The Sun.
London, England, 1858-11-02 00:00:00

STRAND.

A capital petite comedy, from the pen of Mr. Troughton,
entitled " Wooing in Jest and Loving in Earnest," was
produced here with pre-eminent success. The plot, which
is simple, consists of the stratagems of a bluff old bachelor,
Mr. Machiavel (Mr. Selby), who is momentarily expecting
to receive the intelligence of the death of an old friend, and
consequently an addition to his fortune, to rid himself of
the presence of a volatile nephew, Captain Quick (Mr.
Parselle), and a young widow (Mrs. Witchington), whose
guardian' he has been appointed. At first he proposes to
marry the widow himself; but to pursue that course liberty
would have to be resigned. Eventually he decides on mak-
ing a marriage between his nephew and the widow, and the
difficulty and fun consists in the schemes the old gentleman
has recourse to, to bring about the command of " kind
attentions." The Captain is a rattle-brained fellow,
who plumes himself upon being a lady-killer, and
replies to his uncle's entreaty by telling him he has
only to ask the widow to be accepted. This the uncle dis-
putes, and promises to purchase the captain his majority if
he succeeds in making the sprightly widow fall in love with
him. The captain then commences the siege to the lady's
heart by wooing in jest, but as his game proceeds he finds he
loves in earnest, and a niitrriage, of c0P043, 1:011eilUlas .the
piece. Miss Swanborough, the fair manageress, supported
the part of Mrs. Witchington with an archness that was
quite refreshing. Parsielle made a capital Captain Quick—
a modern sort of Charles Surface—and Selby's " Machiavel"
was one of those fmely.conceived and admirably-acted cha-
racters, for the creation of which this talented actor has
acquired so much fame. The ,anise en scene was splendid,
and we may safely predict a long and successful run for
" Wooing in Jest and Loving in Earnest."

