsel that at the before-
mentioned date he would be found at home. At
length, on the eve of the nomination, or rather at
four o'clock on the morning of the poll, the four
candidates met, compared their accounts, and found
that neither couple could hope to be returned under
an expenditure, it is said, of £30,000, or something
more tban £3O per head of the constituency. So it
was agreed to withdraw one from each side. Lord
Grey was withdrawn by the Conservatives, being
juticUlciaber two 4qt4i4 Gridley wee to be

the Liberal elected, being senior as a candidate to
his colleague. The borough, therefore, was practi-
cally disfranchised by the candidates themselves ;
and the leaders of parties subsequently agreed that
all future elections at Weymouth should be kept one
and one, in order to avoid the inevitable penalties
to be inflicted by the looming Reform Bill on pec-
cant constituencies. Captain Gridley, for reasons
of his own, is now retiring, and Mr. Edwards steps
into his shoes without a contest, in pursuance of the
compact.—Pall Mall Gazette.

A Ghost Scene.
-4-

LOIBL AND ANOTTIF.R V. STRAMPFER.

At the Bail court, yesterday, an action was
brought for an alleged breach of contract relative
to the production of the " Ghost" scene at the de-
fendant's theatre at Vienna. The defendant
pleaded a variety of pleas, amongst others that the
plaintiff had not complied with the terms of the
agreement.
Mr. Sergeant Parry and Mr. Wood were counsel
for the plaintiffs ; Dr. Kenealy and Mr. Anstey were
counsel for the defendant.

The plaintiffs are proprietors of the Pavilion Music
Hall in the Haymarket, and are licensers of Diecks
and Pepper's apparatus for producing the well-
known illusion " The Ghost." The defendant is
proprietor of the Imperial and Royal Theatre at
Vienna. In July, 1863, a correspondence took
place between the parties relative to the production
of the illusion in Vienna, which resulted in an
agreement between them, whereby the plaintiffs
were to perform for 14 nights, the defendant gua-
ranteeing the receipts of the theatre should nightly
amount to 3,000 florins, one half of which should be
paid to the plaintiffs. There had been an unsuc-
cessful performance of the ghost at the Joseph
Theatre in Berlin, but Mr. Villiers, the plaintiffs'
agent, subsequently presented it with great satis-
faction at the Victoria Theatre in Berlin. It was
about this time the arrangement was come to be-
tween the plaintiffs and the defendant, and the
former account of it was that the defendant was in
no particular hurry, because he was desirous of
bringing out a new piece, " Miss Aurora's Secret,"
in which the ghost was to appear. Defendant,
however, put another piece on the stage without the
ghost (which materially interfered with plaintiffs'
arrangements), which did not succeed. Mr.
Villiers, however, after great trouble and delay, at
last got the stage cut, the glasses fixed, and on the
night of the 15th August there was an undress
successful rehearsal to a practised eye, but the
figures being in black, only the face and hands were
fully shown. Although but one ghost at a time
had up to that period been produced, Mr.
Villiers, at the defendant's request, produced
four, and also made the ghost walk. Defendant,
however, then said he wanted something dif-
ferent, and professed to be displeased, and desired
to change the terms of the agreement. On the 17th
August, the defendant still declining to carry out
the agreement, the plaintiffs put the matter in the
hands of a lawyer in Vienna ; but as it was sup-
posed to be au English contract the proceedings
were stopped, and the plaintiffs then proceeded
against the defendant in this country. Plaintiffs
had been put to about £lOO expenses.
Mr. Villiers, the plaintiff, and other witnesses
were called in support of their case, and denied
there was delay on their part.
The defence was, that in consequence of the great
excitement which the production of a ghost occa-
sioned in 1863 the managers of all the continental
theatres were most anxious to gratify their respec-
tive patrons, and the defendant entered into an
arrangement with plaintiffs. He telegraphed that
the illusion must be presented in the beginning of
August, but instead of that the apparatus did not
arrive until the Bth. A further delay occurred until
the 15th of August, from the plaintiffs not being
able to obtain the glasses and other matters. Every-
thing was then confusion ; the performance was
most unsatisfactory, and the loss to the defendant
had been very great. Plaintiffs knew that several
ghosts would be required to appear at the same
time, but they only made arrangements for the pro-
duction of four. All the persons who saw the re-
hearsal were dissatisfied, and so expressed them-
selves to Mr. Villiers. It was such, they said, as
they dare not present to the public. Evidence was
taken under a commission in Vienna on behalf of
the defendant, which was to the effect that the
plaintiffs had caused great delay, and that the
experiments were unsuccessful, as they could not
produce the ghosts in a complete and perfect form.
It was further contended that the whole affair had
been settled by the Austrian courts, and that the
plaintiffs had no right to proceed against the de-
fendant in this country.
Evidence was then given with reference to the
proceeding taken by the plaintiffs in Austria. A
power of attorney signed by the plaintiffs was put
in, authorising an Austrian advocate to do all acts
for them—to sue, compromise, and stay proceedings.
Proceedings were commenced, and afterwards
stayed, each party paying his own costs; the effect
of it was that by the Austrian law further proceed-
ings could be taken.

