The Sun.
London, England, 1858-03-10 00:00:00

GENERAL AEFO.4I

that the rc-distri-
DENT.
bution of the Electoral D:striot
After the(FRaRTIotA, we conceive
4, is incomparably

he most essential reform uoY r required in our

Parliamentary system.

First of all the Ballot. Then the re distri-
bution of the Electoral Dis trict 3. Afterwards the

progressive extension of thin Fra.lcliise. And, only

when these beneficent chat ige's baY3 been seen to,

the simultaneous arrival at some 'satisfactory deci-
sion as to the duration of Parlir.ments, and as to
the continuance or rePaevg of the Property

Qualification.

There may be discussion% as to the htter pro-
ject 4, but as to the three far st there ought nor,
among liberal reformers of l t colours and classes,
of all sects and parties—t, here ought not, we
distinctly assert, upon those three first branches

of Parlia:uentary Reform to pa ono moment'a

oitation.

Though the immediate awl total removal of the
Property Qualification appe.ars to us to be a move-
ment most advisable wider all considerations--
we are ready to allow that other reformers may
have some very admissible reasons for arriving at
a different conclusion. We are ready to have
those reasons discussed with all possible coolness
and deliberation. We should like to hear all the
pros and cons upon the subject debated as slowly
as you please, as cautiously, :as jealously as you
please, during the course of the present session of
the Legislature.
It is perfectly reasonable also to suppose there
may be a rational diversity of opinion among
Reformers as to the long "vexed question" about
the most advisable time for the duration of Par-
liaments. Let, us again, upon this point, compare
notes carefully with one another ; so that, if pos-
sible, some wholesome result may be arrived at.
And here it certainly does appear t) us strange,
all things considered, that no medium course has
ever been dreamt of with a view to the solution of
this problem of the Duration of Parliaments.
There are the advocates of the septennial, and
there are the'advocates of triennial Parliaments 1
Nobody appears to have ever had the faintest
notion of suggesting that the difference should be
split ; and that, instead of either of the extremes,
we should decide upon selecting the jusie milicv
the common sense middle course of having in
future Qeintennial Parliament> ! Why it is that
we should at all times only entertain the project
of seven years on the one hand, or of three years
on the other—putting aside foartb, fifth, and
sixth under a mysterious and inexorable taboo—
has never been explained : would be rather diffi-
cult, we opine, of explanation. Common sense
tells us that this kind of proceeding is,
after all, very preposterous. Particularly
when the average duration of Parliaments,
according to the present system, has been
actually neither three years, nor yet seven years,
but precisely the very time we have specified,
namely, five years ! Suggesting to one that it
might not, after all, be so very absurd to talk
seriously about a project of Qaintennial Parlta-
mutts.*

Nevertheless, upon this point, as upon the one
immediately before-specified, we aro free to admit
that there may still be room for a good deal of
reasonable discusiiou.

But, in regard to the three leading reforms in
our Parliamentary system, we maintain there is
absolutely no room at all among rational re-
formers for any further discussion whatsoever.
The more advanced reformers of our day have
tong since come to the conclusion that not only is
the Ballot essential, but that it is the First Essen-
tial. Mr. BERKELEY is no longer among the
advocates of reform in England, the Lea ler of a
Forlorn Hope. The Liberal constituencies, far
and wide, are unanimously in favour of the im-
provement of which ho has beau so long the
foremost champion. The advocates of the
Ballot throughout the constituencies are
counted now, not by hundreds or by thousands,
but by hundreds of thousands. They none of
them maintain it to be what their deriders scoff
at them for doing—a sort of political panacea
which is to put au end for ever and a day to all
possible ills in the political system. We, who
insist upon the necessity of the Ballot, do so
simply because we believe it would be the most
effec,ual preventive of bribery, humanly speaking,
that could be imagined. We demand the ballot
solely in order that, under its protection —a pro-
tection not disdained by high bred and honourable
gefilleinen in our West-end Clubs—in order that,
under its protection, voting may henceforth be
in reality what it is at present only in name—
Free. The Suffrage without the Ballot, as at pre-
sent, we do from our heart believe to be a veritable
curse to many an honest shopkeeper. We believe
it to be not a political boon, or a social advantage,
but—in the strictest and the most literal meaning
of the words—a mockery, a delusion, and a
snare. Therefore it is that all th, more advanced
reformers amongst us have long ago come to the
deliberate conclusion that the first and most im-
portant of all reforms is that expressed in that
single magic dissyllable the BALLOT.
Immediately after the Ballot ought to be de-
manded and obtained the concession from the
Legislature of a new, a rational, and a comprehen-
sive distribution of the electoral districts.
The existing apportionment of constituencies
is, in truth, something perfectly ridiculous.
There are some little trumpery boroughs
still returning, as they have, time out of mind,
continued to return, two members 0 the Com-
mons House of Parliament ! And there are, iu
contrast to these snug little places, enormous
towns like Birmingham also returning only two
representatives—or, still worse than that, if pas-
sible, wonderfully populous clusters of towns, such
as Cuelsea, Brompton, Kensington, and all that
vast and densely peoplssl district of the metro,,olis,
returning no member at all ! Anomalies like
these, we maintain, don't admit of any argument
for a single instant. Facts like these—point
blank—repel all denial and opp mition. The evil
here is so monstrous and so manifest that we s ay—
Nextto the B shoull c ins 3 this re-distriontion
of the Electoral Districts. Afterwards arising the
necessity, the instant necessity for the extension
of the franchise—an extension to be at once as
t;eleysuabdsireecinutellurteldy
113 uponrrog
Progressive
r ;ae yss
se tva in
ot tb et
or endo tnhaebrley, abnudt to safely
f
Here we do honestly believe is the right and
rational Programme of Reform for 1858. It is
the Programme of the more advanced and
enlightened reformers. And anything less than
this wilt be regarded by the liberal censtituencies
as a delusion.

L* Our Correspondent ib in error as to Quintennial P; r.
iamentsnever ilaving been suggested before.—ED. Sun

Mn. ST .PLETON, M.P.—'this gentleman has addressed
the deotats of Berwick on 1113 rtei,nt tria in c nuection
he
s that,
nays 'ith the British Batik Conspiracy.
.. y
t
thinkAag the honour of a member of Parliament aught
to be tno-t dear to bat cons‘, ituenta, he has t
bought it
.rclt}n.. to lay before them the ob ervations on hi-
vT'ortclirceatniirgtli guilty
%la:eh:sit. *b.iitur,t t.otoolnkvbian
postt.!a . made by Lrd Campbell. He attributes the
( V. perhaps, attaching to the disaqr,,us c,n-t-
-utliu
\
gin the boron...it is now d - 6taPIAA9I.--krcuntsitie Exprg4Neoidedly in favour ( f Mr,
,cacitileT:eregjeundeicrea,