A BILL ' O. CAUSE THE VOTES'pF :PARLIAMENTARY
ELECTORS TO BE TAKEN 13v WAY OF BALLOT. • •
Whereas the freedom of elections for members to
serve for the- Commons in-Parliament-is of the ut-
most consequence to the preservation of the rights
and liberties of the people. And whereas'com:
plaints are made that notwithstanding the laws rutw-
in force such elections are often procured or effected
by bribery, treating, intimidation, undue influence,
and.Citlier corrupt and dishonourable means, to the
great scandal of the kingdom and destructive (if
permitted) of the independent constitution of Par-
lianient itself.. For the remedy therefore of so
great an evil, and to the end that all elections of
;members to serve in the, Commons House of Par-
Iliament may hereafter be freely and indifferently
made, be it enacted by-the Queen's most excellent
Majesty by and with the advice; and consent of the
Lords spiritual and temporal and Commons in this
present Parliament assembledi and by the_autko-
rity of the same, as follows :—_ _
1. From and after the passing of - this act. -At
jany. 'election for members to serve in Parliament the
!returning officer shall, if a poll be demanded, cause
las many booths to. be erected, or rooms to hired
lor otherwise obtained, at each polling-place as are
lby law required, and the same shall be so divided
and. arranged as to the returning officer
.shall seem
best adapted for carrying ont-the'protisions of this
t, but so that at each booth or room there shall
, -one pr more-inner rooms and compartments •as
Lc
Aereinafter enacted i and the returning officer shall
!before the day fixed for the polling, if a poll:be-an=
manded, cause to be furnished for the use of each
such booth or room a sufficient number of copies of
the register of electors for the-borough, city, or
county for which such election shall take place, and
shall also provide for the use of each such booth or
room a ballot-box with a secure lock, and with an
aperture through which the ballot papers may be
placed in such ballot-box.
2. The returning officer at any election where a
poll is demanded shall preside at one of the-booths
appointed for taking the poll -at such election, and
shall appoint a deputy returning officer to preside
at each other booth or room and it shall be the duty
of such ;returning officer and his deputies to see
that the votes of the electors are given according to
the provisions of this act.
3. Each candidate shall appoint one or more
persons, not exceeding three for each booth, to be
scrutineers on his behalf at such election, and the
returning officer and each deputy returning officer
and scrutineer shall prior to the commencement of
the poll make the following declaration :
" I, A.B. the returning officer (or a deputy re-
turning officer, or scrutineer) appointed by C.D.' a
candidate at the election of a member (or members) 1
to serve in Parliament for the borough, city, or
county of do declare that
I will faithfully assist in the said election, that I
will not in any manner interfere with any elector
when filling up his ballot paper, or attempt to
ascertain the name or names of the candidate or
candidates for whom any elector at such election
shall record his vote, and in case I shall become
acquainted with the name or names of the candidate
or candidates for whom any elector shall record his
vote, then that I will not disclose to any person
whomsoever the fact so coming to my knowledge."
And any returning officer, deputy returning officer
or scrutineer doing any act in contravention of such
declaration shall deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.
4. The Returning Officer immediately after a
poll is demanded shall cause to be printed a num-
ber of ballot papers sufficient for the number of
electors on the register of persons entitled to vote
at such election, and such papers shall be of
uniform size and colour and in the form pre-
scribed in the schedule to this act, and the names of
all the candidates on whose behalf a poll shall be
demanded at suchelection shall be printed in alpha-
betical order thereon, and the returning officer,
prior to the commencement of the poll, shall authen-
ticate each such paper by marking the same on the
back with a stamp to be provided by such returning
officer.
5. On or before the day of polling the returning
officer shall deliver to each deputy returning officer
a number of the said papers so authenticated by
him as required by this act, sufficient for the num-
ber of electors entitled to vote at the polling place
at which guch deputy is to .beside, and retain a
number of such papers sufficient for the number of
electors entitled to vote at the polling booth at
which he shall himself preside.
6. The returning officer shall cause the names of
all the candidates on whose behalf a poll shall be
demanded to be painted or printed on placards, one
or more of which placards shall be placed in each
booth or room and also in some conspicuous position
on the outside of each booth or room.
7. At every booth or other place- for staking the
poll at an election the returning officer shall pro-
vide one or more inner rooms, each containing as
many separate apartments, for the purpose of en-
abling the electors privately to Mark their papers as
the said returning officer shall think necessary, in
which inner room and compartments no person
other than the electors actually voting shall be en-
titled to be or remain. Provided always that it
shall be lawful for the returning officer or deputy
returning officer to permit any constable or other
officer to enter such inner room or compartments
for the purpose of removing therefrom any person
or persons who may obstruct the voting or wilfully
violate any of the provisions of this act, and any
person improperly going into or remaining in the
said inner room or compartments shall be guilty of
a misdemeanour.
8. The returning officer shall on or before the
day appointed for taking the poll at any election
deliver to his deputy appointed for each polling
booth such a box as herein before referred to, which
box shall be when delivered to such deputy return-
ing officer locked and under the seal of the return-
ing officer, and the returning officer shall retain a
box so locked and sealed as aforesaid for the polling
place where he himself shall preside, and each
deputy returning officer shall during the said poll
keep the said boxes locked and sealed, and the key
of each such box shall be kept during the poll by
the person entitled to the custody of the said box,
and during the taking of the poll each such box
shall stand on the table in the polling booth or room
in the presence of the returning officer or his deputy
and of the said scrutineers,—Provided each candi-
date or any scrutineer on his behalf may require to
see that such boxes are empty prior to their being
locked and sealed as aforesaid.
9. Each elector having first according to law
satisfied the returning officer or his deputy that he
is entitled to vote, and having also signed his name
or placed his mark opposite to his name upon a
copy of the register of persons entitled to vote at
such election shall receive from the returning officer
or his deputy a paper in the form prescribed in
the said schedule, and such elector shall then
immediately take such ballot paper into a com-
partment of the inner room required by this act to be
provided in each polling booth for such purpose, and
shall there without delay strike through the name
or names of the candidate or candidates for whom
he does not intend to vote, but so that if there be
only one member to be returned for such county,
city or borough he only leave one name not struck
out, and if there be more than one member to
be returned for such county, city or borough he
does not leave the names of more candidates not
struck out than there are members to be returned
for such county, city, or borough, otherwise such
paper shall be invalid, and when such elector shall
have struck through the name or names of such
candidate or candidates, such elector shall fold up
such paper so as to exhibit only the stamp or au-
thentication on the back thereof by this act required,
and shall immediately place such paper in such a
box as hereinbefore required to be provided, and
each elector shall leave the said inner-room or com-
partment as soon as he has voted, and shall not re-
enter the same during the election, and no, two
electors shall be or remain in the same compartment
at the same time, nor shall any elector after re-
ceiving any such ballot paper take the same out of
the said inner room or compartment either before or
after he has marked the same, except it may be
necessary for the placing. of the same when folded
in the said box, nor shall any elector exhibit
and
paper to any person after the names are erased, d
the returning officer or his deputy
to allowtnha
any papers taken away or exhibited contrary
sti(l)ox, but
foregoing provisions to be deposited
shall reject the same, and shall not give to 177
doctor more than one paper, and any elector IN il
fully offending against any of the provisions in this
act contained, shall be deemed guilty of a inisd.e-
mean our. -
10. Each deputy-returning officer shall, imme-
diately on the close of the poll, and not before, in
the presence of the said scrutineers, open 'the said
boxes, count the papers therein, and the votes given,
for each candidate, and shall collect and seal up all
the papers which have been used at the p.3llinc,
place whereat he presides aml shall seal up in a
separate parcel all such papers as shall not have
been used, and in another separate parcel any ballot
papers which are invalid or informal, or rejected, and
the said parcels shall be respective:y marked on the