Justice Lusk said his opinion was that the
contract was an Austrian one, and that according to
the Austrian law proceedings had been stayed, and
that consequently the defendant had proved that
plea.
The court then went into the merits of the case.
The manager of the theatre deposed that in the
play of Miss Aurora's Secret" six ghosts were to
appear, but the plaintiffs never attempted to produce
more than four. The figures were never perfect.
Witness was one of the ghosts, and was dressed in
a light suit. The persons present expressed great
dissatisfaction at the rehearsal performance.

The jury ultimately returned a verdict for the
defendant.

STATE OF TRADE.

BELFAST, June 11.—Flax---The various markets
of this province continue to be pretty well supplied,
taking into consideration the advanced season.
Buyers, on the whole, were numerous, and prices
very firm. Yarns.—Although a fair demand pre-
vails, still the transactions were not so numerous as
were those of the week preceding. The business
done on home account was considerable. Prices re-
main firm. Linens, brown handlooms.—Heavy
linens, cloth for dyeing and hollands and printing
lawns have been neglected ; other descriptions of
handloom goods have been more sought after, and
in some cases higher prices sought for. Powerloom
goods are not in active request. Roughs and light
linens for bleaching form exceptions. Prices of all
the different descriptions stationary. Bleached and
finished linens.—Very little improvement, if any at
all, in the home trade, although some small orders
have appeared. Continental demand, though not
active, is steady. The operations of American
buyers were made very cautiously. In stocks and
prices there is no alteration.

NorriNGßAm.—During the past week very little
business in the lace trade has been done owing to
the Whitsuntide holidays. Fine weather having
now set in, however, the summer trade will doubt-
less begin to open out, and " hands" will then be
more briskly employed. The plain department con-
tinues very inactive, and yarns maintain their previ-
ous firmness. The hosiery branch is still decidedly
active, although the Whitsuntide holydays have dur-
ing the week greatly interfered with the despatch of
business. The home trade is improving, and foreign
orders come in with marked regularity.

