The Sun.
London, England, 1858-07-19 00:00:00

VOTE BY BALLOT.

( From the Norfolk News.)
TO THE HONOURABLE WENMAN COKE, M P.

Sir,—Being interested in obtsiuing for myself
and other voters protection in the discharge of our
public duty of choosing Members of Parliament, I
am sorry to see that one bearing the honoured
name of Coke should be so (at least) reserved on
that question, that we, who have seen only the
short accounts of your el. ction speeches which the
London papers give, are ignorant of your opinion
on this important question. Fearing from your
silence that you are neutral on, or °Nosed to, the
ballot, I wik your attention to some arguments in
its favour from the pen of an aristocratic and, at
the same time, able novelist.
In " High and Ltw," by the Hon. Henry Coke,
iu the first volueie, you will see narrated a .discus-
siOn on the exteinlion orthe franchise aid protec-
t:On to the voter, bctvieen Mr. Gregory, Lord
Lougvale, a.nd Sir Andrew Fitzbun.

--"l4'Nete-4* a ell S3' Orfnen 37176Tr7talitglife and
information is far above the standard of intelli-
gence and information in many classes higher than
themselves. These men, under the present system,
have no nominal qnalification whatever. Numeri-
cally, they form a large body. Intellectually, they
are the most formidable ooe in the State. Wholly
to accede to their demand is impossible. All that
remains ii to temper resistance with discretion;
and protract the evil which threatens us, till supe-
rior knowledge shall reveal to them the frof'l that
an identi'y of interest p.rvz,d,s .11 daisies, and that
no real ainel,oration can accrue to one by any in-
jury inflicted upon another.
" ' That men of the class I refer t-,,' continued
Mr. Gregory, ' are excluded from the privileges of
the franchise is by no means the greatest evil. A
still worse is that those whose names are registered
as free and independent electors, those who possess
the right to vote, and are supp )sed to exercise that
right to the best of their discretion, have, after all,
but a nominal voice, a vox et prceterentaail, iu the
choice of their representatives. The electoral voice
to them is a bell without a tongue—a elreat foieted•
upon them in place of a reality, a lacquered farthing
Made to pass for the stalling guinea. It is some-
years, my lord, since I have meddled in electioneer-
ing matters ; but I rem( mber to have seen many a
poor man curse the privilege which our constitn-
tion boasts of. He cared little that his vote be-
longed
to his employer and not to himself. But be
th .ught it very hard to be compelled to use that -
vote contrary, not only to his interest, but also'to
his principles. I have seen many a poor tradesman
ruined because he could not vote three different
ways !'
country d o such
Io
''Viet,7
sraiiedhht,isvleorrydarhigiphy to,opir,Tp:rtydomuleutsht e a de-
serveddw block-
headsi l 1 carry
know i tsslbroouptelreigni lilt:et
legislating
.
who is so fit to direct them as their better educated
forW thhaet
employers ? Besides, sir, there will be abuses in all
human institutions. There is no remedy for this
that I see. it always has been so long as Icm re-
member, and always will be so to the end of the
chapter.'
o , That is begging the question, I think, my lord.
Because it always was so, is the he:ter reason that
it should no longer be :zo. I do not see that abuses,
Ilike your wine, my lord, improve with age. I
doubt, with all due deference to your assertion,
whether the employers are the fittest persons to
direct the employed. I doubt whether they are
always better educated even ; and if they are, you
must admit that the interests of the two classes,
however closely allied, are not precisely identical.
" ' You say there is no remedy for the undue
influence exercised by the employer. There is
one, at lea-t, I think, and only one. I sin-
cerely trust, for the welfare of this country, it
will not be long before it becomes the established
law of the laud. I mean the Ballot.'
" At this offensive word, Lord Lengvale piehod
and pshawed, with great vehemence and disgust.
Bellows drank two glasses of claret in quick suc-
cession, pulled down his waistcoat, and brushed.
his hair on end as if prepiring to annihilate Mr.
Gregory ; but, thinking better of It's violence,
' said not a word. Sir Andrew puffed, picked his
' teeth, and said ' preposterous.' "
..
Although fouud in a novel, there is as much
i truth and sound reasoning in these remarks on
the ballot as in anything on the question that
ever issued from the press or has been spoken in
Parliament or on the platform.
I ask your careful consideration of them before
' as member for E tst Norfolk, you vote on the ball
L lot. They will come to you with the greater force,
since they are ev,itten by, I believe, your brother.
Your obedient servant,
E.O.W.
) 5, Guildhall-chambers, London, E.C.

DOCKET-FREE —Those car7l: and waggons
the above words appear belong to persons whose *you.
tors brought vegetables, &0., to the London markets
duriug the great plague. The It ivg, as a mark of his ap-
probation of their c3ndnut, granted tbeni try privilege
of passing toll free into any market land (if my memory
algi
tsgh:eausely ostnhteel: I:Pleilhr 1 .
serves me right) through any toll-bar in or n.elarboLtolnodoodin.i.s.
tam of ail others—bed blood—and there is but one "fl
liziloYvritarTesiss'EmErtr.]—City is but
fallible remedy for it Pills.
tmhaenleifnetloyf ioirfer.adTiclialeirye
ucnesnobuendnowthtiini!
tint, t . _
flab a litil
a vital fluid is
perfectly pure, and rightly tempered. Firm
7toilf the innumerable advart-
Hunt complexion, a quick and powerful A o
every one can obtain who will freely take akecontshatisoinisnoeesstakaof.‘
e!asticity of the animal 'picks, and
health and strength
paurreitay.
alt
medicineevbelonoddo,rsarablre:igo:nwthtiehhe
t tgee attendant on
all- pilll.—Sold by
world 3 ...and
:at p
roftsq It 4l
r oway'teataielialuz?att
244, Strand, Loudon. _ _.