outside Election for " " Votiuo papers used,"
"_Vetink. pipers' unused," and' ,"Voting: papers
rejected,"- Old each- deputy retarning officer shall
make out account in
.whielalle shall- state the
numbers polled for each candidate and charge hini- •
self with the number of papers delivered to him by-
the •returning officer and specify the number de-
livered,to and used by voters, and the number (if
ant)nior
ml left -
t unused,oinreja eaten. thenumber
such
ny)
Ci f invalid or
verified by his said:signature and by those of the
Said scrutineers, and the said deputy returning
officer shall with the least possible delay deliver or
accounta
i
cause to be .delivered under seal the said account,
together with the copy of the Register of Electors
so signed by the electors who shall have voted and
also allthe said-parcels to the returning, officer •of
the county-, city, or borough for which the election
shall, take place. -
11. The returning Officer of each county, city, or,
borough, shall; at the close of the poll, in the pre-
sence -of the scrutineers appOinted for each candi-
adtatweh
and shall count the papers and seal them up in such
pbaefp before
scrutineer - ede or_nebdeedii,oaal
parcel§•_and make out. such an account as herein-
posSible pUblic.ly and iii.the presence of at least one
luir° iihft:iiit:afsxbhoeyffia
shall
used
candidatecLuedwhi:t„ thelae have palling
presided,
ps,deputy
little
r opene dt
we l.anyai as
possible
exanii4e:ltlie;fteeounts and. parcels of the voting
officer - and "ascertain their correctness, and shall
make out an account of the aggregate number of
vote§giveu for each candidate,* which account shall
be verified by his signature and by that of at least,
one-Scrutineer on behalf of each "pandidate; and' the
said returning officer shall at the plaoe of nomina-
tion, at such time as by law appointed, openly
declare the general state _of the poll at the
close of the election as the same shall have been
so made up and ascertained by him from the papers
taken at the several polling 'places, and shall
at the same time and place declare the name or
names of the person or persons who shall be elected
at such election.

12. In ascertaining the votes given for each
candidate, any paper,on which the names of more
candidates than can be returned at the election are
left, not struck out, and any paper which shall bear
the name of any voter, or any mark, impression, or
device designed to distinguish such paper from other
papers shall be invalid and not counted as a vote.

13. The Returning Officer shall forward under
seal, without delay, to the Clerk of the Crown
all the papers used, unused, and rejected at such
election, and all such accounts and signed copies of
the register as hereinbefore required to be made out,
and the provisions for the safe custody of poll books
contained in the 93d section of the statute made
and passed in the sixth year of her present Majesty
Queen Victoria, entituled " An Act to amend the
law for the registration of persons entitled to vote,
and to define certain rights of voting and to regu-
late certain proceedings in the election of Members
to serve in Parliament for England and Wales,"
shall extend and apply to such papers, accounts,
and copies, and the said section shall be considered
held and treated as incorporated in this act.
14. All such papers, accounts, and copies shall
be kept by the said Clerk of the Crown until after
the expiration of the time within which a petition
against the return of the Member or Members
chosen at such election can be presented, and shall
then be destroyed.
15. Any elector who may be blind or unable
to read shall signify the same to the returning officer
or his deputy, who shall thereupon mark or strike
out the names of such candidates as such elector
may designate.
16. Any person who shall in any manner tam-
per with any voting paper given or used at any
election, or with any box provided for the reception
of votes, or who shall do any act whereby the re-
sult of such election shall or may be affected,
defeated, or falsified, or the votes given at any
election, or any of them shall or may be falsified or
made of no effect shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
17. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with
this act are repealed.

SCHEDULE.

(County, City, or Borough) of
Election of (here insert number) Members

CANDIDATES.
'here insert names of candidates alphabetically.)

DIRECTIONS,

The voter is to strike out the name or names of
the candidate or candidates for whom he does not
intend to vote by drawing a line through the same.
He must be careful not to leave not struck out
the names of more candidates than are capable of
being returned, namely (here insert number of
members), otherwise his vote will be of no effect.'
If he cannot read he may require the returning
officer or deputy returning officer to strike out for
him such name or names as he may direct.
The ballot paper so marked by or for the voter
is to be dropped by him into the ballot box, folded
so as to exhibit only the stamp on the back.
The Voter is not to take his ballot paper out of
the ballot room or polling booth, nor to exhibit his
paper after the names are erased, to any person,
otherwise his vote will be of no effect.

If this paper bears the name of any voter or any
mark, impression, or device designed to distinguish
it from other papers, it will be invalid and not
counted as a vote.