ARRIVAL OF A GOLD SIIIP.—PLYMOUTII, June 12.
—The Yorkshire, from Melbourne, on the 18th March, has
arrived in the Channel with 24,646 oz. of gold.
DESPATCH OF TROOPS FOR CANADA.—The Man-
treal Company's s.s. Nestorian, which sails to-day from
Liverpool for Quebec, will carry out about 500 troops, being
detachments of the 3d Brigade Royal Artillery, and of the
15th, 22d, 29th, and 30th Regiments, all at present stationed
in Canada. The officers accompanying the troops are Capt.
W. S. Jemmett, Capt. H. C. Patton, Ensign H. Hall, Capt.
H. C. Singleton, and Lieut. F. Clowes. Amongst the 90
cabin passengers who will also sail in the Nestorian are
Lord Monck (Governor-General of Canada), Lady Monck,
and family ; the Hon. Misses Mouck, and servants. The
s.s. St. David, belonging to the same company, sailed yes-
terday from the Mersey, with troops for lialifaz and St.
John, N.D.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—The Hall of the Merchant Taylors' Corn-
pany is the sacred ground and the oracular shine of
Conservatism. Yielding to its festive inspiration,
the most cautious statesmen have become prophets,
and the wisest have run the risk of being confronted
in an evil day with their unfulfilled prophecies. In
those merry and glorious occasions we can remem-
ber none that may vie in real interest and substantial
significance with the prediction of a Conservative
Chancellor of the Exchequer, a Conservative of the
Conservatives, the scourge of Peel, and the Avenger
of Protection, as to the future working of a measure
which in its magnitude and compass surpasses all
the reforms and revolutions of English history. Mr.
Disraeli has opened the gate, walked in, s idd!ed,
mounted, and ridden off with the steed which scores
of the most Liberal statesmen have lost public confi-
dence in by merely looking at. Ile now returns to the
spot where every tradition and every association is
dead against him, and undertakes to relieve the most
prosperous, the most exalted, the most bigoted, and
the most nervous of their lifelong alarms, and even
their natural antipathies. The biological professors
who will make you handle a hot poker and feel it
cold, or drink milk and think it brandy, never at-
tempted such a feat as to pass off a Democratic Re-
form for a bit of good old Toryism. But there can
be no doubt the experiment was successful, and that,
without even the pangs of repentance or the sensa-
tion of going round, all these noblemen and gentle-
men did really feel that they were very consistent
and very triumphant, and that they were rapidly
gaining the very summit of their political wishes by
resigning themselves implicitly to the laws of gravi-
tation. Mr. Disraeli meets prophecy with prophecy,
and, while others are fearing for our institutions,
he has himself no fear for anything this bill will
do. His Conservatism is not a qualm, but a faith.
The Crown rests on that universal loyalty which is
strongest in the poorest, not to say the least edu-
cated. The House of Lords only embodies an in-
finite mass of traditionary knowledge and sentiment
pervading all classes, and every part of our country.
It cannot well be denied that the Church will beliable
to certain dangers and attacks, but so it is now, and
there is no reason to expect much difference. The
Church will be the Church still, and in much the
same case. All the elements of society will be the
same--the same classes, the same influences, and, as
their proportions will remain the same, so also pro-
bably will the composition of the House of Commons.
All this looks like simply falling upon the natural
character, the customs, and the institutions of the
country, as if a chief were to abandon a line of for-
tifications costing more than its worth, and to be-
take himself to, the open field, trusting to natural
resources and the popular spirit. If those institu-
tions of which we have all beard so much are in-
deed worth fighting for, they must be good for
something in themselves. The House of Commons,
as actually constituted, has long boasted to be the
guardian of the Crown, the Peerage, the Church,
and all that we love England for. Do they, then,
depend upon it? Are they bound not only to it,
but even to its most anomalous and fortuitous
arrangements ? Have they no self-subsistence, no
independent vitality ? Has the House of Commons
made them, or they the House of Commons ? The
national trustee is very proud of the trust, and
justly proud, but the estate and its owners existed
before the trust, and may remain, or even improve,
if the trust be a little reformed. But the fears of
which we have heard so much, and which for more
than 30 years have constituted the very stock of
trading Conservatism, themselves suggest a suspi-
cion that the great institutions of the country have
not fared quite so well as they might at the hands of
the great public steward. If the Crown, if the
House of Lords, if the Church, have indeed fallen
into the state which these fears suppose, has the
Parliamentary stewardship nothing to do with it ?
There are stewards whose masters are always in
difficulties. There are doctors whose patients are
always ailing. Some would persuade us that, ex-
cept the House of Commons, everything is on its
last legs; and it is just the particular balance and
adjustment of the House that props us all up, and
prevents us all from going by the run, and tumbling
into a heap to-morrow. The very argument brings
its own answer, for it supposes the House of Com-
mons to be a usurper which has gradually drained
every other institution of its independence, its
power, and its functions. It is possible to conceive
a change which shall strengthen both the trust and
its objects ; which shall give us a stronger House of
Commons, and at the same time a stronger Execu-
tive, a stronger Crown, a stronger House of Lords,
a stronger Church, a stronger People. The cry
long has been, "Do not strengthen the House of
Commons, lest it overwhelm and devour everything
else." The answer is that, as things now are, no-
thing is strong enough for its proper office. The
House is not, confessedly, with the consent of all
sides ; nor is the Crown, nor the Upper House, nor
any other institution. Such a solution of the pro-
blem is so simple, and it is one so calculated to unite
the suffrages of all parties, that if it be true we may
reasonably ask how people have come to miss it.
Mr. Disraeli is forced to anticipate this little ques-
tion, and it compels him to descend from the other-
wise high and conciliatory tone in which his speech
is conceived. The House of Commons, somehow or
other, prompted by its Liberal leaders, had allowed
its regards to rest on a small class of men, skilled
workmen—the better artisans, whom it had' got to
think more generous and noble, and much better
politicians, than the classes immediately above or
below. They are easier to talk with, they are
more citizens of the world and men of the world
than the small men of business who keep shops, or
the labourers who live by just the sweat of their
brow. If by some feat of political tactics
these could be embraced in the constituency,
the lower mercantile element still kept
at its pro-
per proportion, and mere labour kept out, the House
of Commons would be stronger, and the cry for Re-
form silenced. The Whigs, like bad chess-players,
stuck to this game even after it had been baffled,
and, while possessing popularity, could only be po-
pular in this narrow sense. They were even so
blinded as not to take the solemn warning thrown
in their way by the operations of this idolised class
.for the protection of its own industry against gene-
ral competition. Mr. Disraeli saw the ground thus
left open to him, and has introduced into the con-
who can give the usual pledge
stituency everybody
for his stake and interest in good order and the
common weal. He conceives that both in town
and in country he has found the social basis in
which domestic and social feelings are the strongest,
and in which the institutions of the country may be
said to have their moral foundation. Find the peo-
ple who are naturally, by long tradition, and by
many associations, loyal,
subordinate, respectful,
and religious, and here you have the true platform
of Kings, Lords, and Commons, and the proper
constituency of the Lower House. Mr. Disraeli
proclaims that he has found it, and that the most
anxious Conservative may feel himself safe in such
hands.
POST.—A reaction appears to be setting in in
favour of the system of composition for rates, and
after the compound householder has been publicly
sacrificed to the necessities of the Reform question
an attempt is being made to bring him to life again,
and to re-establish those conditions which as long
as they existed were held to be sufficient to dis-
qualify those living under them for a share in
the government of the country. It is not the de-
funct compound householder himself who asks to
be revived into existence, though if he could appre-
ciate the difference which, we are told, his own
extinction will make to his pocket he would pro-
bably he foremost in so doing. But he of all
creatures understands himself and his own situa-
tion the least; and besides this, since he has been
admitted to the vote on the express condition of
coming out of the composition, any agitation on his
part for a return to the system would fairly be
looked upon as evidence of a desire to have his cake
and to eat it too. The compounder himself there-
fore is properly silent, and those who are his special
defenders probably prefer to wait for a reformed
Parliament before again bringing him into the van
of the battle. Nor is it even in the interest of the
compounder that the reactionary movement is being
made against the abolition of the system, for it is
led by his natural enemies the parish authorities,
for whose satisfaction and at whose suggestion the
" device of old Nick's," as Mr. Henley calls it,
was first introduced. Accordingly on Saturday a
deputation composed wholly of vestry clerks from
the various parishes of the metropolis waited upon
the President of the Poor-law Board, and on Mon-
day the same body had a " conference " with Mr.
Gladstone in order to state their case, which cer-
tainly appears to have some very strong points
about it. In the first Place, it seems rather hard
that au arrangement which has subsisted for years,
which originated in a mutual agreement between
the parties to it, and which, so far as its own objects
are concerned, has completely succeeded, should be
suddenly overthrown without either of the parties
being so much as consulted, and for reasons which
have actually no earthly connection with it. Mr.
Henley may think that to collect poor-rates from
the humbler classes of occupiers is to rob them,
but if this were so, it must be held that any scheme
of taxation which presses, however remotely and
however slightly, upon those classes is a robbery of
the same sort ; and the arguments against the corn-
' position system are equally strong against customs,
excise, and all taxes whatever which are not
strictly limited to the rich. To those, however,
who hold it to be desirable that all taxes should be
collected in their proportionate shares from rich and
poor alike, the composition system must fully
indeed, the only
commend itself. It furnishes,

possible means by which poor-rates can be le
vied at all upon the lowest class of occupiers, fo
it is ridiculous to suppose that these either could o
would save up and keep during the long intervals of
three months the rate due from them for that quar-
ter. The conditions of their hand-to-mouth exist-
ence would not permit them to do this were they
ever so disposed to do it, and, as the vestry clerks
point out, the attempt to enforce the rate upon such
people in such a manner must be attended with
enormous difficulties. It is certain that quarterlY,
payments from these sort of voters cannot be looked
for, and if any proof is required of this, the best
possible proof is afforded by the fact that they
not even pay their rent in that manner, so that it
has to be collected weekly or not at all. The co.te-
poution has hitherto furnished the means of
get
over the difficulties of the case in a manner IN hien
is obviously as fair in conception as it has been suc-
cessful in execution. What in effect is more natural
than that the landlord, who is already in constant
t
communication with his tenants for the purpose .0
while
collecting his weekly rent from them, should,
doing that, at the same time collect in weekly instal-
ments the rate due to the parish ? That is the
whole
of the composition system, and we have never been
able to see that it is in itself other than desirable,
still less that it should carry with it extra disabilities
or disadvantages. If poor rates are not to be levied
at all, or if they are only to be levied upon those
who can pay with equal convenience at any timeand in any manner, that is a good reason for object-
ing to composition ; but if, as we have been toldt
again and again, it is the desire of the Governmen
that all those who can should assume the burdens of
the State, then the composition should have been
maintained as the best means to that end. It is at
any rate easy to understand that the parish autho-
rities view the change with alarm, for in all those
parishes where the composition has hitherto been
carried on it will bring with it a very considerable
loss upon every rate that is henceforth levied--
a loss which will be, in fact, near equal to Or
whole rates that have hitherto been got 10
from the entire body of compounders. It is true
that the Reform Bill offers a great advantage In
return for this injury, but, unfortunately, the ad"
yantageis not offered to those upon whom the in-
jury, is inflicted, for while it is the parish which
loses the rate, it is the compounder who gets the
vote, and it is not to be expected that local auth°'
rities take sufficient interest in the political status
of of their ratepayers to think this any compensation
to them. In facts parishes have nothing whatever
to do with imperial politics, and political considera-
tons should not be mixed up with parochial ar-
rangements any more than with other extraneous
matters. It would be no consolation, for instance,
to the tailors of the kingdom if they were deprive_
of the power of getting their bills paid to be told n'
was the only means that had been discovered to
enable their debtors to vote for members of
Parlia-
ment ; and yet this is precisely what has been 400
with the parishes. What makes it more aneoP.ngo.'
too, is that there was no real necessity for doinoe
anything of the sort, and it is only in conseque.
e
of the Reform Bill having at the outset contain
clauses which were intended to exclude compoundeTl
altogether that it became necessary at last to fa,"
back upon a solution of the difficulty thus gratuitella,,i
created, which sacrifices the pecuniary interests
the parishes to the political interests of the eeln,
(lewd
pounders. 'lip first blunder was in laying it (lewd
that no man should vote if he compounded; snit
this brought about the second blunder, of laying A i
is t
down that no man should compound at all ; and "t
of no advantage to the parishes to be told that'
on the whole, the second blunder is not so great
as the first; for as regards them it is actually
greater. The vestry clerks suggest that a remedy
should be applied by introducing a provision th. 3 ;
" where tenements are let at a rate not exeeedleat
£2O per annum for less than a year, or an agrehie
ment by which the rent is received or made pa3ca,
at any shorter period than three months,
shall be allowable to rate the owner instead of the
occupier, preserving, of course, to the latter .t,,
right of voting. If this is adopted it will certain,i,_
go far towards getting rid of the worst part of tro
difficulty, since it is precisely in cases where laws,'
rent is paid " at shorter periods than three moll,td
that the composition is most useful. This won
in
effect be a return, by a most extraordinary al;
round-about road, to the proposal already 113
from the Liberal side, that the mode of noting
should not be allowed to affect the power of volt
—a proposal which, as Mr. Gladstone rerninaded
vestry clerks, was rejected by a consideraher
majority. If, however, by this or by any et ba
means such a return can be made, it will noi_t,‘„a
necessary to inquire too nicely how it bas rot
effected, for the bill would thereby be rellev'ost
what is now the greatest blot upon it, and the ti,_l.„ll
.deplorable record of the past mistakes out of virol'
it has been dragged to its present position.